[Walker16]

I'm looking at getting a performance style carbon fiber diffuser. I noticed some company's like duke dynamics, rw carbon and JL motoring all sell what looks to be the same piece. Are the different or do they all come from the same place in china and they get them cheep and just resell them from there US warehouse? Thanks for any input.

[Walker16]

And same or different from the ones on ebay that are from Taiwan or China?

[ActiveLife]

Walker,

I own a carbon fiber manufacturing company, we produce composite panels and parts to our customers and our own line. I'm not here to advertise at the moment, however to answer your question:

Short answer:
No, not all carbon composite pieces are alike.

Longer answer (but not intensely detailed):
There are many variables that determine the MSRP of a finished product... the two largest variables come down to two... Materials Used and Technique (process) Of Manufacturing.

Fiberglass is cheap, so most of the stuff you see for sale is just for aesthetics... The first layer (face layer) is carbon fiber and then every additional layer is cheap fiberglass. The contrary being a true structural solid carbon fiber panel.

Additionally, Polyester Resin is cheap. The chemical make up of polyester is far less structurally tolerant and is far more brittle. The contrary to this being Epoxy Resin.

I'd rather not write a novel (we can speak in private if you're interested), but there are many different manufacturing processes that will also adjust cost to manufacture.

All in all, it's almost a "you get what you pay for" market that you are looking in, you'll find some price variation through different brands that offer certain details that others don't. It's going to come down to how much you're willing to pay and what level you want your product to be.

I'm not saying "you could have saved $50 and had better fitment if you bought from Company X", however when you look into actual carbon fiber panels, you'll realize that there are reasons the prices are significantly higher and why those purer panels "perform" better than the lesser expensive carbon faced fiberglass polyester panels.

-Active

[mike@x-ph.com]

No they are not.
RW carbon have created a thread on here explaining the major differences between carbon fiber products.
That thread compared to the reply above from activelife should give you your answer.

[Walker16]

thanks that was a good read posted by RW carbon. Now i just have to decide how much i want to spend for quality.

[wdeerfield]

If it's spoilers, lips, and kidney grills... Save yourself money and go with eBay.