miater

So what's with the weave look to carbon fiber finishes on seat and chain stays made of CF. ?
Is that to show us how the carbon fiber is made? Because it really doesn't look like that does it?
I've got some chips in my seat stay that are pretty ugly, and because of that weave look to the finish, using touch up paint really isn't going to look very good.
any ideas?

EdZ

It does

vpiuva

You're right about the top layer being a cosmetic layer. The underlying layers don't look like that. I've matched up CF with some success using a metallic black paint, but it's somthing you'll have to buy at an autobody supply. I took a crankarm in (easy to carry and hold next to the paint chips) and found a reasonable match.

Soloist Assassin

I got a sheet of CF at my shop. Could always sand it down resin it, and rewrap it. I made a custom dash piece for my race car, because I mounted my shifter in the middle of the dash where the radio, and heater controls were. It's pretty easy to work with.

rufvelo

The weave you typically see is pure cosmetic. You need to find faux CF stickers to cover that stay, once you inspect (or ask the LBS to check) that no damage has occured to the frame.

BarracksSi

Or maybe a bit of light sanding and some clearcoat (again, assuming that the CF itself isn't damaged).

I think I've finally begun to be able to spot the differences between cosmetic layers and functional CF, but I'm not positive.

BarracksSi

My car ('02 Civic Si) came like that from the factory... well, minus the carbon and still with the heater & radio. I absolutely love the dash shifter.

Soloist Assassin

Where do you think I got the shifter from. I drove one of those Si's once, and had to have it.

BarracksSi

One of the local guys who tracks his DC2 Integra actually extended his shift lever to bring the knob closer to the steering wheel. He said that even though the throw is longer, he saves time by not having to reach so far from the wheel.

Did you get the actual shift mechanism, or just the idea? If you got the mechanism, how difficult was it to install?

Soloist Assassin

I had to fabricate mounts for it. I used a buddy club short shifter for an EP3 civic, and I havea K20a type-R drivetran in my CRX. The panel isn't finished but you get the idea. There was some welding and fabricating, but nothing too hard. I already had allot to do, doing the engine swap.

BarracksSi

Sheesh... that's a fast sum*****. My motor's still stock; haven't decided whether to s/c or swap (k24a2 would be nice for a heavy car like mine).

Back on topic -- the aftermarket wing on my car definitely has a cosmetic CF layer over fiberglass. Nice thing about it is that it looks "finished" without paint, while unpainted fiberglass looks like trash.

DrPete 

The woven outer layer of CF isn't always cosmetic. If your seat stay is cracked and you don't know what you're looking at, you should get it inspected.

miater

actually it's the chain stay not the seat stay....it really is superficial. I just don't like how it looks.