kitcardirect carbon cycle wings?

[thompster]

Afternoon,

I'm considering some carbon cycle wings to go on lowered wing stays.

Has anyone bought the cf front wings from kitcardirect recently and can give an opinion?  They're wet-lay but a very reasonable £115 a pair.

http://www.kitcardirect.co.uk/caterham-carbon-rounded-front-cycle-wing-mudguards-13-pair.html

The alternative is Ultimate Carbon pre-preg at £195 - no idea if they're worth the extra eighty quid though.

[SM25T]

There was a thread only last week about this supplier .... I recall reservations about their ability to process orders at the moment ?

[Mankee]

Different company I think, Ian. That thread in Chit Chat was about kitcarbitz. Have a word with Essex man Neil Barker (barkalarr, http://www.lotus7.club/users/barkalarr), who has used them before.

Or what about ABS wings, if Caterham/YC Plastics still do them. Light and cheap.

[thompster]

I've found a few people talking about the rear wings they do but they look to be a slightly different construction, edged with gel coated fibreglass.. can't find anything on the fronts though.

Mankee - I'd like to claim this is for unsprung weight but it's purely cosmetic.  My car has a few 'battle scars' but over the next year I plan on smartening it up a bit.  I'll drop Neil a line, thanks for the tip..

[ric355]

I bought a pair from kitcarsdirect a couple of months ago. There are very light but they look to be a wet layup rather than pre-preg carbon, and on the underside they are black and a clearly fibreglass.

At only £115 I don't think you could expect carbon-only construction.

They are lacquered and the finishing isn't all that good. They've been sanded and polished, but the sanding hasn't been done carefully enough as the deeper scratches from the lower grit sandpaper are still evident in a couple of places. There were also a couple of cracks in the surface, probably caused during removal from the mould.

Personally, I don't think they could have failed to notice the cracks and they just sent them out anyway. I didn't complain though because my car is far from a polishers car and they looked better than the ones I was replacing, plus I was on a bit of a deadline.

Even though I have them on the car and did not complain about the quality, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone else. 

You get what you pay for, and for £115 I sort of expected to get what I got ;-)

[thompster]

Thanks ric355 for the very comprehensive write-up.  They sound to be fair for the money, and my car like your isn't (yet!) a polisher's car. That said, in a couple of months time I won't remember the extra 80 quid for the UC ones so will maybe go with them.

Thanks again, James

[Rob Walker]

I bought a full set of wings from kitcarbitz.  It took 3 months for them to complete the order.  On inspection I found star cracks in the gel coat, deep scratches and other marks where the moulds had not been cleaned properly.  Cheap stuff but poor quality if thats your thing, I would avoid.

[thompster]

Thanks Rob.. more useful info.

[simonpa]

Hi - kitcarbitz is a completely different company to kitcardirect.

Kitcardirect do we-lay carbon (I think on top of fibreglass).  Difficult curves are left carbonless - ie, rear wing edges - so f/g with a cosmetic carbon layer on top, then lacquer (as far as I can make out).

Kitcarbitz just do the basics (wings/nose) in standard gelcoat fibreglass.

I'm not associated with either, though will be ordering a set of plastics from kitcarbits next month, when they are back from their hols.

 

[7 wonders of the world]

Just been looking at Kitcarbits on line wondered if anyone can shed any light on following:

The rear wings look to have lost the cut out for the exhaust?

The rear wing mounting lip to the body looks very narrow though?

Has antone seen or tried the GRP seats too, dimnesion wise they are nigh on to CC Tillets and £300 for a pair too?