Hey guys/gals. I have been approached multiple times to get a diffuser made for the C6. Here's the dilemma. If we make it 100% carbon fiber as planned, we're looking at $999. These would be on par with the APR, BPP etc as far as quality. Now we can probably get them made in a carbon/fiberglass for cheaper, so my question is what's a fair price? The part would still be carbon, but it would be reinforced with fiberglass, most of the cheaper carbon parts you see are built this way. Next question is what's a fair price in fiberglass?

This diffuser would be built to resemble the popular APR diffuser, but with maintaining you're oem reverse lights. Anyway any thoughts or opinions are appreciated. I'd like to get this started asap, but would like to hear what you guys think is fair for pricing.

 

500

 

Fiberglass? Or Carbon/fiberglass?

 

Based on what I'm seeing in some of these threads, I think we should start selling Rota wheels.

 

^ Lol!!

 

http://rpidesigns.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1469
^^ very similar to APR, and comes painted.

http://rpidesigns.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1067
^^ unpainted.


And as far as fiberglass/carbon or whatever, price would be my deciding factor. If they're priced the same, then obviously go with whatever's stronger. I'm not getting this for performance or weight reduction or anything like that -I'm really just after the look.

EDIT: if i'm not sposed to post links to other vendors, just lemme know and i'll edit it

 

A whole bunch of us just bought C/F diffusers (I would think over glass, mine is in transit) for $499 shipped, does that help?

 

No worries as I'm not selling anything in this thread
Yes and no. I don't mind seeing what others are being priced at, but this will be a custom diffuser, not a copy of an oem piece. I appreciate it though, every bit of info helps.

 

I just installed the APR.carbon diffuser. SUPER nice piece. Doesn't APR make.a.fiberglass..version already? I think.they do..

 

They may make one, I don't know. What we're trying to do is make something similar (and keep the reverse lights) for WAY less than the APR. As mentioned our version would be $999 in 100% carbon, which is a good $4-500 cheaper than the APR one.

 

would like to see it

 

Well, at the risk of getting myself in trouble: I'm one of the owners of G3 Composites, Quik ZO6's supplier for this potential project.

To be fair to the site: You can not purchase a product directly from us. If you want any of our carbon products, you can only do it through Pete (AKA: Quik ZO6)

Now, that having been said...

Not only can't we compete with a sub $400 part, we simply won't.

What you're looking at are knock offs of knock offs, often made of full urethane, which is incredibly inexpensive to manufacture (especially when you're simply replicating someone else's work) or straight Fiberglass, occasionally using a hybrid carbon/ low-quality fiberglass system, as well.

So, while we can certainly appreciate everyone's desires to "get a good deal", some times that great deal, well.... isn't.

Hey, we're enthusiasts, too. We've personally got a 5th Gen SS/RS Camaro, as well as an SN95 Mustang, and we've formerly stabled an E60 M5 BMW, a supercharged Lotus Exige, and others...

So believe me when I tell you: none are more thoughtful of their purchases than we are, when it comes to modding.

I don't know about you guys, but price alone isn't my sole deciding factor. Sure, it's on the list, but when we look at what goes into the manufacturing of a particular part, you basically have two options, which suddenly make this a VALUE proposition.

Simply, has the part I'm considering used materials, and been manufactured to, a standard that is up to my own high-personal standards?

Is it exceptional enough for me open my wallet, make a purchase, and be proud it's on my car?

So, what we have to do is make a decision:

1. Are we willing to save a few bucks on something that's lower quality, while bypassing American made products, for the sake of putting a part on my car cheaply?
2. Are we willing to pay a fair price for a home-grown product, of incredibly high quality, that is uncompromising in both it's approach to quality craftsmanship, as well as that of the use of quality materials?

Personally, I'd rather have NOTHING than have cheap junk on my car.

There's a reason I don't put Altezza tail lights on my car: they're cheaply made, generally unpleasing to the eye, seldom fit correctly, and wear out in an incredibly short amount of time.

This is true with ANY knockoff or lower end product on the market today. You can't expect $1600 quality for 25% of the price.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there's a REASON it's $1600. Believe me when I tell you; we all WISH we could arbitrarily tack on the price for which we WANT to sell something and actually have it sell.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of math, science, and calculating built in to make it all work.

For example: the amount of actual carbon fiber and materials that goes into our competitor's valence (not to be confused with a diffuser, which is is not) is more than that of the total cost to produce the above 'urethane replica.

Think about that for a second.

