Cobalt Racing panels

[vejesse]

I Ordered the upper cowl and both lowers from Chuck at Cobalt Racing. These are for my 86 VFR 750. I'd like to compare the condition of other people's panels to mine.
The Ebay ad says 'glossy OEM finish'. This is a white gelcoat finish. I do some work for a car racing outfit and I've seen some high quality gelcoat finishes on boat fiberglass but the panels I received from Chuck don't have this. They are filled with scratches, pin holes, exposed bare fiberglass and body filler. Has anyone else had this experience?
The gel coat color match isn't great, but if the get coat was nice I'd probably just go with it and clear coat over the decals (after spraying the blue stripe) Chuck claimed they were ready for color. This just isn't the case. They'll need light body filler, polyester spray filler and primer before color coats. In the condition they're in now they might be good enough for racing but not by the car racing standards I'm experienced with.
I'm not knocking Chuck's construction details. His work in that area is fine and these panels are structurally superior to plastic for sure. I'm also willing to forgive Chuck's confusing, grammar challenged emails. Talking to him on the phone is a much better way to communicate with this guy. But at this point I wouldn't have spent any more money if I would have just bought nice used plastic on Ebay, and I'd be looking at a lot less work. With the condition of the panels now a top notch paint job from a body shop might cost an additional $1000. Chuck's panels weren't expensive, but I'm close to starting from scratch on bodywork and life's to short to spend my time on that.

Somebody please tell me your experiences with this guy. I'm pretty sure that I'm stuck with what I've got now but I'd like to hear the experiences of others.

[yoni]

Does this mirror the product that everyone has received from Cobalt Racing as I want to place an order for the set of their panels?

Thanks

Yoni

[speed]

Hey I also bought a seat cowl from chuck, and i truly dont want to knock him or his work however the cowl dose not line up with the factory rear lower cowl, and yes he was much better to deal with on the phone but still was clearly up set with what i dont know ? and the cowl still needs some work befor paint. do you realy think glass is superior to plastic i would think plastic would be more forgiving than glass ?, oh and im sorry for my grammar challenged reply (speed)

[vejesse]

Fiberglass is very much superior to plastic. It's stronger, tougher, takes more heat and can be repaired easily. You can use a fiberglass repair kit from the hardware store to repair fiberglass. You have to have the facilities and the expertise to do the body work though. I suspect most people aren't equipped for that and it's nasty work in my opinion. My cobalt racing panels need body work but I'm going to wait until the winter to paint them and just ride around with them as they are.

Chuck is a good source for these panels and I hope he keeps making the stuff. You need to be prepared for body work however. Someone who isn't might be better off with buying white plastic panels if they can find a source. I watched Ebay for two months looking for these panels. They didn't come up very often, but NICE lowers and the upper would have cost about $500-600, cheaper for beat up stuff. Chuck's stuff cost me about $400 with shipping. In hindsight I would have been better off with nicer OEM stuff but what's done is done.

By the way my original seat cowl doesn't fit that great either.

[speed]

Hey Vejesse,
I have done alot of fiberglass work but i just thought that plastic would be a little more flexable ? about two months ago Chuck told me a complete set of glass to replace all the plastics would cost around $680.00 ?but will take two to three months to get so i was going to order in a week or two and try them .

[JamieDaugherty]

Chuck's been bashed so much over the years that I can't believe he still does it. Pretty much the quality, delivery and overall service you describe is on par with everything I've ever read about him. He's probably not making a living off this so more than likely he had other obligations to take care of first.

He's the only game in town so basically you are stuck. The thing that surprises me the most is that he doesn't charge more. Supply and demand!

[speed]

Jamie your correct it dose supprize me that he keep his price so low , and he did say the it was a part time and please be understanding, like i said earlyer i do plain on buying a full set this summer, take care

[vejesse]

This last week someone told me about another source for 86-87 vfr body panels in fiberglass. I'll call the guy this week and get the dope so I can post it here. I'm not sure if they're bare fiberglass or what but it sounds like a full time competition fiberglass operation. I'll post it. You know, Maier the windshield company makes plastic replacement panels for this bike and I'm pretty sure other companies are making plastic reproductions as well.

Cobalt racing is a part time operation. He told me he works as welder full time and then comes home and does the body work. Grinding fiberglass is about the last thing I would want to do when I come home from a full time job so this must be partly a labor of love and I tip my hat to him. My gripe is that I was told the gelcoat was nice enough to use as is, with a slight color mismatch of course. Actually the gelcoat finish is so rough I'm going to have to grind it down to bare glass and start over. If I would have known how they come I could have made a more informed decision about whether to buy new or used Ebay stuff. Or I could have told him just to leave them bare fiberglass. Other than that his work is fine.

[drewr]

I bought a solo seat cowl for my 87 VFR and have been very pleased. In the details message that I received from Chuck, he was very clear that the fiberglass cowl was 'ready for paint'. There were a few blemishes in the cowl when I got it, but I had them buffed out prior to painting. For the $50 that Chuck charged, this is one guy who is more than pleased with what he got, especially now that my bike has been painted. D

[speed]

ya know the seat cowl is not that bad it dose need to be prept and painted but with a little work and the price was very good so yes i am going to buy a full set from chuck