CVIA Carbons - Cape Town's carbon-fibre start-up

Dig a little deeper, and the innovation and talent available in South Africa are both impressive and inspiring. We visit CVIA Carbons, a small start up carbon-fibre production company in Cape Town. 

Words: Wilhelm Lutjeharms

Photos: Wilhelm Lutjeharms and supplied

Carbon-fibre is a composite material that is found in nearly every super- and hyper-car on sale today. And for good reasons, too... It is a strong and lightweight product that can be used for a variety of applications. Porsche and Koenisegg, to name two, are even using it for their wheels, which of course has a beneficial effect on unsprung mass.

For many of us, it also looks good, although that might be the case because we know it has an impact on performance?

Needless to say, it is a massively important product and whether it is for small interior trim parts, or larger panels, it is used nearly everywhere in luxury and performance cars these days, not to mention the role it has played in the racing industry for a number of decades.

The saying goes that "necessity is the mother of invention", and that has exactly been the case for Christopher Cloete.

How it all started

Chris was working as a manager at a construction and manufacturing company, but then a requirement for his own personal car led him down the carbon-fibre rabbit hole.

“I owned a Ford Ranger bakkie, a pre-facelift 2012 model. I then decided to buy the bumper of the newer model and the fenders to fit to my bakkie. All I needed at the front to complete the project was the bonnet of the new model. I couldn’t find a new bonnet anywhere, so I continued to search online and then I discovered that in Thailand they made the new bonnets as aftermarket products in carbon-fibre. I got a quote, but it would have worked out to tens of thousands of rands once shipping and import taxes were included. I decided that I could probably do it myself.

“I read up on some forums and watched numerous videos online. I put together a plan of what I would need, including the vacuum pumps. And... basically, after that I didn’t stop.”

Chris worked on his project part time for around a year and then made the decision to start his own business. It has now been two years since Chris started and, as is to be expected, the learning curve have been very steep, but it has resulted in him doing a number of interesting projects.

One of the main automotive parts CVIA Carbons now focusses on are bonnets, doors and fenders. "The car comes in and we’ll make a mould out of the backside and inside. We then replicate the bold-in points where the hinges are attached. The result is that you can simply place the panel in the exact some place as the OEM item.”

He takes me through his small workshop and shows me some of the parts and moulds they are busy manufacturing. There is even a small four-seater aeroplane’s engine’s intake he is busy with as well as the front bumper of a BMW 1M. There are also smaller motorcycle parts. I’m shown the rolls of carbon-fibre material that has recently been delivered and other materials that are used together with the epoxy.

What is next?

3D scanning and printing is the next step for CVIA Carbons. “I’m actually looking at it now, because I’m busy with a client who wants certain Aston Martin updates fitted to his car. This means I’ll have to scan them from another Aston Martin car. These technologies will really assist me with the production process.

“If people want a certain part made in carbon-fibre, they need to bring the car for the day, or they must bring me the part. Then we’ll make a mould followed by making the part itself.

“There are four methods to manufacture carbon-fibre. The first one is pre-impregnated with an autoclave. What I do is the second-best way, resin infusion. This entails the dry carbon-fibre material, of which we use around six layers as each layer is only 0.2 mm thick. We vacuum bag it, the same as the first method, and introduce the epoxy through a tube that fills and flow out through the whole system. That cures for a period of six to eight hours.”

“The autoclave is a quicker process and you can get away with using less material. I need to use slightly more epoxy compared to parts going into an autoclave to acquire the same level of strength.” Needless to say, it is only large manufacturers that can afford an autoclave and with our current electricity challenges it will be nearly impossible to make such a purchase viable. 

“I now focus mainly on panel replacement. I stepped away from lips and spoilers and side skirts. Everybody does it, and you can also import those items from China. My clients are mostly real car enthusiasts who are looking for weight reduction, heat extraction or for other functional reasons.”

Some of the parts Chris and his team manufacture are still for cosmetic reasons. This includes, as an example, a Volkswagen engine cover as well as replacements parts for F80/82 BMW M3/M4 and M2 Competition seatbacks where the plastic parts are replaced with carbon-fibre items. In this instance it is purely for aesthetic reasons. The cost of parts depends on whether the company has already made a mould of that part, or not.

“For a Polo bonnet we have the full carbon-fibre unit priced at R28 000. Then we have the more affordable carbon and fibreglass core which is priced at around R19 000.

“The process is one of the most enjoyable aspects for me, seeing the product developing from start to finish. One of the most fun projects I’ve done was sending a full Golf 7 replacement panel set to New Zealand for a race team that was running a TCR race car. It was great to hear that they were able to reduce their lap times owing to the reduction in the weight of the car.”

Visit CVIA Carbons on Instagram to learn more about their products, pricing and for inquiries.