Durability of Carbon Fibre splitters

[Yellow Dave]

I want to now how strong these generally are? How well do they cope with catching on the odd grass verge or curb stone?

I drive around building sites all morning and occassionally catch my standard cup splitter, especially on the more bumpier sites. And it seems to have happened more often than not in the past couple of weeks .

This morning coming into work I caught a pheasant. Cracked and smashed the middle of it into pieces, then bounced up and managed to catch my Carbon Fibre foglight surround and knocked it off, but without damaging it.

The streamline carbon splitter is £130 on ebay which isn't really that expensive, but they don't list it on the website and K-Tec want £110 but I don't want to have to replace it everytime a catch it. Anyone have ideas on what Renault charge for a new one?

What's peoples experiences with them?

 

[Tom@JMS]

As far as I am aware all of the CF splitters suffer from white stone chips quite badly as the lacquer marks easily.

 

[Andyman]

I have a Ktec item bolted to the ph1.

Its still on in one piece but is cracked in about 3 places due to belting off speed bumps, dips and rabbits lol

Chances are its going to crack and chip white but it all depends on how hard you hit the object.

Id say its pretty strong tbh

 

[smitchell1]

Pug 207 or 307 spliter, its made of much more durable plastic and looks quite close to the cup splitters and doesnt get stonechipped. Just a bit of back to black every now and then.


£35 from a pug dealer!!

 

[Andyman]

He's talking about carbon fibre

 

[Yellow Dave]

Would consider a plastic one again but I'd imagine Renault would be quite pricey. Might take a look at the Pug one though. Cheers

Carbon ones appear to be a bit more durable than I expected

 

[JoedotwasT5phy]

Mines had plenty of knocks and scrapes but is still fine and dandy, quick polish and it looks new again.

Just do it! looks sweet with the CF fog surrounds

 

[Yellow Dave]

Just phoned a local dealership, £154.99 which includes VAT. OUCH. Cup spoiler pack only cost me an additional £175 when I bought the car knew.

Carbon fibre is looking like a winner now, as long as it's not much weaker than the standard plastic

 

[Gstar2006]

caught mine reversing somehow and it ripped a 4" chunk forwards. Did not look nice. Kinda pushed back into place but as it's fibre it doesn't just go back as it should as it's all brittle and mashed up

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Id imagine driving full tilt into a kerb isnt going to do it any favors

 

[smitchell1]

Thats the good thing with plastic ones is that they have a bit of give in them and at £35 you can afford to replace them if it really gets battered!!!

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Tiz why i put a Cupra R one on mine, £17 from Seat.

renault should take a leaf out there book ffs

 

[Big Iain]

Are they actually carbon?

 

[Christopher]

They are FRP with a carbon skin.

Brittle as hell, and they chip and look terrible very quickly.

This was the result of nudging a low curb at less than 1mph.

 

[smitchell1]

Ouch!!! ^^^^^^^

 

[Christopher]

Buy a plastic OE one.

Much better.

 

[Fred@BTM]

the streamline one is proper

 

[fuel_slut]

mine looked awful on my old 182. It had stone chips all over it. I then killed it wen i touched a high curb and smashed it into 3 pieces lol. Dont bother with them.

 

[Yellow Dave]

I thought the K-Tec splitter was all carbon, not overlay! I know the streamline stuff is properly made but worried it might be a bit brittle. At least with a plastic one it'll bend and flex a little on gentle knocks and bumps. A OE plastic one would probably be the safest bet but when it's much more expensive from Renault I thought I'd weigh up the options.

Will start looking for the Pug one this evening.

 

[nozza89]

what is the fitting like on the pug and the seat ones??

 

[*DD*]

i had a k-tec one on for about 6 months, was actually lasting realliy well until i crashed in to a kurb in the snow, wasnt a fast crash, maybe 5mph, but was a high curb and when reversing off it 3/4 of the splitter tore off and snapped in 3 places

feel a bit hard of spending £110 on another one for the same thing to happen but have heard the standard ones are also quite expensive.

 

[Coby.]

CF Splittetrs start to look a mess after afew miles, I've had mine on for 16 months and its chipped to hell anfd cracked in 3 places from nudging grass banks when pulling up on Kurbs etc.

I'll be buying a OE one from Renault if I choose to replace it

 

[smitchell1]

The pug ones fit quite well, its all about taking your time and doing it bit by bit so it follows the shape of the bumper properly!!

