KARBONIUS E46 Hood

[R60BBA]

Damn that looks so good!

Nom isn’t it.

Would be good to know if anyone has fitted one and what the fitment is like.

[9kracing]

The forged one they show on the website is my actual hood... I'm the only forged one they've ever made.

Fitment is good, but as to be expected, there is fitment required. It's carbon fiber.

I also fit carbon fiber fenders, and a carbon fiber bumper at the same time.... so my entire front end is carbon, nothing is factory.... so, I have many hours of labor to my body shop getting them to fit well, and I still wouldn't call it 100%.




If you're asking this question, you should probably pass on carbon fiber. It's not going to fit like OEM panels would.

[R60BBA]

The forged one they show on the website is my actual hood... I'm the only forged one they've ever made.

Fitment is good, but as to be expected, there is fitment required. It's carbon fiber.

I also fit carbon fiber fenders, and a carbon fiber bumper at the same time.... so my entire front end is carbon, nothing is factory.... so, I have many hours of labor to my body shop getting them to fit well, and I still wouldn't call it 100%.




If you're asking this question, you should probably pass on carbon fiber. It's not going to fit like OEM panels would.

Looks sick but your comment on fitment is a little disappointing.

Although I wonder if fitment is less of an issue when pairing the Karb bonnet with stock bumper and wings?

[9kracing]

It will definitely be less of an issue, yes.

Karbonius is a premier Carbon manufacturer. They produce nice pieces. I just want to set realistic expectations. Carbon fiber is almost never a 1:1 fit, even when you talk about Karbonius, Adro, and Alpha-N ... they still need a body shop to massage them sometimes.

This is especially prevalent as you start to reach the end of life on a mold.

[R60BBA]

It will definitely be less of an issue, yes.

Karbonius is a premier Carbon manufacturer. They produce nice pieces. I just want to set realistic expectations. Carbon fiber is almost never a 1:1 fit, even when you talk about Karbonius, Adro, and Alpha-N ... they still need a body shop to massage them sometimes.

This is especially prevalent as you start to reach the end of life on a mold.

Of course and fairs.

Although it begs the question as to how BMW are able to get the fitment on their F series CS bonnets on point…

[9kracing]

I think the hood is the easy part, when you start talking about widened fenders and CSL bumpers you're changing part dimensions.

Also, these cars are more than 2 decades old at this point. I think over time, and mileage, panels maybe don't fit exactly like did at the factory 23 years ago.

My car doesn't have any accidents on the carfax, but that doesn't mean it never got tapped.

[liam821]

Of course and fairs.

Although it begs the question as to how BMW are able to get the fitment on their F series CS bonnets on point…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFYXHMZFqsU

This is the CF roof process: lots of robots and automation, checks and verifications.

[bigjae46]

Of course and fairs.

Although it begs the question as to how BMW are able to get the fitment on their F series CS bonnets on point…

BMW uses what appears to be steel tooling molds which would cost 10s of thousands to make...maybe more.

Aftermarket tuners usually use a composite mold which are economical but not as stable as metal. Epoxy produces a lot of heat when it cures which heat cycles the composite mold and can cause the slightest amount of warpage. As parts are pulled from a composite mold, fitment is likely to get slightly worse.

I think it would be smart to leave the edges unfinished and allow a body shop to do the final trimming and finishing which I think could improve fitment in a lot of cases. But most customers expect a bolt on fit so probably not acceptable.

[Bimma360]

I have, and personally installed Karbonius' CSL trunk on my e46. Fitment is pretty good, taking into account what others above have said explaining why BMW is able to do this sort of work at such a high level. The expectation that Karbonius can deliver a manufactured product on par to a $36B company is not realistic. Don't get me wrong, their stuff is good and I am very happy with it. I also bought all of the CSL Karbonius interior bits. With a realistic expectation, I have no complaints.

Having said that. The rear trunk mounting hinge mounting points were about as good as it could have been. The panel gaps between the trunk and quarters were pretty good, but not perfect. Again, no complaints, I would probably still buy it over the OE piece. The biggest issues was with the mounting points for everything else internally on the trunk. The wiring harness hole needed to be widened/expanded in order for the rubber grommet surrounding the harness to fit. Every single screw hole had to be widened in order to mount and center things like the key tumbler and trunk latch. No issues there, just some Dremel work and filing. The OE carpet lining also needed to be only slightly modified to mount up. None of it was plug and play. BUT the lights did mount fine, and nothing MAJOR was needed to fix horrendous type fitment.

All about realistic expectations.