The Sun Won't Hurt Corvette No More

So, you have a Corvette (or any other such car), one with a carbon fiber look and some carbon fiber parts... You own it for some time, drive through the Sunshine State, pick up girls, race guys, you know, the usual behavior of a sports car owner. But wait... there's something wrong with the damn carbon fiber...

Owners of vehicles which are fitted with exposed carbon fiber parts (not painted in carbon fiber, but made of the material) have noticed that, in time, the cool look of the material begins fading away. This happens because of the sun, which has the nasty habit of degrading the material.

That problem appears to have been solved. At least this is what Corvette engineers say. The problem was of a particular importance for the carmaker, as the ZR1 for instance is filled with carbon fiber parts: on the roof panel, roof bow, rocker moldings, front fascia splitter, and the underside of the hood.

To protect those parts, Corvette engineers created a a glossy, UV-resistant clear coat meant to protect the special material. Not only that, but it also protects it from chips and scratches.

“Our challenge was finding a way to give our customers exposed-weave carbon fiber with the durability they have come to expect from a Corvette,” Mark Voss, senior design engineer for the ZR1 and the man who spent three years trying to find a way to protect carbon fiber.

“Other automakers have opted for fake attempts at a carbon-fiber look. With the Corvette ZR1, we wanted to give customers the real deal.”