Archive for December, 2010
Body Kits Materials Carbon Fiber
Body kits enhance the style of your car. Some components also enhance the aerodynamics of the car. Being essentially added on to your car body kits need to be quite light. Otherwise your car weight will go up and that would adversely impact your cars performance. Therefore the material of which body kits are made needs to be light.
Body kits also have elegant and stylish shapes with a glossy surface finish. The shapes are very elaborate and full of curves. So their material of construction should be such that it can be fashioned into complex shapes.
Body kits are mounted on the exterior of your car. When the car is cruising it experiences considerable aerodynamic forces. Body kits need to be able to withstand these large forces. Under high performance driving conditions the aerodynamic forces are very large. Body kits have to be able to resist even these very large forces. Therefore the material of construction needs to be very strong.
It is not easy to find these three properties that is lightness ability to make complex shapes and strength in a single material. However carbon fiber is one of the best materials if these are the properties you are looking for. It is very light can be molded into complex shapes and is very strong.
Carbon fiber as used in everyday language is short for carbon fiber reinforced polymer. It is essentially carbon fibers sometimes called graphite fibers held together by a polymer. The most common polymer is an epoxy polymer. Though individually neither carbon fibers nor the polymer have the desired properties in combination they are very light strong and complex shapes can be made using them. Since it is made of two distinct materials it is called a composite material.
Carbon fibers initially found application in the aerospace industry where a light and strong material is very important. Aerospace being a highly research oriented industry there has been a lot of research done on carbon fiber products and the products we now see benefit from the refinement.
Carbon fiber products are lighter and usually more expensive compared to fiberglass products. If you choose to buy carbon fiber body kits you are buying some of the most high tech products available. You can find more information on body kits at www.ilovebodykits.com
About the writer: Louie Liu has been in the car aftermarket products industry for 5years. He has specialized in body kits headlights cold air intakes and other aftermarket products. He has deep knowledge of a wide range of products including knowledge of benefits of body kits and other products product options and how to choose a car aftermarket product. You can learn about a wide range of body kits and other car aftermarket products at his site www.ilovebodykits.com.
Bmw Sauber Expects Good Showing At Canadian And US Grands Prix
The Canadian Grand Prix is the sixth race of the season and the race will be held on the tenth of this month. As raceday approaches Formula One teams are already voicing out their expectations for the race which will be held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Canada. One of the teams busy with preparation for the said race is the BMW Sauber contingent.
Robert Kubica the Number 2 driver for the team is apparently looking forward to the race and is expecting a good performance from their cars at the Canadian Grand Prix and even in the next race which is the United States Grand Prix. Montreal and Indianapolis are lowdownforce tracks said the Polish driver.
Our 2006 car always performed better on such circuits so I hope the F107 has kept this tendency. Certainly the two test days at Paul Ricard with the Montreal layout have indicated that. Therefore I predict that in Montreal the gap to the McLarens and Ferraris will be closer than in Monaco. But that is crystal ball reading so let’s wait and see he furthermore discloses.
Last year the BMW Sauber Formula One Team only managed to get a seventh place finish from driver Nick Heidfeld. Heidfeld is still driving for BMW Sauber and has taken three fourth place finishes after the first three races of the current Formula One season. On the fourth race of the season though Heidfelds cars gearbox malfunctioned forcing him to retire. Aside from the transmission other components of the Formula One car like the BMW ignition coil and other ignition system components did not suffer any malfunction.
To prepare the cars for the Canadian Grand Prix BMW Sauber announced that Heidfeld and Kubica will be the ones testing their cars. Sebastian Vettel the teams test driver will not be seeing some action when the team prepares their cars for the race. The team will need to prepare well for the race in order to attain a podium finish and that is something that no team other than McLaren and Ferrari has achieved. BMW Sauber is currently on the third spot at the constructors championship and will be fending off the challenge being made by Williams Renault and Toyota.
