I want to make panels for the exterior of my car and I need to know what material is going to be the best.

Carbon Fibre
Carbon Kevlar
Fibre Glass

The whole exterior of the car will be done in the material I end up using including a custom skirt kit that I will be making.
The car will mainly be driven on the street but will be autoXed as well as dragged.
Im looking for the strongest one basically and if its lighter than the stock panels, sweet!:p

Thanks for you help

 

You are going to fab doors panels and quarter panels? That's a big job...

Fiberglass and carbon fibre don't differ that much in terms of effort, except CF is a more expensive. If you want something that looks nice and strong, CF is the only way to go. Get prepared to take panels down and make a lot of molds.

I don't know much about Kevlar.

 

Yeah Im fabbin everything, doors, rocker, quarter, hood, etc.
I know its a big job, but I need something to do!
Ive already looked into the steps needed to fabricate fibre glass and carbon fibre (im assumin that carbon kevlar is the same as CF).
Ive also looked into how much they each cost, so...
I just dont know which one would be good for the exterior of the car in terms of strength and wieght.

 

There are several types.
Carbon fiber has two types.
Dry carbon and wet carbon.
There is big difference.
Dry carbon is the best in quality and weight.
But, it is very costly.
FRP, Wet carbon, Kevlar and Polycarbonate make little difference.

 

Any of those materials will weigh less than stock if they are made right. Go to the bookstore and read up. I think there is one at my Barnes&Noble called Composite Fabrication that is really good. The best/stiffest/most expensive is pre-preg carbon fibre. Most of them require an autoclave though. Wet lay-up is easy, but if you want that cool carbon fibre weave to show through, you must be careful and patient. Wet lay-up fibreglass is EASY. I made my wing in fibreglass weave over foam. (Just the cheap house insulating 4x8 foam.)
Unidirectional CF is strongest but you must use perpindicular or otherwise crossing layers. You must be patient enough to do many layers and bond them in the "green cure" stage for the best adhesion between layers. That goes for all layered FRP's.

Anyway, good luck!

 

Coo, thanks for the info and help guys!
I'll have to check out that book that you mentioned there.

 

I have done fiberglass before at a auto manufactoring plant. I would say it would be pretty much impossible for someone to just pick up the art of laying carbon. To get the the lightness and strength that the production houses use, they have lots of machines that help them along the way. IE vacuums, bags, presses. You would be better off purchasing someone elses work than trying to do it on your own. I would recommend "Aircraft Spruce Company" if you are going to try to do it yourself, they have alot of the materials and instructional books and videos you'll need.
LUKE

 

Agree with Luke. If you have to ask the question, that means you know nothing about composite fabrication. This is not a project for newbie.

 

Mazda motorsports sell complete FG and CF FD IMSA-GT2 bodies. They are made by Downing-Atlanta. $10275 for a complete CF kit.
-MP

 

Yeah, I would not recomend a beginner doing structural stuff in FRP. I think this guy wanted more cosmetic/outer body stuff. That's not too difficult to do in wet-layup. Besides, I think we would all encourage PRACTICE! Start small and with 'glass because it's cheap and work into CF.