tj90

OZ - I think your interior looks great, but I dont think your stuff is real CF. I briefly read the web like and they say CF look...

TheOtherEric

No offense, but I think very few of us would find that simulated CF to be acceptable.

Stealth 993

While that stuff looks good, that is WAY over priced!

macarbon_john

Curve Lover, thanks for noticing our website and posting a link here.

To clarify, we make our laminate parts in our workshop in Belgium. We do product planning, sales, customer support, warehousing and final quality control in our San Carlos, California ‘headquarters’. San Carlos is a half hour south of San Francisco. Our production facility is ours though. We do not outsource our production like many other companies.

We had been asked frequently in the past to do parts for the 993 and sometimes the 964. We recently had a customer with a 1994 964 3.6 Turbo who wanted to do a set of parts – which is what you see in the photos. He was very happy with the results and has asked for map pocket covers, ignition surround, and a few other parts in a second batch. We hope to have some installed photos soon.

We do all of the 964/993 parts as laminates, commonly known as ‘wrapping’. They are not 3M tape stick-on or the solid, molded parts we do for Ferrari and some Lamborghinis. As such, we do not need to tool for these parts but they are labor intensive to do to the level of quality that we require.

Lamination is not rocket science. There are various suppliers with various levels of quality with various retail price points which made in many locations around the world. We do the best we can to supply the best possible quality at the best possible price for the markets we serve. Interior CF is all about looks (not saving weight) so it has to look good. We specialize in parts for Ferrari, Lamborghini, and newer Porsche models. These are expensive cars where you want the best parts. High quality combined with small markets is not a recipe for inexpensive parts. We also have to build in the cost of the original parts from Porsche since any used 993 part is going to be 11 years old at the least. If all of that means we have to charge the same price for a set of 993 airvents as for the latest 997 Turbo, then that’s what we do. Do we expect to take the 993 market by storm? Of course not. Do we expect these parts to remain one offs? From my experience, probably not.

I could type a number of paragraphs on the cost of carbon. It looks like we are being compared on price to 3M tape jobs and water printing. For lamination, a lot of time is needed to do the disassembly work, all of the surface prep work, the carbon application, the various layers of clear coat, sanding, polishing, and (especially for airvents) reassembly.
You can see the entire process on our site: http://www.macarbon.com/store/carbon-lamination-125/
This is not a cheap process unless your labor costs are very low and/or you use cheap materials. Lamination is like painting in that surface prep has a huge impact on the final result. And that takes time and effort.

I have looked at the various threads on some of the other CF suppliers. A couple of points here. From all of the threads, these do not look like easy transactions. Overseas, some only German speaking, with DHL/USPS shipping issues, all contribute to the sense of adventure you get when ordering. Many of the parts also seem to be 3M stick-on rather than 'true' laminates or molded parts. Next, few of the pictures are detailed enough to get a good impression of the quality of the finish. Most carbon photographs well (unless a flash is used) so all you really have to go on as an indicator of overall quality is the level of weave distortion and to some degree the clarity of the finish coat. Last, some vendors look to be very lean if not hobby operations. If a company is a small operation that has no advertising or other costs, then they can keep their costs low. That’s the nature of competition of course! I’m happy that 993 owners have some choices and that someone is serving the 964/993 market. I’m for everyone getting their carbon fix.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this and for taking a look at our parts.

John Borchelt
Owner
MAcarbon

oz993

No offense taken. But if you want the real deal you can't complain about the cost. It's one or the other

oz993

Thanks. Wasn't trying to pass it off as the genuine article, but there comes a time when you've got to weigh up the bang for ya bucks...We don't own F1 race cars here where the last ounce is critical.......I dare say we're all in it for the cosmetic benefits! If your pockets are deep enough to blow hundreds/thousands on components which give the same cosmetic effect as the Carbontech parts, god bless ya I say..wish I was in that position!!

David in LA

John - Any chance you have plans to do an entire center console similar to what is available from the factory for 996/997/Boxsters....at a reasonable price ("reasonable" being relative of course!)?

Thanks
David

macarbon_john

We were asked just this week that very question. We're working on a quote for the customer. I think the issue is that the center console is foam padded with a vinyl or carpet cover. But I wasn't handling the project so I'm not really sure. I'll check on Monday. The 996/997 consoels are simply plastic so they are easy to do. A case where the Porsche saved a few bucks on the later models.

What I'd like to do are the door pockets. I think they'd look pretty cool in CF. We contacted one of the companies that sell replacement units (this is not something we want to spend time molding) but the talks have not progressed much.

MarkD

no, but it is an art.
Laying that stuff down straight takes some skill...

Nice products

TheOtherEric

macarbon_john,
First, welcome to Rennlist! Looking forward to good stuff from your shop. Perhaps you could look into some more performance oriented parts that aren't being made. Here's a thread with some ideas:
https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...ber-ideas.html

I only say that because your pricing is pretty uncompetitive with Marcus. After buying a car-load of parts from him, I couldn't have justified paying twice as much for similar parts. His pricing is already really high.

Take it for what it's worth, just my 2c.

goofballdeluxe

That statement sums up my thinking when it comes to 993 vs. 996/997. Hand built vs. mass produced, the best you can make vs. the cheapest you can make.

macarbon_john

Thanks for the welcome! See my comments about being price competative with Marcus in the post above. I looked at his pricing and its very attractive. If the parts are good then I would recommend you order from him. I do know when we compete in our other markets that if there is a huge price difference then it comes down to production location, material quality, work quality, or the company being a hobby or one man operation. All of those factors then usually manifest themselves in the final product to where you get what you pay for. If someone in the SF Bay Area has a Marcus interior, I'd certainly be interesting in taking a look at it. Again, doing CF properly is not something that is cheap or easy to do right. We've priced the parts at what is required to make them worthwhile for us to do.

Cactus

I would love to have all the CF interior parts with a matte clear coat instead of glossy. Is that an option?

curve lover

Northern Atlanta. No photos. No affiliation. Good luck!

For sale on Craigslist: Porsche 993 carbon fiber dash - $500 (Dunwoody GA)

V

I agree with Eric. Marcus is top notch. Very good quality and the prices are not THAT bad (for what it is). I will be ordering from Marcus, but I'm on his side of the pond so that also makes things easier..