I've been messing with the carbon fiber trim along the top of the dash, and have engaged in several different approaches without an elegant solution. For anyone who has not tried to deal with this, the obvious source of the problem is that the carbon fiber trim pieces that Porsche glued down were not properly manufactured, so they have varying degrees of built in warping, constantly applying pressure to the factory adhesive. Over time, particularly in combination with heat cycling, this results in the carbon fiber bits on top of the dash peeling themselves away from the dash trim around the defrost vents and elsewhere.

On my car, the carbon fiber strips near the defrost vents are basically shaped like spirals when they are removed from the dash, and it is impossible to glue them back down in that condition. My approach was to use my oven to heat them so that the epoxy resin would soften. This results in them lying flat and being slightly flexible. I then laid down a new bead of epoxy on the dash trim, and used a half dozen ratchet clamps for woodworking to secure them in place while the epoxy set. Unfortunately, this approach is insufficient (though a different epoxy would probably last longer), as eventually bumping down the road and heat cycling from the summer, etc causes the epoxy to fail and the carbon fiber trim starts pulling itself off the dash again. Complete carbon fiber replacements for the entire defrost area are available, but they are both gaudy and hideously expensive. I also think they are unnecessary, since it is easy to remove the factory adhesive remnants with solvents like goof off, and then a properly made simple flat piece of carbon fiber could be glued down in the original trim location. So... I'm wondering if anyone knows a place that can fabricate the strips.

Also for the record, the bake and epoxy approach works great for the self-peeling carbon fiber trim on the end vents on the dash. Remove any previous glue or goo from previous attempts, stick the entire vent with carbon fiber on it in the oven at about 250F for a couple minutes (I used a piece of aluminum foil to keep it from lying directly on the oven rack). You'll see the carbon fiber visibly relax if you watch through the oven window. give it a few more seconds, then quickly pull the piece, squirt in some epoxy, clean up any excess, and leave it clamped until the epoxy sets.

 

I've done most of my interior in carbon fiber by removing the leather wrap on the trim pieces and applying carbon fiber in its place. It cost about $40 for enough carbon fiber for the entire car (resin was extra - about $50) If you're up to trying something new, I would suggest you try straightening the pieces using your heat method and instead of gluing down the piece, put it in a jig so it cools straight then reapplying the CF. I'm not picturing the pieces you are talking about, but I think this approach would work. It is pretty easy removing the leather from the trim pieces and I know trying to remove the CF would be much more difficult, but given your options...

 

Did you do this with your leather door trims and all you did was remove the leather then apply the wrap? My leather has some nicks in it and rather than spend~$1000 for carbon fiber maybe I can just have it wrapped.

 

Thanks for posting your experience. I hadn't thought of the over-heating method, but I may give it a shot with my pieces. Perhaps a combination of the oven method and Slider's suggestion might be a good fix, at least for a few years...

Solid, what temperature did you take your oven to?

Slider, where did you buy the carbon fiber and the resin?

 

I am referring to the two strips that run along the defrost vent trim pieces on top of the dash. They are shaped vaguely like the Nike swoosh. I tried pinning them flat and letting them cool, but they return to their warped shape as soon as the pressure is relaxed. I guess I could try cooking them hotter and longer to see if the resin softened more but I doubt that it would really work. I'm not sure how it is retaining that warped shape, as the material is completely pliable after being baked for a while.

 

Solid,

I had the same issue with the defroster vent CF pieces. I took them off and at present just have the black underlayment pieces. Do you recall when you took the pieces off whether you had to remove the A-piller trim to get the defroster pieces off. They don't seem to want to pop out.

Thanks.

Keith

 

hmm, any suggestions on how to repair if it's cracked? my shifter is cracking slowly but surely.

 

Yes, just heated up the trim and the leather just pulls off (it took a few hours to figure that one out). The CF pieces you see for sale on this site are done the same way. The pieces aren't totally CF, they have removed the leather from the stock pieces and re-covered using CF and resin. If you just wanted to replace the leather - that would be even easier. The leather covering is paper-thin.

 

Do you have pics?

 

Sounds pretty straighforward - sand down the shifter and cover with another layer of CF. It would probably look better than stock.

 

as in the 3M fabric stuff? or you mean real CF and then epoxy it again?

 

I've been using real CF and doing the whole epoxy thing - it looks factory if you take your time and do it right. It's not that hard and if you screw it up, you just sand it down and start over. (...although I haven't had to do that yet.)

 

to the OP, do you use a heat shield when parked outside? it would reduce the heat in the car which damages the CF and leather.

 

Has anyone found a place that you can purchase a replacement for the front vent carbon fiber piece? Mine recently bent up due to heat...then broke when trying to repair it.

Thanks.

 

I'm responding to a rather old thread of mine, but here is how I fixed this. I bought sheets of carbon fiber from Dragonplate.com. They sell very thin real carbon fiber veneer with an adhesive backing. I cut templates for each side out of cardboard, then used them to cut the carbon fiber veneer with heavy shears. You have to make a separate template for each side as the leather is glued on by hand at the factory and the gaps are not perfectly even. The self adhesive and glossy epoxy coat on the stuff I got from Dragon Plate has been good for about two years.