oCarbon

Hey guys,

My name is Matt and I'm the owner of oCarbon. We've been hand making real carbon fiber interior trim sets for high end European vehicles for the last 9 years (mostly Audis and BMWs) and are now looking to offer our services to Mercedes owners.

We need to find a few R230 owners who'd like to have some carbon fiber interior trim made for their vehicles. We'd be able to offer a pretty significant discount to anyone willing to send us their trim for a few weeks while we manufacture a set for them.

These sets would be made using actual carbon fiber, epoxy, and clearcoat (no fake vinyl or stickers or anything else of that nature) wrapped over an OEM set of trim for a perfect OEM fit. Different fabric weaves and colors are available for a more custom look.

Our standard pricing on these sets will be very competitive, and those that take advantage of this introductory offer will get heavily discounted sets.

Interested? Shoot an email to matt@ocarbon.com with your full vehicle info (model, year, chasis code, auto/manual, what type of trim is currently in the vehicle) along with what you'd be interested in. If you've got good photography skills and are willing to help us with installed pictures and/or an install guide, this would be appreciated as well.

Check out some of the vehicles we've done in our gallery: ocarbon.com/gallery

See some of the more custom pieces we've done in our blog: http://ocarbon.com/blog

Few pictures of recent sets:








Frequently asked questions

Q: Can you give me a little more info about the process?

A: Sure. You'd remove your current trim and ship it to us. We would take the original trim, remove excess material, wrap it with real carbon fiber, coat it with epoxy, sand it smooth, spray it with clearcoat, and buff it to a shine. The whole process takes about 3-4 weeks, and we'd then return the set back to you.

Q: So you won't be making molded pieces?

A: Nope. We've found that molded interior trim pieces never really fit right and they don't look as good as overlaid parts. Using an original OEM piece as a base means all the OEM tabs for a perfect fit.

Q: What about the added carbon? Won't that make the pieces bigger?

A: No. We sand down wood cores and we remove the aluminum from aluminum cores to make room for the extra carbon fiber and epoxy. We rarely have any fit issues with pieces, and we guarantee fitment, so if for some reason something doesn't fit quite right, we'll fix it until it does.

Q: Where are these pieces made? I'm worried about quality from overseas companies.

A: Everything is made in house in our facility in Glendale, AZ. We control the process from start to finish. It costs more, but the end quality is much, much higher.

Q: Speaking of quality, can you give me more info about the materials you use?

A: Most companies use a cheap 5.7oz 2x2 twill fabric for their parts. This fabric has gaps in the weave and can be susceptible to weave distortion around complex corners. We only use name brand (mostly Japanese based Toray) 11oz 2x2 twill, that has a much thicker and tighter weave. Again, it costs more, but it makes a huge difference in how the end product works. We also use only the highest end epoxies that have UV inhibitors to prohibit fading and yellowing. We finish the pieces in high-solids polyurethane clearcoat for a deep, glossy shine.

Q: Since I'm helping you out with development, shouldn't these sets be super cheap or free for me?

A: We're a small company, just myself and a few employees. We'd love to be able to just give the first few sets away, but we don't have a ton of capital to be able to develop a bunch of new products, so we're asking a few of you to share the cost of development with us. You'll get a fantastic set of real carbon fiber trim for your vehicle, at 20-40% of the cost of some of our competitors. It's a win-win for both of us.

Q: What about a warranty?

A: We offer a full, one year warranty on every product we sell, even these development products.

Q: Can you make other interior parts? Exterior parts?

A: Probably. We're focusing on interior trim parts for now, and might be open to simple overlaid exterior parts. Email us if you'd like a quote.

Q: You didn't answer a question I had.

A: Shoot an email to matt@ocarbon.com and I'll do my best to help you.

boba fett

I would be interested to assist, however it looks like the steering wheel is on the wrong side for me to truelly send the items overseas, what do you think?

oCarbon

Not sure what you're saying. If you have a RHD vehicle, we'd be manufacturing a set of carbon trim with your OEM trim, so it wouldn't be an issue.

boba fett

Hi what im saying is postage wont be easy if you are overseas.

jagata

I believe he is from Arizona, and where are you located (Boba fett)?

boba fett

Good old Blighty !!!

oCarbon

We have quite a few international customers. Shipping overseas is not a problem.

Correct, just outside of Phoenix in Glendale, AZ.

oCarbon

I added an FAQ to the original post.

oCarbon

Lots of interest, but no one has pulled the trigger yet. I might be willing to lower the price a little bit for those who want to be daring and get a custom fabric (silver, red, blue, or one of the custom black weaves).

