I've had Jim at Rogue Motorsports do a lot of carbon parts for me but now I've found someone who wants to buy them from me and Jim says he can do new parts in carbon kevlar. Has anyone else used this on their MINI? I kind of hope I'm the first. I looking at getting a gas cap, a pillars, door handles, steering wheel spokes and dash, then probably more.
I've included a couple pics he sent me from other cars since he doesn't have any MINI parts yet. Let me know what you think.

 

Wait, how is that any different looking than regular carbon fiber?

 

Carbon Kevlar is a different composite. Same look as CF...but usually a different color....

 

Check out the photos. Carbon in one direction and colored kevlar in then other. It comes in red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and a couple others it think.
I really like the look.

 

Yep - I don't think it's possible to dye the carbon fibers that are used to make CF weave, but you can dye kevlar threads. So the carbon-kevlar weaves are made by using one material in the "warp" direction and the other material in the "fill" direction (to use weaving terms).

In the third picture from the first post, you can see that the threads in the up-and-down direction on the screen are black (carbon fiber) and the threads in the left-right direction are yellowish (kevlar). In the first picture, the carbon threads are running up and down on the armrest, and the red kevlar threads are running front-to-rear.

 

and its a little stronger them carbon fiber. the price is usually a little bit more expensive too. i used to do carbon kevlar but being the perfectionist i am if you mess up your weave in the middle of process then you better just deal with it cause you cant fix it and it looks %100 worse if it messes up then carbon fiber does becuase color differnence. other then that pretty neat stuff

 

I've made bicycle saddles out of carbon/kevlar material as the kevlar gives it a little more flex. Also the kevlar weave (weft or warp, who knows?) has some carbon in it, just so that the carbon is not entirely unidirectional. My FAD is also made of this stuff.

 

I really like the CF look but for some reason I'm not a fan of "colored" CF or Kevlar etc. It just isn't as clean. But then again, if your interior has red accents let's say, then it could really complete the whole look and feel.

 

If you want to know where all the carbon fiber/kevlar is going....just look up into the wheel well and wing area of the F-22....

 

here is a link to a source that i use for cf, kevlar, fiberglass and epoxies for the diy crowd. http://www.raka.com/ he often has carbon/kevlar cloth, but i don't currently see any. i've ordered from them many times w/ good results.

 

I get my fabric from US Composites. It's all good stuff including their resin.

 

Would either DrPhil or Bean consider posting a mini tutorial on how to create a carbon fiber component? I'd love to learn from someone who has actually built/wrapped a few.

 

i'm pretty handy w/ composites, but NAM's own Carbonized is the man. he handles the cf fabrication for the Audi ALMS team. his schedule should be winding down now. i'll pm him and see if he would be interested in posting something. cf work isn't very difficult. practice w/ some inexpensive fiberglass. cf is a little more difficult to wet out and more car must be taken to maintain thread orientation for cosmetic reasons. kevlar is just the next step up in difficulty, mainly because it cannot be sanded. high spots will ruin your day.

greg