Karbonius Carbon Fiber Hood for E46 M3

[bmw m3 s50]

Looks like we finally have a quality, actual lightweight, hood for our cars. It promises OEM perfect fitment. It sheds 9.4 lbs of weight from the front but unfortunately does not retain the OEM look. They added vents to the hood much like their carbon fenders. I can't believe that I am saying this but I wish they would make OEM styled parts so that the car retains the factory look. Not sure if they change the look to avoid trademark issues or what but I probably would have sprung for the hood if it didn't have the vents.










https://karbonius.net/es/producto/bmw-e46-capot-de-carbono/

[nahvkolaj]

They’ve mentioned on their Instagram that several people have asked about a non-vented version and if there’s enough interest they might do it. Even though I’ll probably never get one of these, I think for the price it should have been an option from the start.

[bigjae46]

That's light for a two-sided hood and relatively low cost! But the vents are atrocious!

I've been making composite parts for my personal use, its a work in progress! What I've learned is that your finished part will only be as good as your mold unless you want to spend days and weeks fixing things. Your mold is only as good as the plug you pull the mold from. You can absolutely pull a mold from your stock hood. Every imperfection...rock chips, scratches in the clear, etc will show up on the mold and in the final part. It depends...for my use case for what I've made so far - front reinforcement plate, front radiator support, and small odds and ends...I use what I have and its not a big deal. If you want a perfect OEM like hood then you WILL spend a ton of time fixing the mold and part to make it not worth it. Better off buying a new part to use as a plug.

Typically to produce parts and make it kinda worth your time, you have to sell about 20 parts. That's not really considering overhead and fixed costs like rent. I can't imagine selling any carbon panel for less than $1k. If its a two sided part, over $2k. You probably won't find enough buyers to make it worth your time. Not when you can get a Seibon or VRS hood for $1k which will satisfy 95% of the carbon fiber loving vin diesel wanna be's you see at intersection take overs Fri night.

[Tbonem3]

Horrendous

[Nate047]

Looks better than most track car hoods with added vents I think. Hard to tell if those are really functional or not though without seeing how much they flow. TBH I really wish they would make the wide fenders without the vents too. Those GT3 style vents are IMO, super out of place and much worse than this hood.

[nahvkolaj]

Looks better than most track car hoods with added vents I think. Hard to tell if those are really functional or not though without seeing how much they flow. TBH I really wish they would make the wide fenders without the vents too. Those GT3 style vents are IMO, super out of place and much worse than this hood.

Agreed. Better looking than some of the HVAC abominations I’ve seen on Facebook groups.

[bigjae46]

I actually made a CF hood. Looks like crap…🤣. Definitely a lot of lessons learned like…there is a significant difference in the quality of polyester resins and trying to laminate fiberglass when it’s 100 degrees outside is not a good idea. Basically it was a race to get the resin spread, cloth wet out and rolled before the resin started to gel. Home Depot resin makes it MUCH more difficult to wet out FG cloth. I had an air pocket in the FG mold and it leaked during infusion. Infusions don’t go well when you have a leak. It did test fit it and it fits really well!


Waiting on supplies, I over-ordered this time so I won’t have to resort to Home Depot stuff. Trying to get the mold down now before it gets hot. I have 1 more month to get it done.

[EthanolTurbo]

The vents look so stupid and tacky. So do the lame vents on the fenders.

[usdmej]

the hood vents are very subtle, to the point where they simply don't match with how bold they made the fenders

personally i'm open to running the hood especially with the advertised weight savings and would steer clear of the fenders

[Lagunaseca_Blau]

What they need to do is redesign the oversized fenders. Maybe replicate the M6 GT3 style fenders and then they’ll get buyers. More subtlety, performs better, widens track up front. While BMW M is selling their body kits for $80k, karbonius could be making their own version of those kits at more affordable prices.

[Obioban]

She's not a looker.

[WestBankM4]

That's light for a two-sided hood and relatively low cost! But the vents are atrocious!

I've been making composite parts for my personal use, its a work in progress! What I've learned is that your finished part will only be as good as your mold unless you want to spend days and weeks fixing things. Your mold is only as good as the plug you pull the mold from. You can absolutely pull a mold from your stock hood. Every imperfection...rock chips, scratches in the clear, etc will show up on the mold and in the final part. It depends...for my use case for what I've made so far - front reinforcement plate, front radiator support, and small odds and ends...I use what I have and its not a big deal. If you want a perfect OEM like hood then you WILL spend a ton of time fixing the mold and part to make it not worth it. Better off buying a new part to use as a plug.

Typically to produce parts and make it kinda worth your time, you have to sell about 20 parts. That's not really considering overhead and fixed costs like rent. I can't imagine selling any carbon panel for less than $1k. If its a two sided part, over $2k. You probably won't find enough buyers to make it worth your time. Not when you can get a Seibon or VRS hood for $1k which will satisfy 95% of the carbon fiber loving vin diesel wanna be's you see at intersection take overs Fri night.

Good points, one other thing I'd like to mention are the molds are not lifetime, every piece that's being yanked from the mold degrades it over time. I use to work at a composites manufacturing company for cars in my teens, I remember the older molds warp and there were tons of bondo applied after each aero kit was pulled from them.

[D-O]

Its not as ugly as the fenders, but that ain't saying much.

[Syfon]

I really like it, however I'm worried the power-dome/bonnet bulge doesn't retain the factory shape/height/curves/etc..

Some aftermarket bonnets have a very sharp edged and ugly looking power-dome.

It's quite difficult to see the power-dome on yours due to colour/lighting.

Can you provide some more pictures clearly showing this part please?

[Maxima SE]

Still prefer Vorsteiners hood over this.