2G Anyone interested in a Carbon Fiber roof?

[TSiAWD666]

The price for our opening batch was 950, you're right. He found the materials and labor to be more than his guess and said he needs to charge a bit more to make it worth his while. So the price increased.

 

[TSiAWD666]

So my roof install has been in progress for the past week. My old roof weighed in at about 40lbs. Yes, 40lbs. Mine had a lot of filler and fiberglass from when they filled in the sunroof hole, and still had some heavy metal straps underneath. Still I was quite surprised it was THAT heavy. I forgot to take pictures of the old roof pieces but I've asked some be taken and will post them when I get them.

Here's the picture of my roof removed. Note I've removed a significant amount more than Phil did.

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The toughest part about this has been the paint work on the roof. I'm having the roof panel mostly clearcoated (for UV protection), though the shop insists on keeping a black line of paint between the A and C pillars in a line up to that long groove we have above the door frames. The challenge is the porosity of the material makes painting a pain in the ass as it leaves lots and lots of small holes for the paint to draw into and leave pits after painting. I'm waiting on pics of this too though I've seen the panel in person and it's quite noticeable. This is the same issue they had when painting my wing many years ago, though it's worse this time (they're at I think 4 coats of clear already). The porosity comes from DHP trying to minimize the resin for weight which can leave some pinholes he said (and why he recommended vinyl covering instead of paint for this).

 

[DJRace]

Why does the shop insist on those lines?

 

[TSiAWD666]

It's really just aesthetics. He swears it will look better so the roof looks... integrated and not just a cap that suddenly ends at the pillars. It will let him do some blend work (because the paint will hide it) where the cap meets the metal of the pillars. Sometimes I trust their decisions, sometimes I don't... I'm deciding to trust him on this.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Install's done. Came out very nicely. There were issues but they're minor, at least to me using this for racing.

1. The porosity of the carbon fiber was a major challenge. They did something like 20 coats of clear, sanding it down to almost nothing every 3-4 to keep weight down. At one point they sat down with a toothpick and poked clear coat at the little pits. Eventually they had to call it quits so there are still a very small number of spots where there are pits on the surface.
2. The a-pillars are not blended smooth for fear of cracking. With there now being two dissimilar materials there they worried any filler would crack over time. So all they put there was adhesive, and then as you see painted over it thus leaving the visual indention where the two sections meet. They believe the adhesive there is somewhat flexible and shouldn't crack. We'll see how this holds up.
3. There is a small depression in the middle area of the roof. Hard to say why, could have been the part was pulled slightly too early, or maybe it was left resting upside down too long (perhaps in shipment), maybe a mold flaw, or possibly an issue with the vacuum bagging like a port being there. I never saw it on the raw part, but under the fluorescent lights of the body shop with the clear coat I can see it (I am pretty detail oriented so I notice things easily). I don't think outdoors it's really going to be noticeable, and since it's a race car I really don't mind it and will just get over it I did let DHP know about the issue and he's investigating, but for me there's nothing to be done.
4. The edges of the panel above the doors had some fabrication issues. They looked like someone had scraped the edges and filled them with some sort of black material. DHP explained there had been air bubbles there and he had to manually fill them with black epoxy, after which he manually smoothed down the surface. While on my now non-show car this might have been a minor thing when just clear coated, it might bother some. Either way since my body guys insisted on the black paint from A pillar to C pillar we can't see any of it. Oh and now that the car's all put back together and clean, I think I do actually like the black paint above the doors.

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[pksystems]

Bit late, but is there any kevlar in the roof panel? When I made the panel for my other project I added a couple layers to give the panel some impact resistance since carbon tends to shatter unlike the oem steel crumpling. Still looks great.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Bit late, but is there any kevlar in the roof panel? When I made the panel for my other project I added a couple layers to give the panel some impact resistance since carbon tends to shatter unlike the oem steel crumpling. Still looks great.

In the three panels made there isn't anything but carbon fiber. I imagine it's a possibility in future panels should buyers request it and DHP has Kevlar on hand or is willing to buy some.

 

[jakelandry]

I know I commented on this previously with concern for the lack of rigidity going from a steel to carbon roof but after staring at my car for a few hours and with zero evidence other than overthinking, I feel this may be a good idea after all.

For one, the type of person who is interested in this will be someone with a full cage gusseted to the pillars to begin with which offers substantial rigidity.

Second, the bare roof skin weighs more than I originally anticipated after cutting mine off. I would say north of 15lbs just from picking it up a few times. That may not sound like much but 10lbs at head level is a bad place to have an additional 10 lbs.

Third, non sunroof dsm's are decently hard to come by and once you find one you have to cut the roof off with a sawzal, trash all the windows and interior/wiring, then you still have to drill the spot welds. Either that or spend more time at a junk yard than I care to. It took me probably north of 8 hours to get my roof skin from a doner car to ready to install on my current car, excluding removing the roof to be replaced.

I'm in the middle of moving right now but I intend to update this post with exact weights of the bare metal skins of both sunroof and non sunroof skins for future searches.

Also Fourth, the cf looks amazing.

 

[Apache]

When I sent the original panel is to be used for a mold, it weighed 18.5# (give or a take 1/4#). And yes, I would say that to use this EXACT panel you would want a full cage. The cage is the main reason that I will not be installing mine any time soon.

 

[RWD4G63]

Is DHP composites still around? I can’t find contact them for them anywhere.

 

[1AE3]

Do you still have this?

 

[TSiAWD666]

The item is made to order. If you want one msg me your email address and I will put you in touch with DHP.

 

[1AE3]

The item is made to order. If you want one msg me your email address and I will put you in touch with DHP.

[email protected]

 

[JosephSMendez]

Do you just have the parts shipped to you? How does the whole process work? How Much Does it Usually Cost?

 

[TSiAWD666]

You pay, he makes the roof from the mold and then ships it to you. I don't know what he's charging now but I would guess around 1200-1300 shipped.

 

[JosephSMendez]

Cool, do you do Hoods as well?

 

[TSiAWD666]

DHP Composites is making the roof if that's not clear. I was just sharing the information about it. He does not do hoods, Carbonetics would be your best bet for those.

Just FYI, the roof mold was damaged in the last production and DHP says he likely won't get around to repairing it until May.