Sunday, February 13, 2011

Carbon Fiber Usage in the Body-Work of Cars

Carbon fiber has been used to get the weight of performance vehicles down for some time now. Carbon fiber hoods and spoilers are popular in the after-market world due to ease of installation and stand-out looks. A carbon fiber roof (like on the BMW M3) lowers the center of gravity in addition to the overall weight, reducing roll. Carbon fiber wheels though rare, increase acceleration and deceleration. Performance companies recently have started testing with carbon fiber bumpers. Traditional bumpers put a large damper on handling and acceleration because they are very heavy and the furthest points from the cars center. Making street-legal bumpers out of such a rigid material is a great challenge, and they would be very expensive to replace in a crash. Since carbon fiber is associated with expensive cars, carbon fiber "decals" which are sometimes just plastic can be purchased. The root of carbon fiber is racing, so sticking a thick piece of plastic, or even real carbon fiber on just for looks is somewhat disgraceful. It is similar to nonfunctional hood scoops.

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