Day 6 - Cars & Carbon Fiber

The conversation goes something like this;

Newbie - “Ohhhhh cool! You guys work with carbon fiber, can you build me a hood for my new car?”

Me – “sure Buddy, what’s your budget for this hood?”

Newbie – “well how much do you think it will cost?”

Me – “well, we’re building just 1 right? So about 9–10 thousand.”

Newbie – “that’s ridiculous! Carbon can’t be that expensive!

Me – “It's not the carbon fiber that’s expensive, it’s the 80+ manhours of work we’ll have to do building the molds to make it. Oh, do you want a polyurethane clear coat on that?”

Building automotive original or aftermarket body parts for cars is not a simple task. It requires the craftsmanship of seasoned professionals who have already made all the mistakes that you can’t afford to make yourself.

Building tooling to produce composite/carbon fiber auto parts is undoubtedly the most time-consuming and expensive part of the process. The quality of the tool is but one factor in the creation of a 1st class, resin-infused carbon fiber finished part.