So I finally found a carbon fiber gruppe-s style 60mm gauge panel... Been looking forever... literally...

I opened the dented box last night and the panel has cracks in it now! I did not see them in the sale picture... so Im sure it happened during shipping...

Anyone have any luck actually repairing this type of damage? I know the sanding and reclearing process, but does that work with cracks like this or just fading/pealing?

 

thats bull, cant you go after the shipping company

 

Could, but most standard shipping only covers up to $100... And even if I had that extra hundo I would have no way to repurchase this part again until it comes back up in the private classifieds...

 

Can't tell...is the cf itself cracked or is it just the clear thats cracked? You could sand it and reclear, which will reduce the appearance of the crack, but u would have to sand the entire thing down to the carbon. I'm assuming you would use rattle can clear coat, which always comes out with imperfections (fish eye, orange peel, whatever u wanna call it). So you would then have to 2000 grit it to reduce the appearance of those imperfections. All that will be a PITA, and it still may not come out that great. The short cut would be to mask off around the cracks and sand down just that area, then respray it. You will risk a mismatch of the clear, but it will take you much less time and work and will probably look as "imperfect" as if you sanded and cleared the whole thing. Hope this helps...I have lots of experience with rattle can painting so let me know if u need any other advice...good luck

 

Damn...

If you want a non carbon gauge panel buddy just let me know and ill hook you up on one.

 

Thanks for the replies. I am still debating how to approach this. Ill probally try to sand and reclear it but I am a perfectionist so I probally wont be satisfied unless it came out perfect...

Thanks gruppe-s for the support. I actually bought a gruppe-s panel first and came across the carbon panel after. I never had a chance to use the gruppe-s panel but I would tell anyone that the fit and finish would rival any oem piece!

Did you guys ever make a carbon version? (pm me if you have a secret stash laying around the warehouse )

 

could always buy the gruppe-s one, find a local to carbon-wrap it, and then clearcoat it...wouldn't look the same but would be similar

 

damn that blows dude. hate it when stuff aint packed good....

 

Hey bud, thats sucks. I dont know a whole lot about carbon fiber. Here is a video about how you can make it yourself. You might be able to pull some info outta it. Im afraid if you sand down to the fiber 1 of 2 things might happen. 1: The fiber might start to fray when it start getting worked on. 2: The carbon might loose its luster and looked milked out with a second clear coat. I dont really know but that is what I think would happen. There are kits you can buy online to mold and make your own carbon fiber parts. It would be a pain in the **** to do but you could use what you already have as a mold...

 

It was packaged fine, I sold it to him. This is not the first time Ive had a problem with UPS manhandling packages. I had them crack a pair of headlights I sold.

As I said in my PM if UPS wont take care of their **** up, I will be more than happy to refund money for you to get a new one, or had it refinished.

-Matt

 

^thumbs up for u for offering to refund the money even tho its not ur fault. Sucks to see the people have no care for other peoples things when shipping. Im sure u can sand it and reclear it and it will look brand new it doesn't look to bad and should be able to be repaired

 

Man that sucks, i hate when i get parts and the box is smashed.

 

No problem man. Thanks for the kind words. I'll look around the shop here to see if we have one more left for you.

 

whatever you decide to do go after the shipping company and at least get some money for it.

if its UPS standard insurance that comes free is $100, I always insure everything for the sell price regardless of if the buyer wants insurance or not. ask the seller if he put any extra insurance on it.

 

Do the cracks go all the way through or is it more like surface scratching? I've repaired CF before but it was less extensive cracks on the edge. It takes one heck of a hit to actually crack CF all the way through. Usually it results from a combo of gorilla-handling and less than ideal packaging. Even if you bubble wrap a CF piece, if you don't put protection on the edges or leave too much spare room in the box, it can get damaged.