Carbon Fiber Delays Explained!

Let’s face it, we all love carbon fiber…but we hate waiting on it. We spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on pieces just to find out it is out of stock and on a long backorder. Today we are going to explain what is going on and why the wait times are so long.

In the past few months, the demand for carbon fiber has gone up, though there has always been a high demand, now companies are facing issues with the materials needed to make pieces, as they have become harder and harder to come by. Even big, well known, and established companies are struggling to keep up. This is because there are only a handful of trusted and preferred brands who make certain styles that are very popular. This makes the demand even higher and then customers have a few choices:

1: Which is the best option, they can place the order and wait for the day that they receive their sweet, sweet tracking number.

2: They can search around and see if somewhere else has it in stock, sitting in a warehouse waiting to ship. The problem with this is, little to no company is going to keep big parts, such as hoods, trunks, side skirts, bumpers, etc… in warehouses waiting to sell, unless of course they are the company who makes it. This is because these parts are big and require freight shipping, which is expensive and the more hands a part goes through along the way to get to the end customer, the higher the chance of damages occurring is. This means, when you are looking around at different companies for a certain part, more likely than not, all companies get them from the original manufacture and ship directly from them to you, the end customer. When we reach out to let you know of a delay on parts like this, it is because the manufacture is out of so no matter where you look, the wait is going to be the same.

3: The final option is to find one used, but even this has its draw backs. If you can’t find one locally, you are going to be paying much higher shipping rates to get the part to you. Even then, you have to hope it is in good condition and well taken care of, or you are going to have to put more money into it to make it like new.

Freight shipping is not only expensive, it also is something that has to have a pickup scheduled. You can’t just take a 60x60x10 box, that weighs 30-35lbs fully packed, to your local UPS store and hope they can transport it to where it needs to go without damaging it. Companies like UPS and FedEx have limitations on the size of boxes that can be shipped out without being considered freight. Freight items require specific transportation means to ensure the part is not damaged and this requires a pick-up to be scheduled.

Next, we will discuss each major brand we carry and the delays and issues they are running into specifically by brand.

Seibon:

• Seibon is one of the most sought-after brands that we carry, along with VIS. They carry a large catalog of parts for a ton of different vehicles. They are also sold through a ton of different websites and most, if not all of them, ship the parts directly from Seibon to the customer. This means Seibon’s order volume is massive. They have orders coming in daily from tons of different places, all looking for the same parts, all while dealing with the uphill battle of high demand with low material supplies. Seibon is so busy right now, even parts that are in stock are not shipping for 2-4 weeks due to the sheer number of orders they are processing. Even a company as big as they are can only move parts so fast. For parts that are out of stock, they must be made which takes a while due to a number of factors, which is why the lead time on backordered parts is 12+ weeks at this time. Then a pick-up must be scheduled which can take several days, sometimes weeks, to occur with recent transportation issues.

VIS:

• VIS is another well-known and sought-after brand. They also make more than just carbon fiber parts, as they also make FRP (Fiber Reinforced Polymer) parts. They are also carried by tons of different websites and companies, making their workload very high as well. They face the same material shortages as other companies, but only have 2-3 people working at the entire facility. They have one person who has been handling and processing orders, one person in charge of their accounting and making sure things are paid before shipping, and another person (maybe two) packing and shipping orders. Then a pick-up must be scheduled which can take several days, sometimes weeks, to occur with recent transportation issues. VIS is also using an ancient system for all orders and processing and does not have an inventory system that can easily be checked. This means any time someone is interested in checking if something is in stock before they order it, we have to email VIS to ask. They then have to get one of the maybe two people who are in the warehouse pulling, packing and scheduling paid orders to go out, to go look and see if the part is available. These stock checks do not take priority over orders that are already placed, which means it could take several days, and in some cases weeks, just to find out if something is in stock and that is time that could have been put into actually getting the order processed and ready for shipping, or in production if it is out of stock.

JDC:

• This is our in-house brand that we carry. Currently ALL parts are on a made-to-order basis due to the material shortage. All of our listings have this at the bottom under the shipping section and state that it takes 16-18 weeks to be made and shipped out.

Rexpeed:

• Rexpeed is one of our go-to brands for carbon fiber parts as they keep most things in stock and ready to ship. There is just a processing time, usually 3-4 business days, before things are actually shipped. The only downside is they do not make bigger parts, such as hoods or trunks. This is due to the where they are located and the cost to ship the bigger parts as stated above.

We hope you find this information useful and sheds light into some of the reasons behind the lengthy delays. Please understand, when we reach out about something being on backorder or delayed, it is more than likely out of stock everywhere, even the manufacture. No matter where you look to order, you are going to be waiting the same time on the part, so you might as well support your favorite team and wait it out. The wait is worth is, we promise! Not to mention, we take huge pride in our customer service and always do our best to keep our customers up to date with the most current information we have on their orders. If you ever want an update on an order, you can reach out via email and we will always get back to you.