Supra Star Motorsport Carbon Fiber Hood Vents

[Bflood]

People rushing to buy anything CF
I dont get it, this is just cosmetic visual mod, so you changing a fake vent, with more expensive fake vent?
At least the oem vent is closed for a reason to prevent water and rust.
With all respect, if you want to spend, spend on full carbon real vented hood, save your money.

Replacing plastic with real cf doesn't make sense? Also, aluminum doesn't rust..

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[Lithic]

Replacing plastic with real cf doesn't make sense? Also, aluminum doesn't rust..

In his defense, there actually is no benefit to replacing plastic with CF. At least in the context of these vents. LoL. No weight savings worth mentioning, structural strength gain is minimal and of no actual value. It is purely a cosmetic mod, which is not a problem IMO. Let people buy what they want.

Personally I am not a huge fan of carbon fiber. Maybe it's working in aerospace that has lessened the 'exotic' feel of carbon fiber. It's just a run of the mill composite to me. There are so many other far better materials if you really want to go exotic. Carbon Fiber is to composites like MDF is to lumber.

 

[suicidaleggroll]

People rushing to buy anything CF
I dont get it, this is just cosmetic visual mod, so you changing a fake vent, with more expensive fake vent?
At least the oem vent is closed for a reason to prevent water and rust.
With all respect, if you want to spend, spend on full carbon real vented hood, save your money.

Why do you care what other people do?

It's a simple, cheap, cosmetic mod, just like the hundreds of others that people do every day. It's no different than a lip, sideskirts, spoiler, interior accents, reflector deletes, etc, etc, etc

 

[Bflood]

In his defense, there actually is no benefit to replacing plastic with CF. At least in the context of these vents. LoL. No weight savings worth mentioning, structural strength gain is minimal and of no actual value. It is purely a cosmetic mod, which is not a problem IMO. Let people buy what they want.

Personally I am not a huge fan of carbon fiber. Maybe it's working in aerospace that has lessened the 'exotic' feel of carbon fiber. It's just a run of the mill composite to me. There are so many other far better materials if you really want to go exotic. Carbon Fiber is to composites like MDF is to lumber.

He made the statement "People rushing to buy anything carbon.." like there's no benefit. There are plenty of reasons to replace plastic with cf none of which are cosmetic. Weather or not this particular piece makes a measurable difference is debatable.

Not sure what materials you're comparing it to but cf strength to weight is hard to beat.. honestly, I'd like to hear what exotics you work with that would deem carbon to be an inferior product.

 

[Lithic]

He made the statement "People rushing to buy anything carbon.." like there's no benefit. There are plenty of reasons to replace plastic with cf none of which are cosmetic. Weather or not this particular piece makes a measurable difference is debatable.

Not sure what materials you're comparing it to but cf strength to weight is hard to beat.. honestly, I'd like to hear what exotics you work with that would deem carbon to be an inferior product.

I would argue when it comes to 100% of CF parts offered for the MK5, very close to all of them offer zero benefit other than cosmetic change. The very few exceptions being the hood, intake parts and maybe the engine cover for a weight savings of a fraction of a pound. There is zero, zip, nada performance benefit from replacing OEM plastic with carbon fiber, most of the interior bits get taped over OEM parts so if anything people are adding weight not removing.

I didn't say I was personally working with more exotic materials, I said the ubiquitous nature of carbon fiber in my industry has made it lose its 'exotic' nature to me. And even then, aerospace grade carbon fiber and automotive or enthusiast grade carbon fiber are two completely different beasts. More often than not, you'll find in automotive grade CF any weight savings benefit is negated by the sheer amount of epoxy/resin used to form said CF, not to mention any post production clear coat stacked on top. A great example is the single piece of OEM carbon fiber you see in the center console of the MK5 and the extremely thick layer of clear over the weave. The only automotive grade CF I have seen that approaches aerospace in its actual functionality is stuff made by the more exotic OEMs aka Koeniggsegg/Bugatti. You can always tell just by looking at the weave and how they apply the layers. Simple test: a proper application of CF will be matte and allow someone touching it to feel the actual weave, and the cross weave underneath if layers were stack correctly. High grade CF subsequently will be far more smooth than lower grade CF. Weave density and proper stacking of layers matter. As soon as you start stacking clear on top or leaving thick layers of epoxy for aesthetic purposes, most if not all of the performance benefit goes out the window.

