While incorporating materials like carbon fiber isn’t necessarily a new practice, aftermarket suppliers like QA1 are beginning to take advantage of this strong and resilient material choice for many applications. However, a change in operations like this doesn’t come without its challenges, which is why QA1 has even dedicated its own resources to answering the common misconceptions surrounding this rugged substance.

For starters, the company says that carbon fiber driveshafts are typically 70-percent lighter than a comparable steel ’shaft, and that it’s not the horsepower rating enthusiasts should be concerned with – it’s the torque rating that needs to be reviewed.

In the video above, Travis Gorsuch, Director of Advance Materials at QA1, gives us an inside look at how the company manufactures its REV series carbon-fiber driveshafts.

“The first step for our process begins with our engineering department,” Travis says.

The job of the composites engineers at QA1 are to review the market’s current offerings, and how they can custom-design a new solution. Once the new driveshaft is designed inside a computer, QA1 moves onto its winding process. The company’s custom resin is applied, and after several quality control tests are performed.

Once the tubes are assembled and cured, they are torsion tested to ensure they hold the utmost rigidity necessary for the application. Of course, these are just a few highlights from the in-depth video, which covers the step-by-step creation of the REV series custom carbon fiber driveshafts.

For more on these space-age ’shafts, you can check out the company’s official site here.