[waterman]

Originally Posted by Rnovrit

"The full story"


First off I want to make it perfectly clear that I am very picky about things and can be a pain in the rear customer at times (always nice and polite just ocd) so don't fault the companies I mention. They where all extremely nice, polite, understanding and a pleasure to deal with. This is just my personal experience as viewed by me.



Set 1:
Trufiber:


Ordered a set and they arrived no issue. Opened the box and discovered the holes on the backside. My first though was maybe these were for some sort of insert for another piece. Nope. Was later told is was for out gassing during the molding process though the hole appeared to be drilled in after the product was finished. Returned that set.


Set 2:
Adnderson Composites:


Called the company directly and spoke with tech about the issue I had with set-1. They assured me the canards were finished and molded exactly like the factory ones. (Keep in mind the factory sets are finished on the underside for the vertical sections.) I placed the order through one of their vendors and waited for the arrival. Figured the search was over. Nope! Opened the box and got one canard halfway out of the box. Backside was completely raw resin blobs painted flat black. Put it right back in the box and sent it back.



At this point I'm wondering if all the aftermarket canards are funky in some way and I should give up. I decided to keep searching. The quest must go one!


Set 3:
Extreme Online Store:


Contacted them and inquired about the finish on the back side. They confirmed they were completely finished. They were gracious enough to let me visit their warehouse that is not to far away from me to inspect the canards before purchasing them. (At this point I'm getting tired of shipping things back and forth.) They brought out a set for me to look at. Totally finished on all sides, no holes. Examined a bit closer and asked to see another set. (finish blemishes), second set.... third set.... fourth set... Winner! ( so I thought). I was in there office with old school florescent lighting. Once I got home, I pulled them out to look at them. What I found was when the carbon fiber was laid in, the edges were cut a tad too short in a couple areas and all you would see is the black tinted resin. I did not bother to return this set as I had already examined them at their place of business and accepted them as okay. Please note you need to get within 12"-18" to actually see what I'm describing.


Well fans, at this point I'm starting to really wonder if just keeping the stock canards on there is going to be just how things are. It has always kinda bothered me that GM did not use carbon fiber on these to match the wing but I totally under stood why they did not. Cost and damage from road debris being their location in front and down low.


Finally the light bulb went on and i figured out what to do.


Set 4:
TruFiber:


(Yep these guys again)


Procured set 4.



They arrived and looked just like set-1. Looking closely I could tell it was not the exact same set. Handed them off to my friend's body shop and we discussed how to make the holes less "holey". We ended up tinting some fiberglass resin and filling in the holes. Shot two coats of clear with a flex additive on them and they were done. Came out BEAUTIFUL! Put them on the car and all was great until the ding-dong in the BMW. (That would be the start of this thread.)





First pic is the back side of Trufiber set-1 with the holes. Please not the nice, well designed metal mounting tabs for the lower section.



Second pic is a tab from the EOS canards. You can kinda tell the finish leaves a bit to be desired.


Third pic is the back side of the finished set of Trufiber with the hole sealed off. (The lower hole is completely hidden by the rest of the car) In regular lighting, the hole is really hard to find. I had to take a bunch of pictures from different angles with different lighting to try and capture it clearly.


Fourth pic is top side and bottom side of Trufiber canards (set-1).


Conclusion:


Go with Trufiber. If you take the silly holes on the back out of the equation, they were as perfect as you could hope to get. I was going to re-clear whatever set I ended up putting on anyways, regardless of manufacture, to help with longevity and durability. The Anderson Composites were nice on the top and very light weight. The unfinished bottom was just not for me. The Anderson canards I believe to be fully carbon as the other two manufactures are a composite (carbon over fiberglass base). The EOS canards were finished well but I feel they lacked finer details on the molding process. I did not test fit any of the canards except the final set from Trufiber. Yes, I still have the ones from EOS and they are for sale if anyone wants a set discounted. Only requirement is local pickup only. (SF, CA area). What I consider "flaws", most people wouldn't car about or even notice.


Thanks,


Rod

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