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ALB453

Carbon Bumpers anyone?

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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today I would like to offer you the opportunity to have your say/ show your interest in a carbin fibre front bumper (or any other bits you want custom fabricating.

If you've seen my BRZ, you'll know I'm a fan of carbon fibre.Because of this I have been in contact with a company that custom makes carbon fibre parts for motorsport racing teams. They generally make the undertrays, diffusers, splitters, wings, various body panels, full carbon bodies for gt/lm cars ( they even did a full carbon body for a nissan gtr road car!).

This company has agreed to custom fab me a front bumper out of CF to match all of the oem mountings and such. 

To make the bumper they would have to take a mould, and obviously it would come out as the BRZ shape.

Would people be interested in buying one if the price was right? 

If enought interest was shown for the 86's on here then I can also get an 86 mould made so they can be produced.

Now the reason why I have posted this and asked if anybody would be interested is because to get this bumper made just for my car, Is because the company wont have any use for the mould afterwards, so have nothing to cover the cost of it being made, other than me paying for it.

Now I am not opposed to the idea of forking out a few extra £££ for something one off, but I thought I'd give all of you guys the chance to be a part of the first ever (globally) batch of carbon front bumpers. 

As the cost of the mould being produced could be rather steep, the price for the bumpers will reflect that. In turn, if there's lots of you interested then the bumper gets cheaper, and if there is serious numbers interested, then i'll be able to get the cost right down.

Ive yet to be given the numbers about how much everything is going to cost, i'll post wherever necessary when I get that information. This thread is purely to gage interest.

Ontop of the above, is there any bits people want making thatwould universally fit the brz/86? If there is enough demand for any part no matter how big or small I can have it made... all carbon is FULL carbon too, none of the off the shelf CFRP like my car is covered in, meaning that the underside of the panel will look as pretty as the outside. I plan on having a new bonnet made so that when i have it open the underside looks as good as the top! :)

Sorry for the essay, and ontop of that the poor grammer! (The joys of typing on a smartphone and not quite knowing how to convey your point )

Hope to hear from you guys soon

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22 minutes ago, Deacon said:

Although this will look nice it won't be very day to day practical as cf will crack and break if you cach it rather than bend like the oem plastic bumpers won't it?

You'd be surprised, it can be more brittle, however if you rely on your bumper being able to bemd and flex then really you shouldn't be driving.

My BRZ is 45mm lower than stock and I have a CF varis front splitter, the worst I've done is scuff my splitter on the occasional speedbump... 

I wouldnt say it would make the world of difference, the worst that could happen would be the CF would crack, then it can just be repaired by re lacquering and polishing...

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Have they given you a ballpark figure for a tool, I'm sure I was told they're a good couple of grand which means you'll probably need a fair few people to make it worth wild, I've trained up some people who specialised in fibreglass and carbon fibre and the idea did cross my mind when I had my crash.


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8 minutes ago, Keethos said:

Have they given you a ballpark figure for a tool, I'm sure I was told they're a good couple of grand which means you'll probably need a fair few people to make it worth wild, I've trained up some people who specialised in fibreglass and carbon fibre and the idea did cross my mind when I had my crash.

 

Ive been told the mould is be less than 4 figures, if i want one of each theybsaid they would do it at a discounted rate, or I could pay a little extra and own the rights to the mould (s) :)

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I think you have a bit of a problem in that hardly anyone has a BRZ and nobody with a GT86 is going to want a BRZ front bumper. 

Also I'm not sure what the advantage is of carbon fibre. It might be a bit lighter, but the plastic ones will hardly weigh a huge amount. 

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2 minutes ago, Lauren said:

I think you have a bit of a problem in that hardly anyone has a BRZ and nobody with a GT86 is going to want a BRZ front bumper. 

Also I'm not sure what the advantage is of carbon fibre. It might be a bit lighter, but the plastic ones will hardly weigh a huge amount. 

As above, it can be the 86 bumper, or the hybrid of the two the APR one.

The same could be argued with the carbon fenders in regards to weight reduction. The aesthetics of it would be the main appeal I'd imagine, and if people like myself that are swapping out what they can for carbon then in the long run every little helps :) 

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The point of carbon fibre was always either aesthetics or weight saving. 

