A lot of customers don't know what's different about carbon fiber parts. Today we will introduce what's the difference between dry carbon (prepreg carbon) and wet carbon.
In order to understand the difference, we need to follow up below questions to figure it out:
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What's different between carbon fiber raw materials?
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Does that wet carbon always mean poor quality?
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Can I buy wet carbon parts?
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Does dry carbon always mean the best option?
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How do we recognize dry carbon and wet carbon?
1. What's different between carbon fiber raw materials?
We just need to know the difference between carbon fiber and prepreg carbon fiber. There is a good article to learn things about prepreg carbon fiber.
https://prepregs.com/prepreg-carbon-fiber/
And we just need to know, wet carbon parts are made in carbon fiber, and dry carbon parts are made in prepreg carbon fiber.
https://prepregs.com/prepreg-carbon-fiber/
And we just need to know, wet carbon parts are made in carbon fiber, and dry carbon parts are made in prepreg carbon fiber.
2. Does that wet carbon always mean poor quality?
If we need to figure out the quality issue, we need to know how the factory produces the wet carbon fiber parts.
Most of wet carbon are made in carbon-coated. Most of mirror cover and interior kits will use carbon-coated to make wet carbon parts. Because these parts with a lot of fitting pins or tabs, it's hard to make them in full carbon fiber. So the carbon factories will get the original kits or aftermarket kits, sand and polish to clean the original coating, and then add carbon fiber on the mirrors or other parts. So they can look like real carbon parts.
To make wet carbon parts, the factory need don't need to use any machine, so basically, 99% of work is manual work, this requires the manual level of the technician. In that case, this is going to hard to make the carbon fiber look perfect every time, especially and rounded angel.
Since we know wet carbon it's just carbon-coated, so if the weather is too hot, or if it's used for over months, the carbon fiber might be delamination. We can't say this is poor quality, this is because of the wet carbon technic depends it will have a short live service.
Most of wet carbon are made in carbon-coated. Most of mirror cover and interior kits will use carbon-coated to make wet carbon parts. Because these parts with a lot of fitting pins or tabs, it's hard to make them in full carbon fiber. So the carbon factories will get the original kits or aftermarket kits, sand and polish to clean the original coating, and then add carbon fiber on the mirrors or other parts. So they can look like real carbon parts.
To make wet carbon parts, the factory need don't need to use any machine, so basically, 99% of work is manual work, this requires the manual level of the technician. In that case, this is going to hard to make the carbon fiber look perfect every time, especially and rounded angel.
Since we know wet carbon it's just carbon-coated, so if the weather is too hot, or if it's used for over months, the carbon fiber might be delamination. We can't say this is poor quality, this is because of the wet carbon technic depends it will have a short live service.
PS: The pictures of the carbon fiber parts you check on a online shop probably not 100% same like real product.
3. Can I buy wet carbon parts?
Are wet carbon parts not worth buying?
Not exactly! Because wet carbon parts don't require machines to make, and the raw material is cheaper, so the price is always cheaper than dry carbon parts too. So if you just start to get in touch with carbon fiber parts, and you don't decide to spend much budget on carbon fiber parts, you can still choose wet carbon parts as an option. The only risk for customers is that is hard to find out a supplier can always use some top technicians to make wet carbon parts. Which means if you choose wet carbon, it's hard to expect the quality is top.
Not exactly! Because wet carbon parts don't require machines to make, and the raw material is cheaper, so the price is always cheaper than dry carbon parts too. So if you just start to get in touch with carbon fiber parts, and you don't decide to spend much budget on carbon fiber parts, you can still choose wet carbon parts as an option. The only risk for customers is that is hard to find out a supplier can always use some top technicians to make wet carbon parts. Which means if you choose wet carbon, it's hard to expect the quality is top.
4. Does dry carbon always mean the best option?
As we talk above, if your budget is limited, then dry carbon def is not the best option for you. Because of the technic, the cost to make dry carbon is always expensive. And does dry carbon always mean the best quality? If you guys are interested in this article, we will make another post to tell you what's different between dry carbon parts very soon!
5. How do we recognize dry carbon and wet carbon?
Checking the back side of the product is the easiest way to recognize dry carbon and wet carbon. Like what we said, wet carbon is just carbon-coated, so the back side of the wet carbon is always black or other colors. And dry carbon is made in full carbon, so the back side has normal carbon weave.
We hope every customer can find out the best carbon fiber parts they want. But first things first, pricing is not always the first thing we need to check out. We need to know what's different from the product itself, so we can set a budget to buy the product we need. Hope this is going to help you guys!
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