Kitcar direct

[p.mole1]

Has anyone used their front wings and if so are they any good?

[D Jones]

I have a set of carbon wings from them. I wanted to change from my orange caterham wings and couldn't  justify Caterham prices for carbon.

Nothing wrong with them, but they are not the same shape as the Caterham ones and will get replaced with original items eventually.

David

[paul_w]

I ordered a full set of panels from them a year ago, carbon front wings and nosecone and rears in GRP. All had to go back, the carbon had milky patches, but the GRP was much worse, the rear wings full of microblisters that made them look metallic brown in the sun, and the nosecone looked like it had been made by a four year old, all out of shape, sanding marks all over it and impossible to fit without substantially modifying it to clear the radiator - I'm not particularly fussy, but it was completely unusable. Neil replied to my email saying they had been inspected and were "spot on". I ended up putting them in the car and driving up to them and he gave me a full refund - they didn't have any others in stock, and Caterham had got them back in by this point. He was very apologetic and said they should never have gone out like that. He seemed very nice, but I wouldn't buy panels from them again. Wasted a lot of time messing about and half a day off work traipsing up to return them.

[p.mole1]

Thanks I'll give them a miss

[Alan Bowler]

To balance - I bought carbon rear wings. Very good price, good service and I thought excellent quality. But I'm not a "polisher" or carbon weave expert!

[paul_w]

I'm definitely not a polisher, I'm still driving round with one of the rear wings held together by gaffer tape a year later. Still looks better than the new ones I got from KCD! And I didn't need to be an expert in carbon to spot white patches up to an inch across caused by air bubbles - in my experience with bike forks these will tend to spread and separate so it's not just a cosmetic thing.

As I said, it's not like there was any debate as to the quality of the parts when I took them back, Neil was clear that none of them were up to standard and should not have been sent out to me, apologised and gave me a full refund. I'd waited more than five weeks for delivery of the parts and the GRP nosecone was only £30 cheaper than Caterham were selling them for at the time. And it was absolutely dismal in fit and finish. Again, the gaffer taped original looked far better and stayed on the car until Caterham got them back in stock.

I'm sure they can supply good parts, and their prices for the carbon bits are very reasonable, but I think it was fair to warn other people of my experience of their lack of quality control. It's not really a matter of balance, companies should have the checks in place to make sure all the parts are as good as the ones you got before they send them out. Hopefully they have made improvements since.

[Alan Bowler]

Not calling you out as a polisher Paul (and nothing wrong with polishing). My experience was clearly different, thats all. I wonder if KCD changed their carbon supplier? No white patches or bubbling on mine, and no issues with them going milky after 18 months so far (touch wood). Price was same as buying Caterham GRP plus protectors and getting them painted, so made sense to me to give them a go.