The Formula 1 industry introduced it to the car world, the sports and luxury car market commercialised it and now most cars have a touch of it at least somewhere, carbon fibre in cars has started to become the norm. Unlike panel work though, when carbon fibre gets damaged it is is expensive to replace. The best option in this case is to repair these parts and components. We have been repairing thin tube carbon fibre bicycles for years. This experience makes repairing these materials simple for us and we are very good at aligning weave and making high end parts look like nothing ever happened.
Below is some damage to a Ferrari 488 Pista rear skirt. This part is worth over $30 000, definitely worth repairing. This damage was just from a parking incident. Ouch!
The repair is started by removing the damaged material by sanding, then closing any holes in the material with new layers of carbon. This is then shaped to the correct contour.
The full area to be repaired is then laid up with the correct carbon, in this case 3K plain weave and cured under vacuum to ensure uniform pressure and conformity to the repair. This is then sanded and a final layer of resin is applied to make the surface uniform.
Once the repair is completed is a “simple” case of applying a fresh layer of clear to blend the repaired area into the existing area to make it look like nothing ever happened. EASY!
Some after market parts will not be worth repairing but a $30000 OEM Ferrari part sure is!
Please keep in mind we are not a mechanical workshop or panel shop, we don’t want you whole car, just the part to be repaired.