The truth behind Vorstiener CF Products

[LMB_M3]

Last weekend, I went to check out my friend new M3 GTRS3 Widebody kit he bought from Vorsteiner for $24K USD. I was shocked when I saw the quality of their products. The surface on the carbon fiber are un-even, a lot of bumps and pin holes on the parts.

We also found out their hood is not 100% carbon fiber, which they had claimed it's a full dry carbon fiber; the truth is NOT real CF. They thought no one will knew the hood about this, but too bad we did we found. My friend M3 have the Activewerk supercharger with a large manifold. Their hood cannot closed with the AA manifold installed, so he had to cut out the middle section on the hood. Guess what we saw?


My question is, does this really worth buying their products? and false advertising?

Images worth a thousand words. Let me hear yours thought.

[LV-E92M3]

fuck... sorry to see that

[Cab5er]

You don't get what you pay for sometimes

[mrkhanna16]

Fail. Buy replica! You save money.

[stega]

Very interesting...

[huyner328]

I just fell out of my chair. Not sure if it was for the $24k part or the build quality.

[Hedges]

24k? crazy!

[nathan@cc]

With the exception of what you are calling fiberglass underneath the powerdome(not sure hard to tell), everything else is what i would call completely normal as far as bodykits are concerned. I have done alot, I mean alot of body kits in my life, $20k Mansory Bentley kits, $12k+ Porsche TechArt kits, Genuine AcSchnitzer kits, factory porsche kits, factory AMG kits, they have all had these types of flaws. Pinholes normal, texture in the primer(come on, really?)normal, side vents not fitting right(clearly popped out of place, not installed properly), takes a little effort that is to be expected with a custom body kit, right? As much as i would like these parts to fit perfectly and be ready to scuff and paint they never are.
Price tag is what it is for a reason. What do you think it costs a bodykit company to prototype one of these kits? Over $100k! Sometimes 2 times that amount. They may be lucky to break even after selling 20 of them, which at this point close to a year in they are lucky if they have sold 10. Its a limited production kit, how many people out there can afford the labor alone to paint and install one of these kits even if you were to get the parts for free.
By the way, I have installed 3 of these kits so far and I think they are a very well made kit, all things considered.
Isnt this the car thats overseas? To me this post stinks of trying to smear vorsteiner.

[Definitive]

Thats interesting Nathan. I guess most of us dont know how much work goes into the finished product. I know for a honda civic body kit there is a lot of work to be done, but wow, Mansory and Techart, etc...

I always though this kind of kit was primed and ready to paint.

D

[nathan@cc]

Originally Posted by mrkhanna16

Fail. Buy replica! You save money.

FYI buying the replica might make you think you are saving money until you get your bill from your paint and body shop to fix and install the replica junk. I doubt this widebody will be replicated

[nathan@cc]

Originally Posted by Definitive

Thats interesting Nathan. I guess most of us dont know how much work goes into the finished product. I know for a honda civic body kit there is a lot of work to be done, but wow, Mansory and Techart, etc...

I always though this kind of kit was primed and ready to paint.

D

Yeah i gave up on thinking that a long time ago. Those Honda kits you refer to often have to be cut and re-fiberglassed just to fit properly

[SV Concepts]

Great post, Nathan.

I'll second your statement. I have toured Hamann's facility and seen their parts, and let me assure you, Vorsteiner is top quality by comparison. Pinholes and textured primer are standard, as it's assumed that the kit will be prepped and painted by a reputable company - such as C&C Collision.

As for the fiberglass, how is this false advertising? The hood purchased is clearly single sided carbon fiber, which means that the bottom half and some inner portions of the hood are DVWP. Do you know what DVWP is? It's high quality fiberglass which is infused with resins and vacuum woven (hence the VW in the term DVWP). Vorsteiner has no illusions about the fact that they use fiberglass in their products, however, this does not mean that the products are not Dry Vacuum Formed carbon fiber.

If you want a product that is 100% carbon fiber, they can make it for you - but you can't afford it. This is because the material costs skyrocket, the labor is much more intensive, etc etc. This is why they do have the VTS (Vorsteiner Track Series) which is full carbon fiber - you can expect to pay $5,000+ for a hood.

