Quote:
Originally Posted by Apex Chase
Like with any technology it is expensive early on but it's time is coming. As time goes by the economy of scale begins to kick in and as new techniques and procedures are developed costs are further reduced. Suddenly technology that was once reserved for only high end exotics begins to trickle down to more mainstream cars. Magnetic Ride Control and independent rear suspension are both perfect and particularly relevant examples. Just look at how extensively carbon fiber is used not only in cars but in all kinds of stuff these days. My cell phone case is carbon fiber. 25 years ago the only people that could afford to use that stuff was the Department of Defense and NASA. |
I beg to differ. IRS has been around for as long as there have been suspensions, and really isn't an advanced idea, and has not been associated with high end exotics.
Carbon fiber has been around in consumer products (mainly sporting goods) for 25 years. It is not cheap because it trickled down. It's cheap because we mostly stopped making it and buy it from China now. A large percentage of products using it are not doing it to save weight or add strength, it is used because it looks cool. Tyoically the fiber is just a single layer on top of a cheap substrate that gives it a cosmetic appearance.
Sadly, we are at the mercy of what fiber they make overseas, and there is currently a massive shortage of certain weave styles, which means we can't make certain products, and have not been able to make them for over 6 months.