I started this thread as a PSA and as an educational thread (if you care) about the cheap carbon fiber that is on the market that is mostly originating outside of China.
I work in the Powersports industry and we deal with a lot of composite products and I was curious to see what some of the carbon products looked like, and if it was really a bargain to have or a too good to be scenario.
This is not just the stuff you see on eBay / Amazon but also some "branded" carbon products you see on various websites. I am not going to name the brands on here, I want to be respectful to vendors of the forum who might carry similar products that are being called out in this thread.
IS IT ACTUALLY REAL CARBON FIBER?
With carbon products the first thing people ask about is "fitment", and rightfully so, but they forget to make sure what they are buying is 100% carbon fiber.
Most of the products on the market are not all made from carbon fiber, but they are fiberglass with carbon veneer, meaning they only lay one layer of carbon fiber over fiberglass. This is very easy to spot when you look at the backside of the product, a real carbon fiber product will look like carbon fiber on the inside as well, it won't be finished and shiny but it will easily be recognizable.
I have attached some pictures of an example of a diffuser I received today so that you can see the backside of the product, it is clearly fiberglass with one lay of very badly laid carbon fiber on top.
DRY CARBON FIBER VS PRE PREG CARBON FIBER
Also the quality of the product is evident in the weave. On a good quality product the weaves should be straight, and no waves in them. When the material is poorly laid it often has weaves in them, this is usually a clear indication that "dry carbon fiber" material is used. Funny enough you see some companies advertising "dry carbon fiber" as a superior product, they are either misleading consumers or misusing the term "dry carbon fiber".
Usually a higher quality carbon fiber product will be made from pre-preg carbon, this simply means the carbon weave is impregnated with resin to being with.
You can go on YouTube and there are lots of videos that show what pre-preg carbon fiber is.
Also further things to note is the clear coat that is used on the carbon products. Usually products are clear coated to have a gloss or satin finish.
If the carbon and resin is being manually applied, the quality of the resin will show on how clear it is. Some lower quality resins are not perfectly clear and will always have some bluish/greyish tinge to it, this is visible more under direct sunlight than shade.
I hope this "in a nutshell" write up helps you with your decision and ends up saving you from spending money on poorly made products which are highly misleading and make false claims about what the product actually is.