Anyways, if anyone reads this thread and has any doubts about Vorsteiner's authenticity or their manufacturing processes, I would direct you to my full Factory Tour of Vorsteiner where I show how they make the parts. Yes, in between the top and bottom of a hood, there is DVWP. Yes, if you order a Single Sided hood, the bottom half is going to be DVWP.

5 posts, a car Vorsteiner doesn't know about (must be an international customer), broken english, and no record of correspondence to Vorsteiner (wouldn't you contact them first to ask for help installing?).... I smell something fishy. Perhaps someone out there saw the factory tour post, saw a decline in sales, and set out to get retribution.

JL

Don't believe the lies.

[supremepower]

I have to agree with Nate and Jon here. Somethings definitely fishy here.

The Vorsteiner products are top notch and much better than the other products out there.

I have been distributing aftermarket products for 15+ years now. Seen it all and I mean all. Vorsteiner products are by far one of the best we have seen.

Keep in mind guys all the body products of this nature require prep work and this is where choosing a quality bodyshop like C&C comes into play.

Im really glad to see Nate and John jumping on here to come to Vorsteiners defense.

Thought I would need to put in my 2cents as well. Buy Vorsteiner products in confidence. If you guys need VTS full carbon products we would be happy to assist.

[punksterz626]

clearly all aftermarket parts, especially fiberglass, requires some work and adjustment to be done. However, looking at the finish of the "supposedly" prep and primer, ready to paint finish, one would assume, for 24k, a lil more work shouldve been put into it.

[xchosun1x]

wow..i'd be super pissed if I got a kit like that after dishing out that much money.

I thought Vorst had very high QC for all there products.

Man, someone was sleeping at their post while this went through QC

[slimflem]

wow, what junk and what a ripoff. take that shit off the M3 and get your money back. probably lost the money spent now, but I would feel horrible driving around with that crap stuck on my car.

[Moxie]

I've had beefs with vorstiener before, but they have always made it right. From my experience, they stand behind their product & go out of their way to please the customer.

[Nexlevmm]

This guy is obviously trolling the forum. i dont own any Vorstiener parts but i used to do body prep for a while, and you will always see little imperfections in ANY aftermarket parts. Whether it be carbon fiber or plastic or fiberglass. Be grateful that great companies like Vors. have quality control and are willing to take responsibility about it.

Disclaimer: i have no affiliation with any company on these forums whatsoever.

[bunnn]

While I might not be the happiest camper with my Vorsteiner trunk, maybe you should read a little bit of this before you bash the hell out of their "carbon fibre" claims.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=491218

[nathan@cc]

Originally Posted by TrackRat

Pin holes and wavy surfaces are NOT quality workmanship, they are product defects. Anyone selling stuff like this should be convicted for fraud. These parts certainly we're produced in an autoclave as they should be.

Pinholes are a result of the resins and/or gelcoat gassing off, they are normal. Could vorsteiner go the extra step to re-sand and re-prime to help fill these pinholes, sure. Do I want them to? No I personally do not. I want a minimum amount of material on any part that i am painting and attaching my warranty and reputation to. In most cases i strip off whatever primer comes on any body kit to insure that only products being mixed under my roof are in between the raw product and the finished painted product. Wavy surfaces? The only wavy issue discussed in this thread is orange peel in the primer that is a result of air and fluid being atomized in a spray gun and "puddling" on the surface its being sprayed on. This is sanded smooth when being prepped for paint.

[nathan@cc]

Originally Posted by TrackRat

Um,pinholes are from lack of proper gelcoat application. If they can't do the very basics they sure as Hell didn't do proper autoclaving.

No reputable company would ship crap like shown in the pictures. This is hacksville at best.

Pinholes are very normal, but if you think otherwise thats fine. And for your information these kits are not sold to the public they are only sold to pre-approved shops for installation. It is my understanding and it should have been the understanding of the overseas shop that there would be preparation and priming required

[STALKER]

I have ordered a few pieces from them for my old E46 M3 and my current E90 M3. There quality control has been hit and miss for me.
That being said, each time I did not get a good quality piece, they did send me a new piece and the issue was resolved.