Got deal together for 2020 GT350R - would like some insights

[Rev Happy]

I feel like you can see a slight texture on the rear inner barrels, but ya overall the paint covers it up. The caliper clearance with the barrel of the wheel is very tight and rocks can get stuck in there. The Ferrari Pista CF wheels have the exact same issue. They can be fixed if it really bothers you. I haven't had a rock stuck in there yet, but I did get a rock chip on one of the rear wheels. The CUP 2 tires throw rocks everywhere.

Congrats on the purchase and post pics when you get it.

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[AgSurfer]

I feel like you can see a slight texture on the rear inner barrels, but ya overall the paint covers it up. The caliper clearance with the barrel of the wheel is very tight and rocks can get stuck in there. The Ferrari Pista CF wheels have the exact same issue. They can be fixed if it really bothers you. I haven't had a rock stuck in there yet, but I did get a rock chip on one of the rear wheels. The CUP 2 tires throw rocks everywhere.

Congrats on the purchase and post pics when you get it.

Car is being trailered to me next week and the carrier is taking my 2016 GT350 back to the dealership. I will post pics when I have it at home.

 

[nmp1]

Thanks for pointing out. After 90 minutes of top-to-bottom inspection, undercarriage, etc., I guess I did not focus on something so obvious. I see what you're talking about on the inside of the barrel on the ceramic coating.

Sounds like "nmp1" indicated this is common?

I will look at it again when the car gets trailered to my home next week.

And yes - I purchased it! Was in excellent condition.

yes. I have scratches on my front barrels and have seen the same on several other R's. the sticky tires shotgun rocks everywhere and the tolerances between the front rim/caliper is so close that even small rocks will cause that.

 

[JR369]

Guess I've been lucky for 76xx miles.

 

[Wildcardfox]

Brett, maybe because I am an old guy with my vision not being as good as it used to be I found a black-light lamp/flashlight very helpful and effective especially when looking at the factory finish paint jobs which obviously includes factory painted CF wheels/CF wings and it saved me from signing off on my 2018 R whereby a flaw was noticed on my right front CF wheel with the delivering dealership agreeing with my finding after which time my CF rim was replaced.

My first experience with a black-light application took place some `6 years ago after which time I took my 2015 GT350 to a high end detail shop in Hilton Head, S.C. and saw how effective it was for their paint and detail shop when it came to revealing paint flaws on my car.

Just the fact that a black-light creates a significant luminescence which produces a strong fluorescence response for our naked eye I suggest that it has to be quite helpful at least it is for me.

I’m just letting you know how we check for cracks in a composite. If you’re not using a fluid you may get many false positives. Especially since the wheel is painted, you’re not touching the carbon fabric and if you do see a crack in the light it could be a scratch in the paint or a paint defect. Being that the carbon is painted—the fabric is throughly covered and without washing and then applying a fluorescent liquid, then you’re really just inspecting under a black light, you’re not doing a test that will reveal any cracks in the carbon because under further inspection what you believe may look like a crack may be something other.

 

[Wildcardfox]

Car is being trailered to me next week and the carrier is taking my 2016 GT350 back to the dealership. I will post pics when I have it at home.

congrats on joining the R family.

 

[tobaccokid]

The 19 base model cut the VIR time from a 4 second diff to a 2 second diff. Not very close but still a nice improvement. CF wheels are not fragile. They are stronger then forged wheels. When they do break, they are very expensive to replace. As someone has said, I believe the car cover is different between a base 350 and an R because of the wing and larger front splitter. Make sure the wheels are CF. We have seen cars traded in and knock off wheels put on.

I didn't mean the CF wheels are fragile in terms of strength. They are fragile in terms of regular street usage occurrences and replacement cost. Even regular wheel damage that would be minimal with aluminum wheels is almost a death kneel for CF wheels. Most any damage to aluminum wheels can be repaired by a specialist. Not the case with CF wheels.

