audi09.11.2010

More and more B8 customers have been asking me if they could get vent and MMI pieces made in carbon fiber that matched the OEM carbon atlas trim.  I had some extra cores laying around so I figured I’d give it a shot.

The fabric I’m using for this is an 8 harness satin weave (8HS).  From what I can tell, it is identical to the fabric used on the OEM pieces.  While I’m confident that the fabric will be a match (or a very close match) I’m still uncertain of how close of a match the overall pieces will be.  Audi tends to use resins that have a slight brown tint to them, where as mine are totally clear.  Audi’s pieces are popped out of a mold and unfinished, where as mine are clearcoated and polished.  The only way to find out how close of a match they are is to go ahead and start making them.

These aren’t the best photos, but since the pieces are still in production and have a while to go, it doesn’t matter much.  I’ll take some better pics after I trim off the excess fabric and sand them smooth.

Up first is the vent piece.  If you look close, you can see the outlines of the edges of the piece.

The MMI piece.

Few detail shots of the fabric.

audi08.30.2010

Got the 8HS B8 trim clearcoated a little while ago and it turned out pretty good.  These pieces should look very similar to the OEM carbon fiber trim, minus the faux metal piece that sits on the edges of the OEM set.

audi, carbon fiber08.13.2010

Those of you that are following the blog know that we’ve been making a bunch of sets with new, custom fabric.  Now we’ve got the first B5 set with the 8 harness satin (8HS) weave.  It is the same type of fabric found on the B8 Audi S4 and S5 OEM carbon fiber trim, so it is kind of cool to see it in a B5.  Keep in mind these pieces aren’t finished yet, they still need to be polished up, so there are a few imperfections still on the surface.

Stay tuned for more sets on different makes/models with this fabric.

These last two shots are comparison photos of the 8HS and the 20oz 2×2 twill.

audi, production07.27.2010

We’ve done a few B8 A4/S4 carbon fiber sets of trim so far, but up until now they have all been the standard 11oz 2×2 twill (you can see some of those sets in the B8 gallery).

We recently got a bunch of B8 cores from Germany so we figured it would be time to start getting a little more custom with some of them.  I’m hoping to have these sets trimmed and sanded smooth sometime next week so I can clearcoat them.  I’ll post more pictures as I make further progress on them.

First is the 20oz 2×2 twill.  This is the same fabric found on the B7 RS4 OEM carbon fiber trim.  The weave is twice as thick as the standard 11oz 2×2 twill.  I’ve done some blog posts comparing the 20oz and 11oz in the past.  Side by side it becomes apparent how much nicer the 20oz is.

Few close ups of the 20oz.

Up next we have a harness satin weave, known as 8HS.  I believe this fabric is very similar to the B8 OEM carbon fiber trim.

Up close you can see how tight the weave is.

Few more shots of the 8HS.

Lastly we have another harness satin weave, but this time it is a 5HS.  It is basically the same thing as the 8HS but with thicker bunches of fiber.

Few close ups of the 5HS.

Lastly we have some B5 pics of the 8HS.  We’re also currently working on a B6/B7 set with the 5HS.  Hopefully I can post some updates on these sets soon.