Carbon Fiber Trunk and Diffuser Installed

[1speedbike]

I bought a carbon trunk and diffuser off a couple of fellow enthusiasts. A friend of mine who is a BMW tech did the install while I sat around and watched, making myself useful every once in a while. I would have had no problem doing the job myself, based on what I saw, but he definitely did a more precise job in a shorter period of time than I could have done, since he has more experience with the sheet metal and body of the car.

The trunk is Seibon. Fit is 7/10 with some weird gaps between it and the sheet metal. Install wasn't too bad according to him. The weave is wonky in some spots, but for the price I got it (less than half of retail for a brand new trunk), I can't complain. It's OEM style, so no fancy lip. The butt looks a little naked now (well.. except for the awesome carbon fiber), so I'm probably going to get an ABS spoiler painted BSM from JBSPEED here on the forums. Other than that, the trunk needed some of the holes for the license plate lights and the handle shaved just a little, but no big deal. The weirdest part was that there is a hole for the keyhole enclosure, but there is a piece of fiberglass behind there that is part of the structure of the trunk lid blocking you from actually inserting the key enclosure there. Not a big deal for most people since the newer cars don't have this key hole, but for my it's a little weird. I knocked 1/10 off for the fit for that reason, even though it's not a big deal for me either. I never use that keyhole.

The diffuser is Scopione, the first generation one, bought new from someone who had sold their 1er a long time ago, had never mounted it, and has been storing it since. Fit is 9/10 if you don't take the tabs into account. The tabs needed to be shaved down quite a bit with a dremmel, and even then it wouldn't fit perfectly. We ended up taking the rear bumper and fenders off altogether, then attaching the diffuser with the tabs and two screws to the bumper, and finally re-attaching the bumper and securing the diffuser with the rest of the screws to the undercarriage. Once the hassle of attaching the diffuser was done, it looked great and sat mostly flush against the bumper. Weave on this piece was very good, probably a little bit better overall than the Seibon trunk. Though it had a few bad "splotches" in a couple of more hidden areas that are much worse than any part of the Seibon weave.

Overall the weave on both would be about a 7/10 - a little bit crooked in spots with some splotches that are just bad, mostly in hidden areas that are a little more intricately curved. Weave is tight all around for both.. no resin showing through, just crooked spots. The finish itself is good, though, with a good color to the carbon fiber itself, and plenty of smooth gloss (hopefully both have UV blocking finishes)... Overall I am happy considering I got these both for the price of an iPad. Way better Christmas gift than that

Overall, I am very happy. Here's a couple of quick pictures I took:





Thanks for looking. Real photoshoot to come when the weather doesn't suck.

[Rukuss]

Originally Posted by 1speedbike

I bought a carbon trunk and diffuser off a couple of fellow enthusiasts. A friend of mine who is a BMW tech did the install while I sat around and watched, making myself useful every once in a while. I would have had no problem doing the job myself, based on what I saw, but he definitely did a more precise job in a shorter period of time than I could have done, since he has more experience with the sheet metal and body of the car.

The trunk is Seibon. Fit is 7/10 with some weird gaps between it and the sheet metal. Install wasn't too bad according to him. The weave is wonky in some spots, but for the price I got it (less than half of retail for a brand new trunk), I can't complain. It's OEM style, so no fancy lip. The butt looks a little naked now (well.. except for the awesome carbon fiber), so I'm probably going to get an ABS spoiler painted BSM from JBSPEED here on the forums. Other than that, the trunk needed some of the holes for the license plate lights and the handle shaved just a little, but no big deal. The weirdest part was that there is a hole for the keyhole enclosure, but there is a piece of fiberglass behind there that is part of the structure of the trunk lid blocking you from actually inserting the key enclosure there. Not a big deal for most people since the newer cars don't have this key hole, but for my it's a little weird. I knocked 1/10 off for the fit for that reason, even though it's not a big deal for me either. I never use that keyhole.

The diffuser is Scopione, the first generation. Fit is 9/10 if you don't take the tabs into account. The tabs needed to be shaved down quite a bit with a dremmel, and even then it wouldn't fit perfectly. We ended up taking the rear bumper and fenders off together, and attaching the diffuser with the tabs and two screws to the bumper, then re-attaching the bumper and securing the diffuser to the rest of the screws to the undercarriage. Once the hassle of attaching the diffuser was done, it looked great and sat mostly flush against the bumper. Weave on this piece was very good, probably a little bit better overall than the Seibon trunk. Though it had a few bad "splotches" in a couple of more hidden areas that are much worse than any part of the Seibon weave.

Overall, I am very happy. Here's a couple of quick pictures I took:





Thanks for looking. Real photoshoot to come when the weather doesn't suck.

Looks good cant wait to see more

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by Rukuss

Looks good cant wait to see more

Thanks man!

I posted a more complete set of pics from a quick photoshoot I did today, in case you're interested:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=791834

[135Pats]

Trunk looks aggressive with the blacklines. Me likey.

[Angerman]

I've been wanting to get a CF trunk but keep thinking back and forth

[RimasRS]

Is this one oem or CSL style. Looks really good.

I was always wondering how good hood and trunk for daily use of the car closing opening is it ok? How are the trunk seals doing during winter time?

[Sylon]

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.

[Brian@MWP]

Looks amazing! Whats next ? Maybe a front lip!

