GT Refinishers - Spare Genuine CSL Carbon Fiber Bumper Repair (56k no)

[M3_Power 636]

So an opportunity presented itself about a month ago where I managed to score myself a spare genuine M3 CSL front bumper - the only catch however, it was slightly damaged.

The bumper was shipped from England. It was worth repairing and keeping as a spare given that a brand new one is near $10,000 from BMW (I kid you not).

The bumper is autoclave pre-preg dry carbon fiber and has a frontal crash impact bar built into its structure that is crash tested - very strong and very light.

With no access to an autoclave, I decided that the next best thing was to take the bumper to somebody that was capable of doing a wetlay carbon fiber repair at a reasonable price - cue, Grant from GT Refinishers.

The goal - no bog, proper carbon fiber repair as close to original finish as possible without breaking the bank

The bumper as I received it:

Grant peels the paint back to survey the damage:

A little more serious than we thought, but Grant got on with it:

Wet lay using the same carbon fiber tweel as the original with 2 part epoxy ...

Sanding it down:

Like it was never damaged almost:

fairing:

Priming:

Painted:

The finish product:

Next to the original

Edited May 7, 2010 by M3_Power

[thorburn 121]

wow that has turned out so nice

[DrphTa 5]

Looks excellent, good work

[bellicose 9]

No bog??? What was the fairing material used? If it was Micro Baloons (as it looks) then technicaly it's still bog, just a very light weight bog used by the boat building and aviation industries

Finished result does look good tho'.

[zenetti 0]

Grant defintiely is a great guy and his standard of work is excellent. We send quite a bit of work his way ( he is just around the corner from us)

[hybrid 1043]

Qaulity work there .. glad to see you have a spare set for the track tom

What other work do they do ?

[zenetti 0]

Grant does everything from insurance work to custom steel widebody kits. He did Vick's crazy widebody 350z. I can vouch personally that is standard of work is top notch.

[hybrid 1043]

innnnntresting .... Will keep it in mind for the e30 wide gaurds.

[Guest Ari Gold]

Woah nice work!

[Nobimmer 694]

His worksop is next to our curtain work room. Definitly seen some cool sh*t in there.

[JiB 0]

Finshed product looks good.

Out of interest...did you try the likes of rivers carbon to get it fixed with more prepreg and 'claved? With an integrated impact attenuater...surely a carbon specialist would be the first choice?

[M3_Power 636]

No bog??? What was the fairing material used? If it was Micro Baloons (as it looks) then technicaly it's still bog, just a very light weight bog used by the boat building and aviation industries

What I really meant was it wasn't a pure 'bog' repair (as some shops would propose). You are correct though, the fairing material used is technically still bog - but there's actually not that much on there, most of it was sanded off - we didn't have a photo of it just prior to priming.

Out of interest...did you try the likes of rivers carbon to get it fixed with more prepreg and 'claved? With an integrated impact attenuater...surely a carbon specialist would be the first choice?

I thought about that, but given that the damage was more cosmetic than structural, it really didn't warrant a specialist repair (the wetlay 2 part expoxy is very strong for a cosmetic repair). If it was impact bar structure that was split or damaged, then I would have walked away from this bumper.

Carbon repairs aren't cheap and depending on the type of damage, sometimes it is better off to just throw the piece away or use it purely for racing where keeping the frontal impact isn't as much of an issue.

Edited May 8, 2010 by M3_Power