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      07-15-2013, 11:40 AM   #22
Uli_HH
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Drives: AW M3 E90)/ 523i Touring
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Hamburg Germany

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Quote:
Originally Posted by mkoesel View Post
Uli, what do you mean by "internal supporting structure"? Can you give some examples of which parts fall into that category?

My thoughts about CF for the F80 is that it will be used primarily in cosmetic areas like the roof is on today's M3, such as a deck lid, hood, etc. I would expect the rest of the weight savings to come from heavier use of aluminum in the chassis vs. the F30.

I should add - we may also see some CF in the chassis such as perhaps the driveshaft or other easily-formed parts. I am not so sure about the suspension or subframes, but who knows. The question is whether production costs are low enough to mass produce complex parts like that at a pricepoint that will support a $70k vehicle.
"internal supporting structure" meens parts such as transmission tunnel, engine rear wall, rear wall of the trunk, rear shelf and so on ... parts which normally form the backbone of a steel body, but which are not located in crash zones ...if you make some of this parts of carbon composite instead of steel, you can save many pounds of body weight without too great costs.

And of course, if you speak of lightweight construction at the F8x , you should forget the high-gloss carbon parts ala E92M3 carbon roof quickly and rather look at the body of the i3.
We are not talking about "handmade" visible carbon parts but of industrially produced carbon composite with much less demands on the surface quality, because these parts would be painted and used on not visible parts of the car.

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