And about 10 self tapping screws!!!

 

[bic]

Would people be interested in straight forward wet lay GRP versions or even pre preg black e glass versions ? these could also be done in 1 piece as will fit in our oven, and also our splitters for the mk2 Clio will also be available in 1 piece later this year as they can be oven cured in one piece, will certainly be a pain to post tho lol

cost for fibreglass/e glass splitters will certainly be competitive with genujine renault parts, in the region of £50-60 for a wet lay GRP item, any good for people in need of multiple replaceemnts lol ?

cheers



Bic

 

[maynard]

mine's been on for 6 months now, looks pretty new still, obviously odd stone chip but nothing major.

 

[Monaco Sean]

Im picking up a 172 with CF splitter Friday.

Can't remember if its marked at all.
If it is and looks awful, can I spray it black or colour code them at all ... monaco blue?

 

[Yellow Dave]

Bic, to be honest your current carbon splitter is cheaper than the standard Renault part so for me personnally the cost isn't the problem. But I'm sure the masses would appreciate a cheaper option.

Sorry for my stupidity, but what would the GRP and e-glass items look like? I think a nice lacquered gloss black would personally look good.

And back to durability, how flexible would they be to the odd knock and scrape when parking?

 

[Yellow Dave]

Im picking up a 172 with CF splitter Friday.

Can't remember if its marked at all.
If it is and looks awful, can I spray it black or colour code them at all ... monaco blue?

don't see why not, people spray carbon bonnets and panels. You just need to prep it like anything else by taking it right back to get a good key, then priming, painting and lacquering.

But I think being colour coded in a position as that would really highlight with plenty of stone chips

 

[bic]

pm'd Dave

 

[Steve 182]

Dont know if its me being blind but i cant see the splitter on the Streamline Carbon site, how much is it an is it better than the K-Tec one? I will be looking for one of these in the near future. Ta.

 

[Yellow Dave]

I can't find it on their website, but it's on their ebay shop. Streamlines carbon is of a lot better quality and manufacture being pre preg and not simply wet layed, but read there website and it describes it much better.

It's £130 +/- I think on there ebay site so it's still cheaper than the standard plastic Renault splitter.



Bic, thanks for the PM, keep me posted

 

[Se7en172]

Just fitted mine, took me about 40 minutes with a mate supporting it and lining it up as we went along. Looks very good indeed, chipped the underside once or twice already whilst drilling caught it with the actually bulky drill (not the drill bit), however K-tec sent me a gloss black splitter despite me ordering Matt.

 

[Pete.]

My KTec one has been on for about 8 months now and looked great for all that time. Bumped into a kerb last week and scratched it. Luckily it didn.t split. Think I hit it harder than when I snapped my original OE one. Would say go with either the KTec or Streamline ones. The Streamline one is available as a two part item and they did say that they would sell you either half should you chip a corner or side of one.

 

[alexbleubolt]

maybe you could get a SEAT spitter they look nice, and you maybe able to get it to fit, cut it shorter

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEAT-LEON-CUPRA-R-FRONT-BUMPER-SPLITTER-Genuine-Seat_W0QQitemZ370132159607QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item370132159607&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1689%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

 

[Al_G]

maybe you could get a SEAT spitter they look nice, and you maybe able to get it to fit, cut it shorter

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEAT-LEON-CUPRA-R-FRONT-BUMPER-SPLITTER-Genuine-Seat_W0QQitemZ370132159607QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item370132159607&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1689%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Dont buy one from ebay FFS get one from SEAT direct as they are only £17

 

[Blarno]

Is there actually anything to gain from having a carbon splitter, other than a bit of willy-waving?

 

[Se7en172]

Is there actually anything to gain from having a carbon splitter, other than a bit of willy-waving?

20bhp

 

[Blarno]

20bhp

Wow, I'll have 2. One under the other.

 

[aspire5600]

.

 

[aspire5600]

i had a k-tec one on for about 6 months, was actually lasting realliy well until i crashed in to a kurb in the snow, wasnt a fast crash, maybe 5mph, but was a high curb and when reversing off it 3/4 of the splitter tore off and snapped in 3 places

feel a bit hard of spending £110 on another one for the same thing to happen but have heard the standard ones are also quite expensive.

Go down the 307 splitter route, I did the same as above -snow the other week, £32.50 from Peugeot...just a bit of chopping and it's on, really pleased with it.