During the Monaco Grand Prix Kubica secured a fifth place finish while Heidfeld finished the race sixth. Meanwhile Renaults Giancarlo Fisichella finished fourth as Renault continually put pressure on BMW Sauber. In fact Fisichella commented that the Canadian Grand Prix will show Renault back in its championship form. It can be remembered that the team won the last two Formula One seasons. The current season though saw Fernando Alonso leaving the team to join the leading McLaren Mercedes.
BMW Sauber currently has 30 points to their credit as they trail behind McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari. McLaren leads the constructors championship with 76 points while Ferrari has 56 points. Renault currently fourth has 16 points on their side.
BMW Sauber will have to contend not only with Renault and the impressive multiple winners this season in Alonso and Massa for Ferrari but also with the rookie Lewis Hamilton. The young driver for McLaren Mercedes is currently being touted as the next superstar of the sport as he takes solo leadership prior to the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton is currently tied with his teammate Alonso for the leadership in the drivers championship.
About the writer: Anthony Fontanelle is a 35yearold automotive.buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop.
Bmw Sales To Creep Once Again
BMW Malaysia Sdn Bhd is confident of having another good year by selling more cars than it did in 2006. We have started well in 2007 with sales growing 37 quarter on quarter to hit 535 units in the first quarter managing director Wolfgang Schlimme announced. We have been growing for the last four years. Overall sales growth since 2003 when we sold 2176 vehicles was about 60 percent.
In 2006 the automaker reported its best year ever. The company sold 3472 vehicles consisting of 3302 BMWs and 170 MINIs. We are going in the right direction and setting our priorities in terms of model lineup availability and pricing. These are the reasons we are different from others. This has led us to continue growing in the past few years against the trend in the auto industry Schlimme said.
This year the automaker has launched a multitude of promising new models the 325i Sports 3 Series Coupe Z4 M Coupe X3 and the new MINI. Schlimme said the pace would continue as the group strongly believed customers should have access to the very latest and best of BMW models as soon as righthand drive versions became available. He added the new X5 will be launched soon.
Schlimme pointed out that BMW was also a pioneer in new technology after having launched an inbuilt global positioning system and night vision system for its cars. A key decisive factor for our success here is our dealer network. At the end of the day it is not our team in Cyberjaya but our service advisers sales representatives and management of BMW dealers that provide first impressions and create longlasting customer relationships for us. The biggest sales success for BMW is contributed by our dealers he said.
BMW currently has thirteen dealerships in the country. Another outlet is expected to be opened by late this year in Damansara in the Klang Valley. Our dealer network is one of our priorities in the daytoday business. Our dealers are consistently upgrading their existing facilities capacities and competence for customer convenience Schlimme said.
To bolster the efficiency of the company BMW supports its dealers by providing architectural consulting workshop equipment consulting communications and marketing and the availability of demo cars. We are in the background supporting and making the dealers’ sales and after sales capabilities as strong competent and credible as possible. This is how it should be Schlimme stressed.
In the previous years BMW and its partners had invested over RM250mil in the country. So far there are three important regional facilities in the country. These facilities play an essential role in the success of BMW group’s strategy for the region.
Whats more BMW intends to improve its image as a leader in car distribution in Malaysia. The company also has a parts distribution centre in Port of Tanjung Pelepas a regional training centre and a group data centre that is responsible for the BMW air filter and other significant auto parts from the company.
We are enlarging our training offerings at the centre which services 14 markets. Our group data centre provides information technology structure support to BMW organisations globally. It also serves the group’s worldwide network for specific competences for example in the global plant logistics system Schlimme said.
The BMW group will also start offering customers a onestop sales and financing resource with the completion of its purchase of SimeLease M Sdn Bhd and SimeCredit M Sdn Bhd its subsidiary. The companies which have been renamed BMW Lease M Sdn Bhd and BMW Credit M Sdn Bhd will provide innovative finance solutions to purchasers via the BMW global network.
About the writer: Anthony Fontanelle is a 35yearold automotive buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop.