Appearance & Detailing - Composite Fender Question:

How many of you have composite fenders on your 2001-2002 F-Bodies? And How much weight reduction will that give you?

no one, and next to nothing. stock fenders only weigh a fwew pounds anyway.

not even worth thinking about


Check out VFN there a sponser and make custom light weight bodies/ panels etc

I thought the factory fenders were composite already?

factory fenders are polyurethane right? whatever they are theyre some kind of plastic/ What do you mean by composite?

I believe the fenders are made of TPO, there not composite. The hood, trunk, doors and roof cap are all made of a composite called Sheet moulding compound. I agree, if your looking to shed some weight look elsewhere.

Hows this... when I go to my grandpas house today I'll weigh the fenders for you. the only 3 things as far as body pannels that are heavy are the quarterpannels which are steel, the hatch lid which is some type of fiberglass and composite material, and the hood if you dont have an fiberglass one

Hows this... when I go to my grandpas house today I'll weigh the fenders for you. the only 3 things as far as body pannels that are heavy are the quarterpannels which are steel, the hatch lid which is some type of fiberglass and composite material, and the hood if you dont have an fiberglass one

I do bodywork for a living and thanks to my reputation locally I do 75% of the work on all F bodys here. I have also owned more of them than most of you will ever own in a life time, I know my way around an F body of any year and your wrong in several of your statements..

[/QUOTE]the only 3 things as far as body pannels that are heavy are the quarterpannels which are steel[/QUOTE]

You couldnt be more wrong, the doors are probably the heaviest due to the steel reinforcing structure, the intrusion beams and the heavy glass. The rear hatch weighs near nothing without the glass. Just because the quarter panels are steel doesnt mean there heavy, there acually not heavy at all. I have picked up a box with a new quarter panel in it before and thought it was empty. Like most people thought the older Vettes were light because they were Fiberglass, in reality they were pig heavy from all the extra structural reinforcing.

[/QUOTE]the hatch lid which is some type of fiberglass and composite material, and the hood if you dont have an fiberglass one[/QUOTE]

The rear hatch/trunk is made from SMC "sheet moulding compound" like I stated earlier, it in no way resembles fiberglass and GM has not used fiberglass in years.

Why ask questions when you have the mind set that you allready know everything?

I do bodywork for a living and thanks to my reputation locally I do 75% of the work on all F bodys here. I have also owned more of them than most of you will ever own in a life time, I know my way around an F body of any year and your wrong in several of your statements..

the only 3 things as far as body pannels that are heavy are the quarterpannels which are steel[/QUOTE]

You couldnt be more wrong, the doors are probably the heaviest due to the steel reinforcing structure, the intrusion beams and the heavy glass. The rear hatch weighs near nothing without the glass. Just because the quarter panels are steel doesnt mean there heavy, there acually not heavy at all. I have picked up a box with a new quarter panel in it before and thought it was empty. Like most people thought the older Vettes were light because they were Fiberglass, in reality they were pig heavy from all the extra structural reinforcing.

[/QUOTE]the hatch lid which is some type of fiberglass and composite material, and the hood if you dont have an fiberglass one[/QUOTE]



The rear hatch/trunk is made from SMC "sheet moulding compound" like I stated earlier, it in no way resembles fiberglass and GM has not used fiberglass in years.

Why ask questions when you have the mind set that you allready know everything?[/QUOTE]



Well exscuse me!!!!! What can you do about the doors? Nothing, if you made those beams from anything else or the outer shell it would probably bust when you shut the door. as for the hatch material well where mine is cracked it *looks* like fiberglass, I dont normally go busting hatches to see what exactly theyre made of. The quarternappels arent that heavy I agree, but if they were made from say fiberglass they could be a bit lighter.

Why ask questions when you have the mind set that you allready know everything?


I didnt ask the question to begin with

Well exscuse me!!!!! What can you do about the doors? Nothing, if you made those beams from anything else or the outer shell it would probably bust when you shut the door. as for the hatch material well where mine is cracked it *looks* like fiberglass, I dont normally go busting hatches to see what exactly theyre made of. The quarternappels arent that heavy I agree, but if they were made from say fiberglass they could be a bit lighter.
I didnt ask the question to begin with

I didnt ask the question to begin with

Your right, you just made statements about several things you know nothing about.

What can you do about the doors? Nothing, if you made those beams from anything else or the outer shell it would probably bust when you shut the door.

Again, ignorant statements.... The intrusion beams can be unbolted and removed from the doors. And no the doors wont bust when you shut them, if you get in an accident and hit in the side though you might have someone elses front bumper in your lap.

Your ignorant about anything to do with the subject you brought up and you seem to allready know it all so im of no further help here.

I didnt really bring up the subject, I just replied to theoriginal post and went from there. Like you said, if you remove those beams, it may not be the best idea regardless if they would bust when you shut the door or not. I was just suggesting things that COULD be taken off or be built with something a little be lighter. Ive seen CF hatches on e-bay before and someone makes fiberglass quarter pannels.

My doors are gutted out, along with my car


It is perfectly fine take it out, and nothing breaks when closed hard what so ever

lol i'll leave my doors alone. people have a tendancy to run into my cars. Jeremiah, im not trying to be a dick with you, but im arguing from my point of view and what I jsut seen myself since I work on them also. granted you have far more experience under your belt, I do my best to know what the stuff is made of, and what would be heaviest that can actually be lighter without having to be custom done. quarterpannels just seem to be the most obvious along with the hatch and hood.

did you know theres a company that makes replacement carbon fiber parts for camaros and firebirds? they make fenders quarter panels hatches door shells hood radiator supports k-frames and a bunch of other crap. If your worried about weight and have 10 grande you can convert like every panle to carbon fiber and its all the paintable kind. So all you closed minded people dont have to worry about rice. I cant remember the name of the company but i found it on racingjunk.com a year or so ago and this lady was selling a full trans am shell, every body panel, for $2000!!! i wish i had it at the time but oh well. Id rather spend it on something else