Restoring Strength and Integrity

Often when Carbon Fibre has damage, the fibres themselves can be fractured and torn. We can bind the part back together along with making it structurally sound but normally if the carbon has suffered cracks, splits or is missing carbon, there will be what we call a 'witness' mark. The best way to think of it is tearing a hole in your jumper. You can stitch it back together, but you may still see a small line where the fabric has been bound back together. Most of the time the 'witness' mark is very small and is not noticeable, other times it can be slightly more obvious depending on how bad the damage was. Every effort is made to minimalise this by the use of many different techniques. Regardless of this, the end result is as good as can be achieved and saves considerable amounts of time over replacing the component.

Generally, most repairs do look very good and, in some cases, do look brand new. To re-skin the entire part can be very complicated and very expensive. We try not to go down this route as it’s not always cost effective to do so. We work around the carbon that is there to give the best possible outcome. It’s rare that we would need to consider re-skinning the entire part.

The short answer is yes. We can fabricate small sections and if you still have the snapped off or damaged carbon, we can often make use of this. Depending on the part and the desired end result, sometimes this isn’t cost effective or viable but all the same, this is a type of repair we carry out often.

Often yes depending on where the damage is and the possibility to reinforce. If the part is enclosed, it makes it very difficult to repair behind the damage point and reinforce to suitable level. More often than not however, if we can gain access behind the part, we can make the part as strong or even stronger than before. Carbon manufacturers will only use a handful of layers of carbon, we can add many more layers if required which will increase strength massively.