In the past, if you wanted weight saving and aesthetics, you got real carbon fibre. If you wanted aesthetics, you got things wrapped to look like carbon fibre.

The bumpers are already light enough, so the weight saving aspect is irrelevant. Surely if you just want the aesthetics, getting the bumper wrapped achieves that.

At the point where you go real carbon just for aesthetics, you've done it so you can brag about having real carbon, but from memory, I'm sure when I looked at your car at Japfest there were a few panels which were just covered in a carbon skin as opposed to being real carbon (the roof and perhaps the fenders also from memory?), so with that being the case, is it really worth spending hundreds, or perhaps thousands of pounds on real carbon, when other parts of the car are just covered/wrapped anyway?

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29 minutes ago, Keethos said:

Lauren hardly anyone gets carbon fibre bits for the 86 to save wait

(Weight?) But if you're going to paint it as let's face it I can't see it looking good unpainted, there's really no benefit. 

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3 minutes ago, Tareim said:

@S18 RSG there will never be a carbon fibre wrap that will look anywhere near as good as true genuine carbon fibre

A carbon wrap is maybe £100.

A carbon bumper is maybe £1000.

Worth it?

Plus, re-iterate my final point, various parts of his car aren't genuine carbon, just carbon skins/covers.

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BTW, if it's done for aestetics .. IIRC there was one cheap trim in JDM, with steelies for wheels & unpainted bumpers, especially for those that intend to mod it in track day car. It looked FUGLY! There are parts, that look good, if contrasting with body paint (eg. roof, fender garnish, stripe under sidewindows, some small bits), but whole front bumper?
Have you guys really checked out how it will look with just bumper in CF looks? And if you'll "fix" that with painting in body color, where is CF's aesthetics part then?

BTW, imho it wouldn't be lookwise that bad, if front bumper wouldn't be visual continuation of bonnet, and be visually just underside/bumper part, like many older cars are. But as it isn't .. there is reason, why most aftermarket bumpers for toyobaru are body color painted aswell.

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3 hours ago, S18 RSG said:

The point of carbon fibre was always either aesthetics or weight saving. 

In the past, if you wanted weight saving and aesthetics, you got real carbon fibre. If you wanted aesthetics, you got things wrapped to look like carbon fibre.

The bumpers are already light enough, so the weight saving aspect is irrelevant. Surely if you just want the aesthetics, getting the bumper wrapped achieves that.

At the point where you go real carbon just for aesthetics, you've done it so you can brag about having real carbon, but from memory, I'm sure when I looked at your car at Japfest there were a few panels which were just covered in a carbon skin as opposed to being real carbon (the roof and perhaps the fenders also from memory?), so with that being the case, is it really worth spending hundreds, or perhaps thousands of pounds on real carbon, when other parts of the car are just covered/wrapped anyway?

The only thing that is a cover is the roof, the arches ( if you couldn't tell from the way that they fit) are 100% real carbon also, the doors are CFRP which the entire outer layer of the door being a carbon shell but the insides of it that hold the cards FRP.

Wrapping never looks the same, of it did, why would people ever buy the real thing?

On your note about bragging, I don't share thst view point. Its about not cutting corners and being half arsed, if the most part of it has been done properly why not do the rest in suit?

Granted your point about weight saving is valid, the difference will be unnoticeable, but it's still there, the replacement part will be lighter and more robust. 

Heck, I'm not trying to sell you one, I'm just seeing if people would be interested :)

3 hours ago, Tareim said:

@S18 RSG there will never be a carbon fibre wrap that will look anywhere near as good as true genuine carbon fibre

The above member understands ( thumbs up emoji ) :)

3 hours ago, S18 RSG said:

A carbon wrap is maybe £100.

A carbon bumper is maybe £1000.

Worth it?

Plus, re-iterate my final point, various parts of his car aren't genuine carbon, just carbon skins/covers.

There is only one 'skin/cover' that is the roof panel. This is due to the fact that at the time seibon didnt do a replacement roof panel for it like they do now. This  (singular) cover was fitted as a decision by the previous owner.

