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Ok so I know the old adage is you get what you pay for HOWEVER I see a lot of price differences ranging from $700 to $2000 for Carbon Flash side skirts. Is there really that much quality difference for the price?? I obviously don't want junk but what's a decent price on these??
Thank you for any suggestions..
Well, for what its worth, I made the decision to go with GM because I felt I could count on the OEM quality. They are excellent in every way. I was able to catch a sale and use a few point so I paid around $3500. for the kit, down from $4500. I know this is a lot more than the aftermarket offerings but it's a data point for you. You will not be disappointed in the quality.
I just ordered a set of Carbon Flash 5VM skirts from ebay for $699. I'll post a review of them once they arrive. Expectations are high, as my splitter and high wing came from the same place and they are OEM quality.
I’ve had sets from two of the major aftermarket vendors, both were/are very good. With that being said if I were to buy them today I would probably go with the OEM 5VM pieces. Major reason being that the prices of the aftermarket pieces has gone up a lot since I got my first set back in early 21. GM currently has a 20% off promo going on, you can use points if you have them, they are real carbon fiber, they will ship them to your dealer for free, they have a warranty and they will install them for about $300.
While waiting on my C8 to come in, I went ahead and ordered 5VM splitter, side skirts and a Z51 wing from the "cheap' on line store
The parts that delivered were not, in my opinion, worthy of installation on my car. The quality of the parts and the paint was terrible.
I returned them for refund.
I went ahead and ordered the splitter and wing from a vendor that says they obsess over my car....guess what...I got the new parts from the
same vendor I rejected previously. They also went back What a PITA
I antied up and bought from ACS Composites, who I believe is an OEM supplier.
The parts were OEM quality and now installed, look factory.
Save yourself the aggravation and just buy the good stuff the first time !........
While waiting on my C8 to come in, I went ahead and ordered 5VM splitter, side skirts and a Z51 wing from the "cheap' on line store
The parts that delivered were not, in my opinion, worthy of installation on my car. The quality of the parts and the paint was terrible.
I returned them for refund.
I went ahead and ordered the splitter and wing from a vendor that says they obsess over my car....guess what...I got the new parts from the
same vendor I rejected previously. They also went back What a PITA
I antied up and bought from ACS Composites, who I believe is an OEM supplier.
The parts were OEM quality and now installed, look factory.
Save yourself the aggravation and just buy the good stuff the first time !........
Agree with the ACS Composites. Just purchased the Z06 style rockers and had them shipped to the museum, for installation, on my raffle win delivery on December 8th.
While waiting on my C8 to come in, I went ahead and ordered 5VM splitter, side skirts and a Z51 wing from the "cheap' on line store
The parts that delivered were not, in my opinion, worthy of installation on my car. The quality of the parts and the paint was terrible.
I returned them for refund.
I went ahead and ordered the splitter and wing from a vendor that says they obsess over my car....guess what...I got the new parts from the
same vendor I rejected previously. They also went back What a PITA
I antied up and bought from ACS Composites, who I believe is an OEM supplier.
The parts were OEM quality and now installed, look factory.
Save yourself the aggravation and just buy the good stuff the first time !........
I have the OEM "5W8" kit which is the same as the 5VM, but the carbon fiber is painted in carbon flash metallic. The quality and fitment is perfect. I'm frugal on most purchases, but for this, I'd say buy once/cry once and go OEM.
Biggest price difference is "pre-preg all carbon fiber"-"hand-laid"as opposed to "carbon fiber finish" (over fiberglass or ABS). Check out AmericanHydrocarbon.com
They sell what you want, have a great reputation and most parts are "GM Licensed". They have a "PACKAGE DEAL" price for the splitter, skirts and High Wing Spoiler option that makes it hard to beat $$. They're also the only company I found that has custom logo and paint options. I spent several weeks recently, shopping on-line before I decided on them.
When you call the company, you will get "Pat" the OWNER of the company who is super nice to deal with. Read the reviews and view the gallery.
As the OP was asking as it relates to a big price difference, I think the question should be : Is there a difference in ABS construction, fiberglass and Carbon Fiber? That is the biggest driver to the price. Carbon Flash is a paint finish as opposed to visible Carbon Fiber.
The least expensive ones out there are made of ABS, followed by Fiberglass or composite construction, and at the high end of the $$$ scale is Visible 100% Carbon Fiber.
I have a GM set of 5VM in visible carbon fiber. In the past, on my C7 GS I had a set of C7 Carbon front splitter and side skirts in visible carbon...... however, C7 Carbon just uses a top layer of carbon over top of fiberglass or composite material.
I had C7 Carbon with REAL carbon fiber cloth on my 2014 C7 that had an OEM visible carbon fiber roof! They matched. The big advantage over GM all carbon fiber (in addition to a much lower price) is installation. To install the GM product per their instructions you need to drill a hole in the fenders AND use a very strong 3M Adhesive along the who length.
The thicker C7 Carbon fiberglass side skirts either with a carbon fiber outer cloth layer (It's NOT a faux hydro dipped film) or as I bought painted carbon flash (it's $100 less cost) are very ridged and ONLY need a bottom OEM bolt and rivets under the rocker panels.
My C7 Carbon spitter with real CF cloth added to my 2014 C7 matched the OEM visible CF roof.
Never again! Once you get started with CF you can't stop! Started with OEM visible CF roof, added real CF full length side skirts to stop rocks marking rocker panels. Then the hood vent was available in real carbon fiber so bought it. The cost killer was that chrome grill bar looked like a brace for teeth! That real CF overlay was only available from one vender for a list price of ~$375! Having spent all that money for real CF fake tape was not going to do!
Installing C& Carbon side skirts is much easier than the GM 5VM that requires drilling a hole in each fender AND using a strong 3M adhesive. I considered and decided on C7 Carbon
I bought painted carbon flash. Looks perfect now at 28 months as it did when installed.
Yes, thank you. The drawing was at the museum on September 22nd, $100 ticket. I still can’t believe it.
See folks, you can get a C8 for a discount off MSRP if you are in the right place at the right time.
Congrats, thats one helluva way to spend 100 bucks!
To the OP: I bought composite full length side composite skirts painted carbon flash from Quinten Racing. The side skirts are fantastic and look OEM. However, the hardware sent with them for the installation was a little flimsy. But the shop that inatalled them had better hardware (rivets, grommets, whatever they are) and used theirs. The result was a set of full length side skirts painted carbon flash and installed for $1100 total including installation thanks to a veterans' discount Quinten offered. 100% worth it and they dont look "cheap" at all.
Side Skirts