Before we get to account for a single minute of labor, nor the nearly $2000 it costs to make the original molds from which the parts will be produced, we've exceeded the cost of most of your price points.

As my business partner John always says, "What we're doing, at some point, is removing a $500 part from our cars, to replace it with one that's $350."

This DEVALUES our vehicles.

So, here at G3 Composites, LLC, we're completely energized by both your enthusiasm and your desires to own some carbon fiber products. You guys are the reason we show up to the shop every morning.

We can use the piece Pete mentioned as an inspiration, but we're not simply going to buy one, replicate it, then sell it to you at a cheaper price. It hurts everyone in the industry when we allow that stuff to go on.

What we can do is use it as inspiration, create a completely new product that improves on their basic design, in that ours will mount to your C6 using the factory mounting points and without additional modification, while retaining your factory back up lights, and have an incredibly gorgeous carbon fiber weave with minimal distortion/incredible clarity, all at a significant savings over that of the $1600 piece everyone seems to like.

All with a limited lifetime* of original ownership warranty against manufacturing defect. (We don't know of anyone overseas or here in the US willing to offer that level of after-sales support.)

As Pete said: we can deliver that product for under $1000 (plus shipping), but if an ability to buy it at nearly 40% off the price of other products available on the market, again; with more features you want, then maybe some of us simply don't really want carbon fiber.

So, maybe some of you can't afford it, for others it's not in the budget, or maybe the rest of us flatly don't want it at any price, but that's okay.

What we can do is offer you some options:

We can make available a full carbon version for $999 plus actual shipping. (We never mark up our shipping/handling costs to generate additional profit.)

We can make available a hybrid version, using fewer layers carbon than the above valence, layers of high-grade (read: not cheap, like some of the other guys) woven fiberglass cloth, and a less expensive clear coat to finish it for $799.

Lastly, we can offer a full fiberglass version for $699. It will look exactly the same as the above options, but contain no carbon fiber whatsoever, but will be finished in automotive primer, ready for paint upon delivery.

If we're not the right company for you, we completely understand and sincerely appreciate the opportunity to even DISCUSS us as an option. If you don't want something we offer today, hopefully you'll see our products around enough to give us your business on another product in the near future. (Again, please contact Quik ZO6 for pricing and payment options.)

In fact, we've sold a few sets of our door sills here and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. They're always available through Quik ZO6.





Thanks again for indulging us in the discussion of this project. If you have any questions, please let us, or Quik ZO6, a line. We're always here to help.

Happy Motoring,

Alan Eosso
Owner: G3 Composites, LLC

 

Interesting, but I must say the "piece of junk" I got for my wifes has just finished it's second season and it looks brand new, and I expect my new piece of junk to be as good or even better and by the reviews it is. Sometimes a good deal is just that, a good deal and those "pieces of junk" for $499 were just that, a good deal.
Yours sounds like it is going after a different market, since it sounds like it's looks will be more race inspired? as had already been said, those diffusers that you will be competing against are over $1000 bucks starting and I have no idea on their quality.

 

I have the APR carbon fiber one and I think it was worth every penny.
I liked the fact that it did not have the reverse lights in it. I guess yours would be an option for those that say, " I would buy it if it had reverse lights in"
The look of your carbon work looks great, and I see you are fairly local to me too.
Good luck with the project...
David

 

I didn't call anyone's product cheap junk. (well, except for Altezza.)

I was generalizing.

Please don't take general comments and personalize them. Neither of us win when we start doing that.

 

Don't take it so personal, he's saying he doesn't want to make junk products, and that means the cost of his parts will likely exceed $400. After market body panels, in my experience, leave a LOT of room for quality improvement. While I'm not looking to change the one I already have, if they can make a diffuser that fits OEM, looks killer and is durable, and they price it competitively... I think they'll sell great.

 

Thanks David. We're glad you feel that you got what you paid for. That's what it's all about: value for your money.

To be fair, if someone wanted our diffuser without backup lights, that'd also be an option. If/when we get to a point of sufficient demand, we're planning on making both versions available: with and without OEM backup lights.

 

Personalize them? Sorry my bad, I thought 2+2 =4 It is good we agree, the diffusers we bought are not junk.

I have no doubt you will create a great diffuser worthy of it's price.

Personal? Hardly.

 

Show us some of your diffuser prototype photos, otherwise, you sounded just like another Knock off company try to make copies off other company's designs and products.

 

I've seen their quality of work and it's great. The weave patterns are perfect. Keep up the good work