Are Son of Cobra kits worth the cost?

[RoulerCo]

Has anyone in the community tried Son of Cobra carbon fibre body panels before? specifically the Alpina arches, the bonnet and the trunk lid.

 

I know he offers these in fibreglass too but has anyone used them before and what were they like to fit or install. Did you have to fettle the parts to get them right or has all this been considered already by them. I’m just trying to figure out if the cost is worth the savings in time a body shop would have to get them looking right.

 

Edited March 30 by RoulerCo

[markmac]

Did you ask SOC?  I would start there.  Off hand, I would say the level of fit and finish on his parts is very (very) high.  Still there is always going to be some fettling attaching A to B.  There are others besides Chris.  I would go back to my first line, ask the vendor your questions, if you get answers you don't like or need more info, ask others.

 

Kris Derentz

 

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[RoulerCo]

25 minutes ago, markmac said:

Did you ask SOC?  I would start there.  Off hand, I would say the level of fit and finish on his parts is very (very) high.  Still there is always going to be some fettling attaching A to B.  There are others besides Chris.  I would go back to my first line, ask the vendor your questions, if you get answers you don't like or need more info, ask others.

 

Kris Derentz

 

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Thanks @markmac 

 

yeah, I have spoken with him to be fair, seems like a really nice guy! He didn’t give me a reason to be concerned or anything like that. I just wondered what real world experiences had been. 
 

I’ll maybe shoot Kris a message 😄

[Dudeland]

25 minutes ago, RoulerCo said:

Thanks @markmac 

 

yeah, I have spoken with him to be fair, seems like a really nice guy! He didn’t give me a reason to be concerned or anything like that. I just wondered what real world experiences had been. 
 

I’ll maybe shoot Kris a message 😄

I took a close look at them, and they are very(very) cool. My feeling is that there is a point at which a car becomes something other (more?) than the one you started with.  I think that this kit falls into that category.    

 

There is no kit ever that fits perfectly, no matter what, so I would expect that it will require some massaging to get it to fit.  Even with modern cars, with modern manufacturing methods you still need to massage the fit of doors and hoods. 

 

I worry about crashes in the car, so you may want to put a skeleton underneath it. 

 

Also you can expect that there is a small resale market for the car after it is done.   I can think of other cars that I would pour 100K into. Like throwing an  an extra 25-50k at it and get a good example of a turbo, which will hold its value(ish). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AceAndrew]

Rouler ,  I have had experience producing parts via a sloppy fiberglass supplier, and these days I work with space-bound dry carbon structures .... so opposite ends of the spectrum.

 

The SonOfCobra bits that I've seen are very well done.  As good as you can get without an autoclave.  However, the wording in your post is setting off alarm bells of someone who is looking for problems where there aren't any .... a mountain out of a molehill, if you will.  "Fettling" is required in all bodywork situations.

Hoping that helps.

Edited March 31 by AceAndrew

[chargin]

I called him and set up an appointment for a roof install, dropped off the car and picked it back up a few days later as scheduled, NO drama 

 

it’s hard to beat that.
At events I go to people are amazed by my carbon roof 

 

3 of my other friends have had similar experiences 

 

Edited March 31 by chargin

[RoulerCo]

5 hours ago, AceAndrew said:

Rouler ,  I have had experience producing parts via a sloppy fiberglass supplier, and these days I work with space-bound dry carbon structures .... so opposite ends of the spectrum.

 

The SonOfCobra bits that I've seen are very well done.  As good as you can get without an autoclave.  However, the wording in your post is setting off alarm bells of someone who is looking for problems where there aren't any .... a mountain out of a molehill, if you will.  "Fettling" is required in all bodywork situations.

Hoping that helps.

No no, I just wondered how much additional work is required, or if there was any at all that had to be done.
I’ve never modded arches or added body kits before and it’s probably not something I would attempt to do myself. I’d have to give it to a body shop to do really. 

[RoulerCo]

3 hours ago, chargin said:

I called him and set up an appointment for a roof install, dropped off the car and picked it back up a few days later as scheduled, NO drama 

 

it’s hard to beat that.
At events I go to people are amazed by my carbon roof 

 

3 of my other friends have had similar experiences 

 

Whoa @chargin! Beautiful! 

Nice you’ve left it shown. Did you leave the weave visible on the inside? 

 

Any Instagram account or anything? 🙂

[Zak]

I've had the opportunity to tour his cool shop in SoCal and examine his work. Workmanship is of the highest quality. He's highly motivated, enthusiastic and passionate about his work.

[Ian]

I visited him in his shop after I purchased one of his CF roof panels.  I chatted with him for a bit and watched while they laid up a hood.  Extremely well made parts, he is a real craftsman.  I suspect his panels may be among the best you can buy for the 2002 or similar vintage cars.  I am lusting after his CF hood and trunk.

 

That being said, I cannot imagine that you won't have to do a little fiddling to get them to fit perfectly, due to slight tolerances in manufacturing and variability in our 50-year old cars.

Edited March 31 by Ian

[mac]

Aesthetics aside, didn't Colin Chapman say, "Want to go faster?  Add less weight"?

(or something like that .........)

 

Mac. 

[2002iii]

Calling @danco_, he worked with SOC to make the kit.

[kbmb02]

I've found the build quality of SOC's 2002 parts to be superb. (note: my experience is with 'bagged' fiberglass, I'd venture to say the carbon fiber parts are equally impressive.)

 

Data point: Paul has the ability to design custom parts, as we did for the vintage race car rear flares below (these are narrower than the flares on Paul's car, and with different wheel opening shape than the typical "Alpina" flares).

 

       The process: 3D scan + design + build mold + build parts = 'your own' fender flares.  -KB

[RoulerCo]

1 hour ago, kbmb02 said:

I've found the build quality of SOC's 2002 parts to be superb. (note: my experience is with 'bagged' fiberglass, I'd venture to say the carbon fiber parts are equally impressive.)

 

Data point: Paul has the ability to design custom parts, as we did for the vintage race car rear flares below (these are narrower than the flares on Paul's car, and with different wheel opening shape than the typical "Alpina" flares).

 

       The process: 3D scan + design + build mold + build parts = 'your own' fender flares.  -KB

Wow looks really impressive! Do you have an instagram account or anything like that I could follow? Would to follow the build 🙂

[chargin]

17 hours ago, RoulerCo said:

Any Instagram account or anything? 🙂

Instagram 

 

@chargin3737 

 

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