 

[PP0001]

I didn't mean the CF wheels are fragile in terms of strength. They are fragile in terms of regular street usage occurrences and replacement cost. Even regular wheel damage that would be minimal with aluminum wheels is almost a death kneel for CF wheels. Most any damage to aluminum wheels can be repaired by a specialist. Not the case with CF wheels.

It is my understanding that some of our members have had their CF wheels repaired at Spyder Composites who are located in California.

I also believe that Spyder Composites has worked with Carbon Revolution engineers in the past with respect to repairing CF wheels for our GT350 and GT500 cars.

Not many CF wheel repair companies out there to choose from but at least we do have an option when it comes to repairing these unique OEM CF wheels.

 

[Wildcardfox]

I didn't mean the CF wheels are fragile in terms of strength. They are fragile in terms of regular street usage occurrences and replacement cost. Even regular wheel damage that would be minimal with aluminum wheels is almost a death kneel for CF wheels. Most any damage to aluminum wheels can be repaired by a specialist. Not the case with CF wheels.

Sorry to disagree, but not true. Carbon is 15% stronger than steel of the same thickness and I forgot it’s strength vs aluminum—it’s much more than carbon vs. steel.

The carbon wheels were subjected to the same testing and standards that all OE Ford receive. If they couldn’t withstand curbing or hard hits, then they would not have made it onto the finished car.

And they can be repaired, especially minor damage or even a rip in the bead—Spyder Composites in Nor Cal has repaired multiple wheels and I imagine in the future when they are more prevalent, there will be other Carbon Revolution official repairers.

Yes, they are expensive to replace. A repair can cost as much as a cast aluminum wheel $500+, but not fragile—they are much stronger than a cast or forged aluminum wheel. Part of that thickness can be seen in their weight—18 pounds. You can find many aftermarket aluminum wheels that weigh less, but those wheels would most likely struggle to pass the same OE tests.

Why do people take them off? New technology and the fear of what if they are damaged. I’ve gotten the same trepidation when building a race team a set of Ford 5.4L modular valve covers for a standing mile Ford GT. It’s scary to trust some fabric bonded with epoxy over metals that have been tested throughout the ages, and they did have some leaking issues with a Roush made carbon valve cover, that was down to the thin flange.

Despite the race team wanting the valve covers they never made it onto the car because they were afraid to trust the carbon in a 3500 horsepower car—it would have withstood, but they had that fear that soemthing would go wrong so they stuck with the OE valve covers. The carbon valve covers weighed 8lbs less than the factory—would’ve been cool to see it on one of the standing mile Ford GTs, especially the one that was the first piston-powered car to break 300mph in the standing mile.

The carbon wheels are an amazing achievement and only found on five cars, Ferrari, Renault, GT350R, GT500, and Ford GT.

They have an incredible feel and I’ve enjoyed 15000 miles of driving on my carbon wheels.

 

[stanglife]

I would worry more about heat in a production application. I only say this based on my previous Audi which had some CF parts in the engine bay. They eventually yellowed, the resin bled slightly and I had seen some others that delaminated to some degree. Not sure if that's just a different kind of CF.

 

[PP0001]

Sorry to disagree, but not true. Carbon is 15% stronger than steel of the same thickness and I forgot it’s strength vs aluminum—it’s much more than carbon vs. steel.

The carbon wheels were subjected to the same testing and standards that all OE Ford receive. If they couldn’t withstand curbing or hard hits, then they would not have made it onto the finished car.

And they can be repaired, especially minor damage or even a rip in the bead—Spyder Composites in Nor Cal has repaired multiple wheels and I imagine in the future when they are more prevalent, there will be other Carbon Revolution official repairers.

Yes, they are expensive to replace. A repair can cost as much as a cast aluminum wheel $500+, but not fragile—they are much stronger than a cast or forged aluminum wheel. Part of that thickness can be seen in their weight—18 pounds. You can find many aftermarket aluminum wheels that weigh less, but those wheels would most likely struggle to pass the same OE tests.

