$60k Clearcoat for 2008 ZR1 ?!?!...

[Boyd]

Anyone see the article in the new Motortrend? The exposed carbon fiber pieces on the new 2008 ZR1 are clear coated with a mixture of a material that costs $60k (yes, SIXTY GRAND(!!!) a gallon and a special clear that costs $2k/gallon. I think the article said it was mixed 2 parts clear to 1 part top-secret UV proof material. I realize that they probably use less than 3 or 4 ounces per car, but still, that's just insane!

[Beige]

I just read that article today and somehow missed that.

[68Formula]

Must be a misprint, otherwise they are loosing their behinds on every car.

[ProdigyCustoms]

No misprint. I read it in a couple different stories. And I thought the Chrome illusion for my street racer was expensive at $250 a pint.

[Beige]

I read it again.

It's 3% magic stuff and 97% expensive clear.

It works out to $467 a pint.

[Happyfunballs]

Any clear with a UV inhibitor will work just fine over CF. $60k is nutty.

[formula]

Any clear with a UV inhibitor will work just fine over CF. $60k is nutty.

Except theirs is of course mega-overengineered to last 20 years in direct sunlight blah blah blah because they probably had to meet the same durability specs as a normal painted finish would have given. Which means...$$$$

[6'9"Witha69]

Except theirs is of course mega-overengineered to last 20 years in direct sunlight blah blah blah because they probably had to meet the same durability specs as a normal painted finish would have given. Which means...$$$$
Precisely.

[MarkM66]

That's BS!

They're just greasings someones pocket.

[formula]

unfortunately, it's actually because the VAST majority of the carbon fiber market--and everything that goes along with it, including coatings like this--is bought up as fast as can be by the aerospace industry. Demand exceeds supply already, and the market is only growing. SO--it costs everybody else a ton of money to get ahold of CF and related coatings, treatment, etc. on even a relatively large scale like this--which is why, if you look at vehicle cost relative to materials use, you have to hit 50k+ to see any sort of composite use at all. No pocket greasing--the CF makers just know they can charge that for it because that's the cheapest it'll be available for anywhere because Airbus and Boeing are buying almost all of the world's supply.

trust me--the guys who built the zr1 are gm's best and brightest--so they made that CF panel to meet every specification given to them as cheaply and efficiently as possible--it's just that somewhere along the line, it was deemed by the powers-that-be that the bare cf panel was an absolute must.

as for how much of it they use per car, we can only estimate--but let's say the roof panel is about 2 meters square in area, and coating depth is, eh, 40 microns. Then each panel has 80cc of coating once it's dry. Now, let's say that 25% of the paint is solvents that evaporates. That means that we need about 107cc of wet paint to end up on the surface. Typical spray gun transfer efficiency is anywhere from 20-90%, but we'll assume they went for the good stuff and set it at 85%. Then actual paint out of the gun for each panel is around 126cc, or about 0.26 pints.

Using our $467/pint price, that brings us to 121 bucks for the total coating cost to spray on each panel.

Expensive, but not mindblowing.

[BADNBLK]

No wonder your screen name is Formula ^^^:hand::razz:

[formula]

No wonder your screen name is Formula ^^^:hand::razz:

Haha I actually wrote that post about 15 minutes after I finished taking a test on it...guess I learned something after all in my auto manufacturing class!