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      01-18-2013, 07:35 PM   #11
1speedbike
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Drives: 2022 X4 M40i, 2008 135i
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: MKE

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylon View Post
Any detailed pics of the rear diffuser? The lighting in your shots is a little rough for seeing the diffuser. My iCarbon one was damaged in an accident, and being that they are out of business, I'm in the market for a replacement.
It's tough to get a good picture while it's mounted on the car, but these two shots show a close-up of the weave in general, and in the "trouble spots"

You can see the overall weave is very good, and straight. But in the corners of these mesh openings, the weave is pretty messed up.. kinda like "wtf happened?" there were maybe a couple other spots like this, but now that it's mounted on the car I can't even see them. Overall, though, the weave is pretty straight and tight.





Quote:
Originally Posted by RimasRS View Post
Would be really nice to see video of the hood how solid it is and feels. How the hood pin is placed and reinforcements... I never had a chance to inspect one.
Also what is the main difference between carbon and fiberglass because I think I would do the paint of body color so which is better in my case to choose?

Thanks

I actually don't have hood pins. I bought some and tried to install them, but since the Seibon hood is fiberglass reinforced, they are not necessary. Also, install would be difficult because the carbon fiber layer and the reinforcing fiberglass layer are not perfectly parallel, so it would be a nightmare to drill through those and latch the pin into the engine bay. The main reason for hood pins is because the hood might fly up if the main latch fails. The only reason for the latch failing would be because it is glued on for most carbon hoods since you can't effectively secure it by drilling through the carbon fiber. However, the Seibon hood has the latch hook drilled through the fiberglass, so it has about the same chance of failing as the OEM latch (which is actually a 2-latch system).

Carbon fiber is what's on the outside of the hood, and what you see with the nice weave. The fiberglass is on the inside. I think most single-sided carbon fiber hoods use fiberglass to reinforce the inside, whereas double sided hoods obviously use carbon fiber inside and out.

Fiberglass is cheaper. It is very light-weight, but not as strong as carbon fiber. If you have a fiberglass bumper and a carbon bumper of the same thickness, the carbon fiber will be stronger. If you have a fiberglass bumper and a carbon bumper that are the same strength, it takes a thicker sheet of fiberglass to match the strength of the CF. And it doesn't look as cool, so it's just painted black on the inside of the hood to help reinforce it more. The single sided hood with fiberglass inside versus carbon fiber inside is meant to keep the price down. I would never go for a FULL fiberglass hood/trunk/bumper/anything because fiberglass by itself is pretty weak, even though it will be cheaper. I'll take pics/videos when I can!
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