To answer your question about what's more superior, let me be specific: carbon fiber is great but it actually has many many flaws, biggest of which is how brittle it is. In automotive applications this is acceptable, especially in motorsport because it becomes a safety feature, upon collision, energy is expelled via CF shattering into pieces vs energy being transferred to occupants etc. However this is unacceptable in aerospace. So for instance, the rocket bodies I helped build, we used layers of CF stacked over aluminum honeycomb, or even carbon fiber stacked with kevlar to alleviate inherent weaknesses, or even all three at once LOL (kevlar in itself is starting to become more superior to CF in many ways as technology there improves). In the instances of COPV (carbon over pressure vessels), the carbon fiber is only there to help the thinner walls made of steel or aluminum compound. There's far more nuance to it than I am describing here as I was not a material engineer. The company I worked at developed a proprietary blend of CF that allows them to use it as a pressure vessel with no inner lining, an industry first. So far I've only mentioned more exotic ways to blend CF with other materials to offset its weaknesses. Once we start going into actual CF replacement, you start going into the territory of newer blends of kevlar, graphene and other ways to use carbon strands, besides in flat fabric style weaves. 3D printing carbon into composites etc (similar in concept to Lamborghinis 'forged carbon' but far better). The other day I was just researching a bit on the current state of carbon nano tubes, an extremely promising super material if we ever figure out how to mass produce it at reasonable cost. So I guess the answer to your question of what would deem "carbon" inferior, not much because carbon itself as an element is the base of almost all newer more exotic materials. Now, Carbon Fiber (sheets of carbon threads woven in various patterns, formed in molds and sealed with epoxy/resin like we see being touted all over the automotive industry) is inferior to many many things.

I apologize for the essay but I do enjoy a good technical discussion haha, hope it was helpful!

 

[Supercompact]

They just came back in stock. I just ordered a set.

 

[21Supra]

Back in stock for those who are still looking.

 

[cactusA91]

Be careful with these. Not sure when this happened or how. I have only hand washed the car 3-4x and you can see what happened to me.

 

[jchall30]

Wonder if it’s heat related? I’ll have to keep and eye on mine now

 

[slobra300]

There are back in stock still... Just picked up a set.

 

[Supraboi7]

Be careful with these. Not sure when this happened or how. I have only hand washed the car 3-4x and you can see what happened to me.

Mine did this crap too...tried to be ghetto and grab it with needle nose pliers while simultaneously super glueing it back, didn't work. I really don't want to take it off to "re-mesh" it because the flimsy CF might crack, and the 3M adhesive most likely won't re-stick. Any ideas bois??

 

[Rob_Supra21]

Mine did this crap too...tried to be ghetto and grab it with needle nose pliers while simultaneously super glueing it back, didn't work. I really don't want to take it off to "re-mesh" it because the flimsy CF might crack, and the 3M adhesive most likely won't re-stick. Any ideas bois??

Hm well personally I’d have done the ghetto thing too. Did it not work because the new glue won’t stick to the old glue? So maybe removing the old glue first mag help it stick?

 

[JDG520]

Yup, I full expected to see the mesh fail. I plan on replacing with metal mesh when it does fail on mine and using a real epoxy, not the junk ca glue they used. Easy fix. We’ll see how long it lasts.

 

[muckduck]

I got an extra pair never installed if anyone wants it pm me

 

[AutoDelight]

Once mine fails, i plan on getting the rexspeed vent ones it releases. These actually will have the tabs like the OEM covers do as well making it more secure than just 3M tape. Im sure they will have the mesh more secure than supra stars based off the quality of their other products. If you guys are willing to wait ,just wait for these.

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/rexpeed-working-log-for-dry-carbon-hood-vent-replacement.9045/

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