So, there you are, rolling real slow past the Dairy Queen. Everyone stops and stares. Girls with crimped hair and crooked teeth go slack-jawed and spill milk shake on themselves. Mothers shield their children’s eyes. It’s slow-motion, it’s Saturday night, and it’s the greatest moment of your life.
You’ve finally done it. You’ve dressed your car in the sickest body kit known to man. It’s half-kit and half-Dr. Seuss nightmare—a gravity-defying sculpture whose true beauty can only be perceived by Parkinson’s sufferers. Was it worth the money you spent? Definitely, even though you’re now completely broke and can only afford a diet of sugarless gum. Slow… slow… take the driveway at an angle, you don’t want to scuff those new side skirts.
But something goes wrong—horribly wrong. There’s a sound coming from your front end like ripping fiberglass. You hear screaming, loud and shrill, then realize the screams are yours. Panic sets in—you must have miscalculated the angle, you must have caught a corner on the driveway. You get out and assess the damage. The front air dam has departed from the rest of your body kit and is now mating with the curb. It’s the worst moment of your life.
Sound familiar? For as much pleasure as body kits can give us, they can also bring an inverse amount of pain. They can vastly improve the look of your vehicle, but they can also be damaged under impact, fit poorly, and deteriorate over time. So, what’s the secret to choosing the best kit? The answer lies in its construction and materials. We’ll go through each of the three major body kit types—handlaid fiberglass, sprayed fiberglass, and urethane—and, with some help from body kit manufacturers Kaminari, explain how they’re made, how durable they are, and how much they cost. That way, when you shell out the $400–$800 for a kit, you’ll know what you’re getting and why you’re getting it. So, read on—nights of glory at the local Dairy Queen await.
