Carbon Fiber Body Parts: Real vs Fake (Water Transfer)

[ShelbyGT5HUN]

I gotta be honest. I always hated "fake" carbon fiber. It used to come as an adhesive sheet, now they can use a method called "water transfer", then clear coat it, and the effect is impossible to detect, unless of course you pick it up. I looked into some of the real pieces offered for the GT500, and they are so expensive, and many have had fitment issues. If I had stacks of money to waste, yeah I would spend all of it on the real carbon product, I think it would look great on the car.

What's the general opinion on the use of this "real" fake looking carbon fiber? Is it looked upon like putting a VTEC sticker on your car? I'm still on the fence about doing it, but leaning more towards "don't do it". Just curious for some feedback on what you think when you see a car with fake carbon fiber. Be brutally honest :burn::thumbsup:

Some pieces I would like to do are: the air extractor on the hood, the lip of the front spoiler, just the Gurney flap, perhaps the upper radiator cover plate, the rear valence, mirrors, possibly the radio button steering wheel trim.

Thanks!

 

[Black Cobra '99]

I don't like the fake ones either, and I'll never put them on my car.
That said, its your car and you can do whatever you want with it. No one will notice the difference so it doesn't matter, the question is does it matter to you?

 

[ShelbyGT5HUN]

I feel it will cheapen the car, even though you couldn't tell the difference. So I would lean towards not doing it.

 

[Imatk]

In my opinion, the GT500 exterior is perfect. I don't think it needs augmenting AT ALL... aside from the wheels. I'm not a huge fan of the wheels, but I don't think they look bad either.

But like Black Cobra said it's your car so do what you like.

Honestly I don't even care for the Super Snake look. I mean the hood is kind of cool, and the wheels are awesome, but the rest of the stuff just seems too much to me, but I'm sure my opinion is the minority.

 

[Black Sex]

I'm actually looking at having my rockers, extractor, splitter and rear diffuser either painted or dipped this year. I personally think my car looks cheap since it's black with grayish colored trim

 

[GT Premi]

I'm thinking about getting the True Fiber pieces for my car. I don't know if it's real or fake. The description on the site is a bit ambiguous to me. At the price they charge for the parts, I hope it's real; about $4.5K total for the parts I want! Does anybody know if it's real? It's pretty convincing looking.

What do I think about fake carbon fiber parts? I don't like them, especially the obvious fakes. Even car manufacturers are guilty of that one.

 

[michael kellam]

I think the 3m dinoc CF vinyl looked more real then the hydro dipping.

 

[SVTrojan]

If I had the money, I'd start with a TruCarbon rear valance. Can't stand all the plastic back there. I've never seen the hydro-dipped valance in person, but it has to look better than the stock textured plastic. Then again, I think if you just smoothed the piece and painted it gloss black, it would look great too.

 

[bFoxGt500]

I am not a fan of fake when the its a pretense to real functionality. But, much (not all) of the carbon fiber stuff for these cars is strictly for appearance and not performance, so you can consider the 'fake' as simply an appearance upgrade. Then, it's just matter of taste.

 

[03 DSG Snake]

I think the 3m dinoc CF vinyl looked more real then the hydro dipping.

Hydrodipped Carbon looks very fake in person.

 

[michael kellam]

OP i would web search DI-NOC CF from 3M. the results are very good. there is a good amount of images online of it on our type of cars.

 

[el jefe 302]

I used DI-NOC from 3M on my instrument cluster bezels. I think it came out good.












The trick is don't overdo it. Hydro Dipping is flat and has no texture. Di-NOC feels real however in the end it's still vinyl.

 

[Robert M]

Hydrodipped Carbon looks very fake in person.

I believe, but am not positive that these are/were Hydro dipped CF..............

^^^^They have a very similar look to my original Super Snake CF splitter and the KR CF splitter that I currently have on my car.


R

 

[CodyK7]

Those wheels are hydro dipped for sure. I personally think hydrodippef stuff looks like shit and doesn't look anything like carbon fiber.

I wrapped my hood and roof with 3m carbon fiber vinyl. I liked the look of it but wanted the real thing. I just bought a carbon fiber hood and put it on and it looks so much better.

 

[CodyK7]

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[CodyK7]

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[TaraFirma]

It's all about taste. I have a hydro dipped heat extractor piece on my Shelby, and it looks great. Way better than the flat black piece that came on it. Fake CF can be overdone though. On non functioning pieces ie. 5.0 engine cover, coil covers I don't think it looks that bad. If you like it, that's all that matters.

 

[Alejandro5.0]

I couldn't go to sleep knowing it was fake

 

[ShelbyGT5HUN]

Thanks for the replies so far. Good advice both ways.

 

[Imatk]

I used DI-NOC from 3M on my instrument cluster bezels. I think it came out good.

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The trick is don't overdo it. Hydro Dipping is flat and has no texture. Di-NOC feels real however in the end it's still vinyl.

Ok that carbon fiber on the guage barrel is just friggin cool.

I love subtlety like that.