 

3 hours ago, Church said:

BTW, if it's done for aestetics .. IIRC there was one cheap trim in JDM, with steelies for wheels & unpainted bumpers, especially for those that intend to mod it in track day car. It looked FUGLY! There are parts, that look good, if contrasting with body paint (eg. roof, fender garnish, stripe under sidewindows, some small bits), but whole front bumper?
Have you guys really checked out how it will look with just bumper in CF looks? And if you'll "fix" that with painting in body color, where is CF's aesthetics part then?

BTW, imho it wouldn't be lookwise that bad, if front bumper wouldn't be visual continuation of bonnet, and be visually just underside/bumper part, like many older cars are. But as it isn't .. there is reason, why most aftermarket bumpers for toyobaru are body color painted aswell.

I take it you havent seen my car :P it wouldnt just be the carbon front bumper, look at my profile and you'll understand my interest. I understand your point though, and I completely agree thst if someone just brought a CF front bumper and no other mods it'd look silly.

 

3 hours ago, Deacon said:

They're not my thing but good luck with it 🖒

Thanks :)

Are you sure they're not your thing? It'd look good against the black ? ;)

I joke, cheers again though :)

36 minutes ago, Ztox said:

I think he just wants a carbon fibre bumper regardless :lol:

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner ;)

 

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Then imho it should go with CF wrap on .. hmm .. at least all around lower half of car body. Or at least i'd play a lot in photoshop to find out what else to wrap, to get good enough & of consistent style overall looks with such bumper fitted. Or make such bumper two part - body color till lower line of front headlights, and below that - CF.

I once also was interested in one CF part, not for aethetic reasons though. But custom one-off part costs put me off. As in i wanted bumper & engine protection pan from CF for weight savings (vs eg. alu part) & finally protect somewhat bottom & front of our .. "bulldozer shaped" :) that can easily dig into snow and very low from ground, thus easy to scrape, front bumper for a bit more rallyish use on gravel & snow/icy roads. College with WRX was more lucky, due WRX/STI being more common and more often used for rallies, hence his wasn't custom one-off. But prices for me were cited 450eur model/560eur for mold/430eur for part itself. Of course as there are only few GT86 in Latvia and most probably almost no-one of their owners will think of rallying those, almost certainly first two steps had to be paid by just me, hence tripling price.

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7 minutes ago, Church said:

Then imho it should go with CF wrap on .. hmm .. at least all around lower half of car body. Or at least i'd play a lot in photoshop to find out what else to wrap, to get good enough & of consistent style overall looks with such bumper fitted. Or make such bumper two part - body color till lower line of front headlights, and below that - CF.

I once also was interested in one CF part, not for aethetic reasons though. But custom one-off part costs put me off. As in i wanted bumper & engine protection pan from CF for weight savings (vs eg. alu part) & finally protect somewhat bottom & front of our .. "bulldozer shaped" :) that can easily dig into snow and very low from ground, thus easy to scrape, front bumper for a bit more rallyish use on gravel & snow/icy roads. College with WRX was more lucky, due WRX/STI being more common and more often used for rallies, hence his wasn't custom one-off. But prices for me were cited 450eur model/560eur for mold/430eur for part itself. Of course as there are only few GT86 in Latvia and most probably almost no-one of their owners will think of rallying those, almost certainly first two steps had to be paid by just me, hence tripling price.

I totally see where you're coming from, but if you saw the rest of my car you'd see why I'm against just wrapping my car to match :)

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1 hour ago, ALB453 said:

The only thing that is a cover is the roof, the arches ( if you couldn't tell from the way that they fit) are 100% real carbon also, the doors are CFRP which the entire outer layer of the door being a carbon shell but the insides of it that hold the cards FRP.

Wrapping never looks the same, of it did, why would people ever buy the real thing?

On your note about bragging, I don't share thst view point. Its about not cutting corners and being half arsed, if the most part of it has been done properly why not do the rest in suit?

Granted your point about weight saving is valid, the difference will be unnoticeable, but it's still there, the replacement part will be lighter and more robust. 

