Carbon Kevlar seat cracked

[DCL]

A crack between the seat belt hole has appeared on my seat. No obvious incident to cause it, just seems to be wear and tear. What are the options to repair it? Don't want to spoil the appearance too much

[pat the plumber]

Mines cracked too, between the two seat belt holes, i put it down to flexing when leaning back when getting in, prior to getting a full cage.
i'll be interested to see whether it's repairable.
I've swapped the passenger seat over for the time being.

[pikeyboy]

Cant you put some masking tape on the inside then dig out the back with a grinder and patch it with grp and resin? The tape should stop the resin leaking through the gap.

[Purespeed]

I think I can help here gents. You will need the seat out to do this but I can confident this fix will work. You need to get a product called thin Zap which is a super glue. This Zap is a very very thin glue which wicks really well. Don't use anything else as I doubt it will work. All you do is while the seat is laying horizontal to the floor carefully drip the thin Zap in the pale crack you have. you will find it will wick in until the crack is full. The pale crack you have will now be invisible. Then just leave it an hour or so to dry. Don't use any accelerators on it.

http://www.stevewebb.co.uk/index.php?pid=ZAPPT08&a...

Jason

Edited by Purespeed on Monday 28th October 12:01

[pikeyboy]

Purespeed said:

I think I can help here gents. You will need the seat out to do this but I can confident this fix will work. You need to get a product called thin Zap which is a super glue. This Zap is a very very thin glue which wicks really well. Don't use anything else as I doubt it will work. All you do is while the seat is laying horizontal to the floor carefully drip the thin Zap in the pale crack you have. you will find it will wick in until the crack is full. The pale crack you have will now be invisible. Then just leave it an hour or so to dry. Don't use any accelerators on it.

http://www.stevewebb.co.uk/index.php?pid=ZAPPT08&a...

Jason

Edited by Purespeed on Monday 28th October 12:01

Personally i dont think sticking it with posh super glue will work for any length of time. I'd be very suprised if it doesnt crack again in the same place. Worth a try though.

[Johno]

Anything's worth a go, I suppose it largely dépends on the depth of the crack. Superficial potentially a glue could do it if it does 'wick' well into the fibres.

Certainly though I would be using fibre glass and resin underneath to patch over the crack to stabilise the area as further flexing of the area will just make the crack worse and it needs re-strengthening. It is also not visible from above.

There are also now a few carbon fibre repair companies around for bike frames, fishing rods etc so a search online can turn up some results .. .

[RGambo]

Why don't you ring tillett up and see if they will repair it??

[DCL]

Some interesting ideas! Sending it back to Tillet may be the best. I did repair (quite successfully) a front wing using epoxy resin in the way purespeed described - all but invisible and seems very strong. I was just concerned that this crack on the seat was wear and tear and a repair like that wouldn't last very long. I'm fitting a hans so it may be an oportunity to optimise the holes for the belts and make a carbon patch over the whole area.

Edited by DCL on Monday 28th October 20:29

[f1rob]

How about posting a picture of the damage ?
can do a very good repair for £25 ish if damage isn't too bad

[jonnyleroux]

f1rob said:

How about posting a picture of the damage ?
can do a very good repair for £25 ish if damage isn't too bad

Interesting... wish I'd known it was that easy/cheap before sticking our damaged one on eBaY - care to look at the pics and let me know what you think the likelihood of a repair is? http://www.ebay.com/itm/271311068223?ssPageName=ST...

Jonny
BaT

[f1rob]

Think we have a couple of CRS seats at work,will have a look tomorrow and see what the finnish/lay up is like on the back surface and get back to you
They might be carbon but those seats aren't very strong a properly repaired example will be stronger than a new factory item.

[Flatinfourth]

I certainly think that sort of damage should repair well, but it's important to know that the rest of the seat isn't harbouring a bigger crack somewhere. Anybody that feels they can repair with any kind of adhesive is failing to understand how composites manage loads...

I am happy to repair in either GRP or carbon to suit if needed.

[DCL]

Here's the offending article! As you can see, there's no tear or separation, just the fibers have become un- bonded allowing it to flex.