I'm wondering how these fenders will affect the body they're attached to in an accident, even a minor one. Real carbon fiber is supposed to be extremely stiff, and I have a feeling that in a minor accident, they might transfer the force onto the steel body and wrinkle the steel that they're attached to. For instance, say you have a carbon fiber hood, and you get into a minor front accident (one that might just cave the front of the hood/fenders/apron a little). The carbon might just be shoved back into the front of the cab, wrecking the cowl/lower windshield area and distorting the cab sheetmetal to the point where it's almost unfixable, or at least not worth the effort. This might not be much of a concern to someone with a later Super (73-79) as those bodies are easily replaced with newer Mexican ones. But if you have the older body style bugs, it's something to consider(not necessarily rare, but getting harder to find by the day). On the other hand, you can run real bumpers (in carbon fiber) and get real protection with no weight penalty (the stock bumpers are woefully inadequate in most accidents). I'm still wary about the carbon fiber panels for the most part - I think that the fiberglass ones are a better way to go unless you're a sponsered, all out racing team. Just my opinion.
|