[ds968]

Porsche offers carbon fiber wheels as an option for some of their top models, at a "modest" price of $ 18,000 a set . I'm told that aftermarket ones can also be found, and customized to various standard sizes for about 2/3 of that cost, but that's no bargain-basement price either . Ummm, just make sure if you get them you don't wnd up with a curb rash ..it won't be a simple sandpaper rub off, and repaint fix . :-( :-(

At the Monterey Rennsport reunion a vendor ( Gunther Werks , I believe ..) had an entire 911 carbon fiber body on display, and they indicated that CF bodies can be customized for just about any car, but I hesitated to ask what the price may be . However, extrapolating from the wheels cost and considering that wheels are much easier to build, I'm going to take a wild guess and say it may be at least $ 250 K , possibly even half a million... ?

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[94SilverCab]

Totally worth it for a 968...

 

Jay

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[ds968]

Goes without saying . Maybe we can even negotiate a group buy ?

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[Cloud9...68]

Carbon fiber body panels are much cheaper to make than carbon fiber wheels.  There are several 944's that have had their entire bodies made of carbon fiber.  I'm sure it wasn't cheap, but nowhere close to $250K.

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[ds968]

Carbon fiber body panels are much cheaper to make than carbon fiber wheels.  There are several 944's that have had their entire bodies made of carbon fiber.  I'm sure it wasn't cheap, but nowhere close to $250K.

Wow, I'm very surprised to hear that ; when I saw that 911 body with all of the panels having multiple and different slopes and curves , etc. it looked like someone must have hand molded and hand finish the shape of every piece to perfection , for weeks or months, whereas I thought the wheels can simply be dropped into a couple of forms and quickly produced , with little more than the cost of the material and of course the initial investment for the tooling. But since I'm not at all familiar with the process of building anything of the sort it was just the initial impression I got when looking at what was a very sophisticated body composition vs. the wheel , which is a wheel , which is a wheel .. ;-) :-)

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[flash]

lol - i think these are like those 6" spiked heels some women have.  not designed to ever touch the ground.  i saw a car in a shop a few years ago that had carbon fiber wheels.  he shattered 2 of them in the first week in a pothole.

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[ds968]

They ADVERTISE them to be much stronger than any alloy or other metal material wheels, and of course at a fraction of the weight . But the strength is definitely a key point they're trying to get across . Apparently that may not be true , or the type of testing done on their strength utilizes criteria and scenarios that are not associated with daily driving road hazards ..?

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[Cloud9...68]

The Mustang GT350R has come with carbon fiber wheels as an option since 2015.  I googled whether there have been issues with them cracking, and didn't find anything, although that doesn't mean it never happened, of course.  Here's a link the descibes how the Mustang's wheels are made - looks like a very complex and expensive process:

 

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/the-4000...ng-gt350r/

 

Also, wheels are exposed to very high levels of heat from the brakes, which requires a special heat-resistant coating, which body panels don't need.  I'm not saying CF body panesl are cheap or easy to make, but compared to wheels, they're relatively straightforward.

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[ds968]

Yeah, I did not think about the load / stress on the wheels and the special reinforcement needed for both that, as well as the heat from the brakes, so it would make sense the engineering and manufacturing process may be more demanding than the body panels .


Funny though, when you open the link to the story the first thing that you see in big bold letters warns against running over a pot hole with the wheel ..

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[flash]

in theory at least, carbon fiber could be stronger than aluminum alloy.  i don't have a lot of information about this.  i have only seen a couple of cars with them.  knowing what i have had happen with potholes though, with some pretty expensive rims, it scared me off.

 

need more technical info

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[Cloud9...68]

Funny though, when you open the link to the story the first thing that you see in big bold letters warns against running over a pot hole with the wheel ..

Yeah, I thought that was kind of strange, since the article itself made no mention about the CF wheels being more susceptible to damage from potholes than aluminum wheels.  I think it was just eluding to how expensive they are in the event of damage.

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[ds968]

I think metal wheels that are bent  ( albeit only slightly so)  can be fixed , whereas it's doubtful the same can be done with CF ones.. somehow I envision the result being similar to a fiberglass body Corvette in an accident ;  broken pieces , shards ,   etc.  all over the place .. :o  :wacko:  

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[flash]

"I think it was just eluding to how expensive they are in the event of damage."

 

roflmao - your freudian slip is showing.  they were probably ALLUDING to how expensive, and ELUDING claims for broken wheels

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[Cloud9...68]

"I think it was just eluding to how expensive they are in the event of damage."

 

roflmao - your freudian slip is showing.  they were probably ALLUDING to how expensive, and ELUDING claims for broken wheels

lol - yeah, guilty as charged...

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[flash]

lol - couldn't help myself - i never said they were good jokes - just plentiful

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