Carbon Fiber Products
Really hard to get good pictures of this fabric to show the true colors.
At certain angles and in certain lights, the blue fabric almost looks black. If you look close you can catch a hint of dark blue:
But then at other angles you can really see the blue:
After getting the CTS-V pieces wrapped over the weekend, it was time to start brushing on the epoxy.
The red kevlar does not soak up the epoxy very well, so it takes a few coats to get it saturated.
The black 8HS fabric is easily wetted out though. Only took a few coats for the center console to start looking like real carbon fiber parts.
I am particularly fond of the cup holder cover. It looks like it belongs on the Batmobile.
After a few more coats of epoxy, the red pieces start to darken up a bit and look more like they will when finished.
After a few days of curing, we’ll stick these parts in our oven for 36 hours to strengthen them and make them super hard. After that we can start trimming off the excess fabric and epoxy, and get them sanded smooth.
Now that I’m an official vendor over at CadillacForums.com it’s the perfect time to do a full write up on the production of a CTS-V carbon fiber set of trim from start to finish.
This particular set is going to be pretty custom, with red carbon/kevlar hybrid fabric being used on the main trim along the doors and dash and a 5HS black fabric being used on the center console. It is a pretty daring combination, but it should look amazing once installed in the car.
This is the OEM trim in its original form. The doors and dash are a fake printed “carbon” and the center console is a gloss plastic. No idea why GM choose to cheap out on materials for such a cool car like the CTS-V, but this trim is perfect for getting wrapped.
First, the center console pieces are scuffed up so the fabric has something to grip to.
The fabric being used on these pieces is a traditional black carbon fiber that has been woven in a 5HS pattern. This fabric runs vertical in appearance.
Getting the pieces laid out on the fabric so the correct sizes can be cut.
Same treatment for the door pieces on the red carbon/kevlar.
Once the fabric has been cut, a thin coat of bonding epoxy is applied to the pieces.
Getting the center console taped up and the same bonding epoxy is applied.
Now the fun part starts.
After an hour or so of trimming a lot of excess fabric, the pieces are finally starting to come together.
These pieces look bright red now, but once they are wetted out with epoxy, they’ll turn a much darker red that shifts in color depending on how the light hits it.
Same process on the center console pieces.
That is it for now. The bonding epoxy needs a day or two to cure, but once the fabric is secure to the pieces I can start adding epoxy to them and they’ll really start to take shape.
I’ll post more updates in the blog later this week.
Not the best pictures in the world, but I appreciate the efforts of the owner. I’m really happy with how these silver sets are turning out. I’ve got one B6/B7 silver set for a manual that is ready to go right now, so if you’re interested in it, shoot me an email.
Our first sweepstakes is in the books and the winners have been drawn. I ended up giving away a second grand prize and a few extra second place prizes as well. If you didn’t win, don’t fret. I’ll be emailing everyone a little bonus in a few days, so keep your eyes open for that.
We’ll also be doing this all over again real soon, with you guys picking what type of contest we run and choosing the winners.
So lets get on with it:
Grand Prize Winners – 1 free set of oCarbon trim
1) Trevor T. – B8 A4
2) Dennis M. – B5 S4
First Prize Winner – $300 oCarbon gift certificate
1) Ben S. – B8 A4
Second Prize Winners – $100 oCarbon gift certificate
1) Alan V. – B5 S4
2) Joe D. – A3
3) Brad S. – B8 S4
4) John S. B8 A4
Third Prize Winners – $50 oCarbon gift certificate
1) Winners will be notified via email shortly. ;)
