Build journal

Wider, lighter - with style.

In this Product Series, I document the widened carbon fenders and its evolution from V1 to V2.

I explore new wheel fitments and document my recommandations. Lastly, I set expectations on the paint and fitment process.

Enjoy,
- Matt

Read the series

CSL Widened Fenders ·Sep 12, 2024

What did William Wallace say?

by Matt Di Vita

"In this entry, CanadaPost gets lost, kindness wins, and freedom is in sight. I unbox the V2 widened carbon fenders to document a rapid test fit."
- Matt

The postman [...]

With the V2's development completed, the first sets of widened carbon fenders were produced for customers on the pre-order. The first 2x sets were delivered to early customers in June.

The 3rd set was destined for my complete documentation on the Phoenix. The goal was to obtain the fenders prior to the Summer break by the end of July to finalize paint work on the entire car.

Once August rolls around, Europeans and North Americans have unsynchronized vacation cadences - little usually gets done.

The Phoenix has been without fenders for a few weeks, with every other panel painted in its new San Marino Blue shade.

[...] went on vacation early.

My set was shipped on July 16th from Germany via DHL postal services - it transferred over to CanadaPost once it landed in Montreal on the 22nd. Unfortunately, the trail went cold. A trace was initiated and the package was deemed lost.

A new set wouldn't be produced until mid September, pushing the car's completion to October.

Nice.

I reached out to Albert who previously ordered the V2 fenders. He is currently building a no holds barred S85 E46 M3 out West. He offered to ship the fenders as his build wasn't yet ready for paint. With many thanks to Albert, the fenders showed up the day after Labor Day weekend. We could hit the final stretch of the Phoenix's restoration.

First impressions.

My immediate reaction was astonishment at the weight. For such a large part, it felt like holding [...] nothing. You're reminded it exists as it catches air like a parachute as you walk around with it.

I then took a closer look at the numerous design details of the fenders, specifically the pre-preg carbon work. The underside most often confirms the carbon manufacturing process.

The noticeable wrinkles seen on the underside are leftover materials from the manufacturing process. Commonly called peel plies, they reduce or fully eliminate any finishing work needed after the curing process.

The carbon craftsmanship.

The fenders are made with 2x2 weave as it's better suited to curvatures than 1x1 commonly used by BMW M on roof panels. Careful attention was put on laying the carbon in an aesthetically appealing orientation.

The fenders are delivered as they come out of the mold: in raw exposed carbon. If you intend to run exposed carbon, you should expect 3 to 4 coats of clear coat to adequately fill in the carbon for an OE finish.

The raw carbon finish does open up possibilities of leaving certain sections in exposed carbon, notably the inner door section. When doors are opened, it will reveal the carbon construction. I also intend to leave the inner engine bay section in exposed carbon. The raw carbon will be clear coated in matte clear, as it tends to improve the finish quality of raw carbon.

I found what was the only carbon imperfect on the backside of the brackets. The resin was visibly chipped, more than likely during its numerous transports.

Features for fitment.

All the OE mounting points and cut outs are incorporated into the final design. The 3x bolt cut outs for the liners are present prior to the revised outer section.

You can see the eliminated tab clearly below. The extra clearance is available where it matters most. The lower tabs designed to bolt the fenders to the unibody near the side skirts are also present. The tabs are relatively flexible compared to the V1s, allowing easier fitment.

The front section of the fenders is most important for fitment as it connects to the front bumper brackets and the headlights. These body lines simply don't forgive any misalignment. Once more, the reduced thickness and increased flexibility will be a positive factor to achieving OE fitment.

Accessories cut outs.

The cut outs for the side trims appears better molded and cut than the V1s. Being in raw carbon over gel coated also increases clearances to achieve a perfect fitment.

The side grill cutout and its tabs also appear extremely well executed. I can't emphasize how the lack of gel coat makes fitment simpler - when it comes to carbon, it's easier to add thickness through primer and paint than it is to remove it.

Freedom! test fit.

With unboxing completed, we briefly prepared the surrounding painted surfaces to test fit the fenders. The last thing we're interested in at this stage is scratching the freshly repainted panels.

The test fit was performed without any bolts - the fenders were purely held by hand or, at times, gravity. When fitting fenders, it's a game of trial and error to achieve the ideal gaps at the hood, A pillar, doors, side skirts and front bumper.

Any panel gap achieved is later "iced" upon bolting them on. As such, any satisfactory panel gap we did achieve during test fit would be replicated easily once fully painted and fitted.

The OE+ CSL carbon bumper had not yet been fitted, and is the sole gap we couldn't yet test for.

We first clipped in the painted side trim. Fitment was a breeze and the angle was just right. As previously shown on the fender itself, the complete side trim sections on the fenders, doors and quarter panels are designed to sit at an angle with the floor.

We then briefly aligned the lower section and its tabs. The flexibility made achieving the proper gap size a breeze.

The corner of the top section usually requires most adjustments. The alignment is ultimately dictated by the body line going along the fender, door and quarter panels in parallel to the trims.

BMW designs their cars with the most upper fender line further removed from the A pillar. It creates a superimposition effect creating separation from the driver bubble and front end of the car.

We tested the hood gap for the sake of it as the hood itself wasn't fully fitted with its latches. The engine bay cut outs are slightly slotted similar to OEM fenders to allow left/right and forward/backward adjustments. Having a camera in one hand and holding the hood in the other meant I couldn't achieve proper gap during testing here.

The fender needs to be bolted to the front carrier and the hood to its latches to properly test this section.Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the test fit. It was an easier experience than the original V1s.

With the test fit completed, this may just be the light at the end of the tunnel for the Phoenix's restoration.

I'll celebrate when it's completed.

Up next: the fenders get primed, painted, and fully fitted.

We'll revisit this one last time to review fitment with the CSL style bespoke forged wheels and finalize the fitment table.

The Phoenix