Shoot me an email at matt@ocarbon.com if you'd like to set something up.

oCarbon

First set of core trim arrived yesterday. We'll get started on tearing it down today. I'll post pictures as we make progress.

oCarbon

Starting to make the molds:




Sanding them down:



All done, fabric will go down on these next week:

oCarbon

Bunch of progress yesterday. Cutting the silver carbon (aluminum coated fiberglass):



Putting the fabric on the pieces and getting them ready for the vacuum bag:





Inside the bag:



Turn the pump on and all the air is removed from the bag and hugs the fabric to the piece:




After the parts are pulled from the bag, the excess fabric is trimmed and the part is cleaned up:







Same process repeated for the shifter:

DC@neowerkes

Hey Matt,
I am very familiar with your work, I also have a B8 S4 and have seen the great work posted on Audizine.

I sent you an email, I hope to get one of your first sets.

DC

DC@neowerkes

For anyone wondering, OCarbon (Matt) does quality, high end work. Personally I would choose OCarbon over any other carbon fiber trim manufacturer.

oCarbon

Thanks.

Some progress on the silver R230 pieces. After this epoxy is cured, we'll get these pieces sanded smooth and ready for clearcoat.

shnitzel

Hello all.
I have the trim that is pictured above. I have had an issue since seeing these pictures, and as it seems now, the issue will not be resolved to anything near my satisfaction. If you notice in the first set of pictures, the diagonal direction of the trim on the door pieces is not standard, as in they both run the same direction, not a mirror image. The ashtray lid and the console were also running in two different directions, but has since been resolved. The silver fabric that is being used cannot be ran in the direction that I wanted, and had previously called out for in an email. After much back and forth...and even trying another silver fabric...OCarbon has decided to refund my money, and provide me with another interior set. I removed my trim personally and painstakingly, as to not damage anything, from a 10,00 mile car. There is definitely worry on my part that any substitute trim will not be in such perfect undamaged, unstressed condition. I have had the car apart for 3 months, and replacing my original trim with suspect trim is not my idea of a fair shake. I have suggested a few other solutions that may or may not prove successful, but I am met with resistance. From what I can tell of his work before I commissioned this job, is that OCarbon does very nice work. For anyone wanting to deal with them in the future, I would recommend that you spell out exactly what you want and make sure that there is some two-way communication on this, to assure that you are on the same page to prevent this sort of outcome. Apparently there is no silver being manufactured that is good enough to be substituted. I am sure Matt will have his side of the story, and I feel that I gave ample time to remedy this situation. After today, I felt it time to make the story known.

oCarbon

I will admit that there was a miscommunication on the direction of the weave on these silver pieces on this particular customer's order. The customer did request that the silver fabric have a specific direction with the weave during our discussions. I overlooked it in our numerous emails back and forth during the ordering process. Unfortunately, the silver fabric has been discontinued for quality control reasons, so I am limited in which direction I am able to run the weave. I take full responsibility for missing this in our emails this and have apologized profusely to him about it. This is all on me, I should have explained this to him prior to ordering and I failed to do so.

However, I explained this to the customer several months ago, and gave him many options, including trying a different silver fabric at my own expense (which I also found to have quality control issues and did not feel comfortable using), a full refund and a replacement core, and making a carbon fiber set in one of our many other fabrics, all of which he refused. His only solution was to make the set in the original silver fabric in the way he wanted, which was an impossibility without serious quality issues, which I did not want to do. I explained to him repeatedly that there would be quality issues in continuing with a set the way he wanted. He wouldn't hear anything of it.

At this time, I see no other solution. I have tried very hard to satisfy this customer, but I feel as though there is nothing I can do at this point to salvage this transaction in a reasonable way. I have found a replacement core that was removed from a car at 17 miles and replaced with the black trim option and is in mint condition. I am in the process of procuring it, and the customer is still unhappy that this won't be good enough as a replacement trim (he feels he is entitled to a brand new set of core from from Mercedes Benz, even though he provided me with a used set of core trim). Today he offered another solution that I purchase him a brand new set of carbon trim from from another supplier, at the cost of $2900 (3-4x what he paid me for the original work).

So while I do feel bad that this transaction has turned out the way it has (I HATE having unhappy customers) and I do apologize for the original miscommunication, I feel as if I have done everything in my power to try and come to a reasonable compromise on an unfortunate situation.

If anyone has any questions about this transaction, feel free to email me at matt@ocarbon.com.