Why do people take them off? New technology and the fear of what if they are damaged. I’ve gotten the same trepidation when building a race team a set of Ford 5.4L modular valve covers for a standing mile Ford GT. It’s scary to trust some fabric bonded with epoxy over metals that have been tested throughout the ages, and they did have some leaking issues with a Roush made carbon valve cover, that was down to the thin flange.

Despite the race team wanting the valve covers they never made it onto the car because they were afraid to trust the carbon in a 3500 horsepower car—it would have withstood, but they had that fear that soemthing would go wrong so they stuck with the OE valve covers. The carbon valve covers weighed 8lbs less than the factory—would’ve been cool to see it on one of the standing mile Ford GTs, especially the one that was the first piston-powered car to break 300mph in the standing mile.

The carbon wheels are an amazing achievement and only found on five cars, Ferrari, Renault, GT350R, GT500, and Ford GT.

They have an incredible feel and I’ve enjoyed 15000 miles of driving on my carbon wheels.

If I recall correctly the only Ferrari model coming with OEM CF wheels is the Pista.

 

[YBLEHSGT350R]

CF wheels cleared can’t hide damage

 

[Wildcardfox]

I would worry more about heat in a production application. I only say this based on my previous Audi which had some CF parts in the engine bay. They eventually yellowed, the resin bled slightly and I had seen some others that delaminated to some degree. Not sure if that's just a different kind of CF.

Were the Audi parts factory carbon or aftermarket?

From your description it sounds more like aftermarket parts that yellowed.

The yellowing is because of UV degradation. Also usually a factor of what resin was used. Most carbon parts that people buy or are familiar with is polyester resin or wet lay (I.e. someone laid the Fabric into the mold and wet it out by hand).

Epoxy requires vacuum assistance in order to make a (good) part. Because it takes much longer to cure, vacuum is needed to hold the shape before it transitions from a liquid to a gel and then into a solid.

The spectrum or scale from worst to best in composites usually starts at wet lay and polyester being and the lower end and processes like vacuum infusion, prepreg (pre-impregnated carbon fiber) and autoclaved carbon being at the best or highest quality. Price point correlates with that scale.

A part that yellowed or delaminates is most likely on the polyester resin, hand laid variety, that had a clear gel coat that was used in the modeling process.

All carbon needs to be clearcoated to protect it from UV, but that gel coat is a clear sign of what resin was used because epoxy cannot bond to that gel coat. That gel coat is normally what peels and yellows over time.

Lower end parts come with that clear gel coat, as it eliminates any post molding steps by the manufacturer.

Epoxies have no gel coat. So they are almost always clear coated afterwards.

The carbon fiber on the GT350R is the highest of the high In manufacturing terms. Epoxy, prepreg carbon fiber that was autoclaved. It’s not going to yellow or peel through the years.

Also the aftermarket carbon fiber world is mostly fraud. They sell you a carbon part that has 1-2 layers of carbon fiber and is backed up by fiberglass. 1-2 layers of carbon does nothing make a carbon part—it will have the properties of a fiberglass part, and as one manufacturer once said “it’s carbon look”.

Carbon cost much more than fiberglass which is why our OE parts are thousands vs hundreds for a aftermarket part.

If you own or paid for a carbon part that only cost a couple of hundred, if it is a large piece look at the cross section, where they cut the part. If you see any white layers, that’s fiberglass. You paid hundreds more for a carbon looking part that is fiberglass.

So simple answer, I wouldn’t worry at all about the carbon on your GT350R yellowing or peeling from heat or exposure to UV.

 

[Wildcardfox]

If I recall correctly the only Ferrari model coming with OEM CF wheels is the Pista.

yep that’s the Ferrari that I’m meaning.

Renault is the Megane RS Trophy-R

 

[PP0001]

CF wheels cleared can’t hide damage

Based on your picture these are GT500 CF wheels and not GT350 CF wheels.

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