Heck, I'm not trying to sell you one, I'm just seeing if people would be interested :)

You know what, I just deleted about 5 paragraphs answering you, because as I've learned many times on here, and generally around internet forums, my opinion counts for shit and you're gonna do what you want anyway. Why make myself look like a dick and try and make you see another perspective, when it's a complete waste of both our time :P

If you truly believe the best use of your money is to buy a carbon fibre bumper, you go right ahead and do that :)

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@Church as you can see, it wont just be my bumper that is carbon fibre :)received_10154043168135561.jpeg

7 hours ago, S18 RSG said:

You know what, I just deleted about 5 paragraphs answering you, because as I've learned many times on here, and generally around internet forums, my opinion counts for shit and you're gonna do what you want anyway. Why make myself look like a dick and try and make you see another perspective, when it's a complete waste of both our time :P

If you truly believe the best use of your money is to buy a carbon fibre bumper, you go right ahead and do that :)

Your opinion does count, and I understand all of your points, and for the most part I agree with you that in that it is an impractical exercise.

However,  it everybody wants to be practical all of the time :)

 

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56 minutes ago, ALB453 said:

Your opinion does count, and I understand all of your points, and for the most part I agree with you that in that it is an impractical exercise.

However,  it everybody wants to be practical all of the time :)

My point isn't practicality really. Realistically, nothing I've even done to my car is practical (it's lower, no longer has usable back seats, has a loud exhaust etc.). My point is more about being sensible.

I've been around the modified car forum scene for over 10 years. I've seen my fair share of people spending thousands on their cars for various reasons, and seen my fair share of failures and disappointments in the aftermath (especially when spending money for the purpose of getting attention or impressing others).

I was just trying to get you to think about WHY you want to spend so much money on something so unnecessary. If you are doing it to impress people, you're following a dangerous path.

That's all I'll say about this. It really doesn't matter to me what you do, it's you rmoney haha. I'm just trying to be Mr. Sensible.

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23 minutes ago, S18 RSG said:

My point isn't practicality really. Realistically, nothing I've even done to my car is practical (it's lower, no longer has usable back seats, has a loud exhaust etc.). My point is more about being sensible.

I've been around the modified car forum scene for over 10 years. I've seen my fair share of people spending thousands on their cars for various reasons, and seen my fair share of failures and disappointments in the aftermath (especially when spending money for the purpose of getting attention or impressing others).

I was just trying to get you to think about WHY you want to spend so much money on something so unnecessary. If you are doing it to impress people, you're following a dangerous path.

That's all I'll say about this. It really doesn't matter to me what you do, it's you rmoney haha. I'm just trying to be Mr. Sensible.

 

23 minutes ago, S18 RSG said:

My point isn't practicality really. Realistically, nothing I've even done to my car is practical (it's lower, no longer has usable back seats, has a loud exhaust etc.). My point is more about being sensible.

I've been around the modified car forum scene for over 10 years. I've seen my fair share of people spending thousands on their cars for various reasons, and seen my fair share of failures and disappointments in the aftermath (especially when spending money for the purpose of getting attention or impressing others).

I was just trying to get you to think about WHY you want to spend so much money on something so unnecessary. If you are doing it to impress people, you're following a dangerous path.

That's all I'll say about this. It really doesn't matter to me what you do, it's you rmoney haha. I'm just trying to be Mr. Sensible.

I completely 100% understand your view on people spending money on their car to impress others, I've know people spend stupid stupid stupid amounts amounts of money and have failed drastically, however in this particular situation its entirely for me :)

The things I do to my car are because I like /want them, I couldn't give a flying **** what others thought haha, and once I've added something I like to share it because I like it.

Had the bumper been just to impress people it would've been wrapped the second I brought the car.. 

Referencing back to your point about the covers (as it ties in with the above), I've made it my goal to eliminate the roof panel, however that would also entail a reapray, which I cant quite justify as when I get the paint redone I'm having everything stripped out so it'll look like a factory job. This also means I need my full cage fitting before hand..

My point is, as its because I like the CF bumper and want it for myself, just having it wrapped would bug the hell out of me, even if it looked exactly like the real thing...

As above though, I completely understand your concern and it isn't really very sensible, but personally I still think it'd be pretty neat:)

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I don't really understand any benefits from having a carbon bumper Alan?

Ok it might look cool but it's a lot of money for something that can easily be damaged. Good luck with it but not for me :)

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