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by RimasRS

Is this one oem or CSL style. Looks really good.

I was always wondering how good hood and trunk for daily use of the car closing opening is it ok? How are the trunk seals doing during winter time?

So far I've had the hood for almost 2 years, and the trunk for a few days haha. I'm only using one trunk lid shock for the trunk since it's so light and using two turns it into a catapult, so if the shock ever goes bad, I have a spare

But the hood has stood up fine to daily driving abuse. It has the same connections and locks as the stock hood, and the seibon version I have isn't two-sided, so it's reinforced with fiberglass. Also, hood pins aren't necessary, since the locking mechanism isn't glued on like on full non-fiberglass carbon fiber trunks that can't be drilled through, so there's much less danger of the hood flying up during driving. As for the trunk seals, they seal up just fine with the seibon trunk, even though the fit is a little off. It's still symmetrical, but it's a little lower near the rear glass. Other than that, it seals up fine. Can't speak for the longevity, but the seals haven't been changed in the 4 1/2 years I've had the car.

Originally Posted by Angerman

I've been wanting to get a CF trunk but keep thinking back and forth

I honestly wasn't going crazy for one, but found a deal I couldn't pass up and had extra Christmas money from an iPad gift I returned. For about the same amount of money as that iPad, I got the trunk and diffuser. WAY better But seriously, the trunk is actually pretty cool. It's very light, but I feel like the weight needs to be lifted more from the front than the back. The weave isn't the best, it required a bit of "fine tuning" in terms of drilling through a few punch-out holes to attach the interior insulation, and despite having a hole for the key mechanism, it doesn't fit, so I wouldn't have paid 4 digits for this trunk. It's still awesome, but even if it was a perfect quality trunk, it's not a must-have thing. The diffuser, though, is pretty cool. It's a subtle touch, but I think it complements the car perfectly. I would get the diffuser over a trunk.

Originally Posted by Sylon

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.

I will take some tomorrow in the daylight I haven't gotten any close ups with a real camera, just iPhone pics.. which don't really show much. This post has iPhone shots, but I'm assuming you already found my more in depth photo shoot from my link up above, but the diffuser isn't close up in those. I'll take some pics, including some of the kinda blotchy areas (which aren't a huge deal at all).

Originally Posted by Brian@MWP

Looks amazing! Whats next ? Maybe a front lip!

Thanks! I always want a front lip, but my bumper is cursed. It's currently cracked, scraped, bumped, and chipped. It's always gotten so many tiny chips for no reason since the day I bought the car. But still, I'd consider a front lip if it fits my BMW performance aero bumper. So far the only one I found was the OEM BMW performance one and it's too expensive for something that will probably get banged up.

[RimasRS]

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

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by Sylon

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.

Originally Posted by RimasRS

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!

[1speedbike]

Just a small update.

I ordered an ABS spoiler painted BSM from JBSPEED here on the forums. Shipping was very fast - I ordered last thursday or friday and got it yesterday, from taiwan. Customer service was also great.

There are a couple things I noticed. The spoiler is a VERY slightly different shape than the CF one I had. It looks almost the exact same, but there is a bit more of a slope where the spoiler meets the top of the trunk. Also, there is a very small ridge along the edges of the bottom side of the spoiler where you have to put the tape. This ridge is awesome because you can line the tape right up against it very easily and the tape won't peek out or anything while the spoiler will sit flush with the trunk lid. This made application very easy and helped ease my worries because my tape peeked out of my old spoiler.

A couple of negatives.. there is a very small smudge on the paint, though this isn't big enough for me to cause any issue over it. Also, the center area of the spoiler tends to lift up a little. I could probably fix this by applying some pressure for a while and letting the tape stick better, but the edges on this spoiler are very easy to get "right" which was a big problem I had on the previous spoiler - the edges kept wanting to lift up. I don't want to take a chance by pressing down in the center and having the edges pop back up and have to go through that nightmare again.

JBSPEED provided me with plenty of tape to line the edges of the spoiler, but I also stuck a big fat piece of my own tape right in the center to help hold everything down. I also used a heat gun to get the glue on the tape nice and sticky right before mounting, since I was doing this outside in the winter and everything was very cold. The heat gun really helped and everything stick nicely and very quickly.

All in all, for the price paid, you can't really beat this despite the couple of hiccups. All in all, JBSPEED is awesome!

Here's a pic, but I posted some more on my thread about this trunk/diffuser in the pictures section here: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=791834

[BrokenVert]

Andre that diffuser is from the very first batch of scorpion cf diffusers. Doesnt surprise me that the weave Isn't perfect.


Your car looks sick tho. If only youd come out to meets!

[miro2296]

Pieces look really good! Beautiful dog too!

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

Andre that diffuser is from the very first batch of scorpion cf diffusers. Doesnt surprise me that the weave Isn't perfect.


Your car looks sick tho. If only youd come out to meets!

Lol I'm both busy and lazy. You guys are crazy, waking up at 5 on Sundays for cruises and whatnot!

And yeah the weave isn't perfect but oh well. I learned that expecting a perfect CF weave only ever leads to thousands of dollars spent or disappointment.

Originally Posted by miro2296

Pieces look really good! Beautiful dog too!

Thanks, for both compliments! Zeus is the absolute best buddy I could ever ask for