Thursday, September 9, 2010

Kia Cerato Forte Body Kit

After months of inaction on the Cerato Forte front, we finally replicated the OEM kit and boot spoiler, in addition to another high mount spoiler application.



OM replica application with OM replica spoiler


SQ replica spoiler application


The plug (in layman terms - the part with which we utilize to make a mould to allow future duplication of the part) was just of a terrible, terrible quality. Many manufacture fibreglass body kit parts, but very few are capable of fabricating quality fibreglass body kit parts.

The Chinese character in the pictures is an allusion to the marketing material of the manufacturer of this particular part. It means to "dazzle" or to "boast". They have indeed dazzled us with their inept manufacturing processes and their product quality. Do be careful when purchasing bodykit parts people, especially for those that reside in Singapore. A body kit should serve you well for an extended period of time, not fail the minute the sun comes out or when you accidentally graze the curb.




The air void that is seen in this picture is just unacceptable. Gelcoat is just a thin layer of filled resin that when consolidated well with subsequent layers of glass or other reinforcements, results in a pleasing surface that prevents print through of the reinforcement. The defect as seen above will surface when the air between gelcoat and subsequent layers of reinforcement expands due to heat and ruptures the thin gelcoat layer. There is also an inordinate amount of filled resin utilized to allow for easier fabrication of the part, at difficult to consolidate areas. This will lead to brittleness of the composite part.





Areas that are covered with the rust coloured compound are areas where we had to fully resurface the part. A quick look at the pictures will reveal the extent of just how bad the surface of the part was when we received it.




The little red dots are pinholes that we've filled. After coating, these pinholes will show up as surface defects after some time. There are more bubbles in their part than a bottle of champagne.

Conclusion: EPIC Bodykit Fail!

2 comments:

Justiceserver said...

After the great philosophy of your sharing in bodykits, i finally have a clear picture to rate the quality of the fibre material.

Infact i was dismay with the quality of fibreglass material that was found in singapore. Last time my car(V9 rex) got into accident , then the workshop recommmend the chargedspeed front bumper to me . The bumper is yellow in colour , the surface looks perfectly smooth and shiny before spraying with paint.

To my disatisfaction, such a bumper cannot be fitted on my car , they need to do additional modification before the bumper can be fitted.

Worse come into my nightmare was after spray painting , the bumper seen to be "disfigure", the surface was filled " chicken pox" marks.

In lose of the trust and confidence for " yellow" colour bodykit, in the future i will definetely not choose this type of bodykit.

To the people out there, do not be deceived by the quality of the material just by the looks . what lies beneath still contain a question mark. What happens next is just a matter of time , pray hard u will not get the problematic bodykit.

This is just for sharing my experience with all the bodykits fans out there. Hope this will prevent us of getting thed bad quality of bodykit.

ARS said...

Perhaps you could name names Justiceserver. Our products that are distributed in Singapore are fabricated with a honey coloured gelcoat finish which may be similar to the yellow colour that you mentioned. Nevertheless, other manufacturers also fabricate parts using the same gelcoat colour in hopes of passing off their products as ours.