How to Install Car Performance Body Kits

Car performance body kits generally consist of skirts, spoilers and bumpers that increase the aerodynamic performance of your vehicle, or at the very least provide added aesthetic value. Always buy car performance body kits that have been designed specifically with your car in mind for the best overall fit.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Sandpaper

1. Choose a car performance body kit that has been designed with the specific make, model and year of your vehicle in mind. Unless you are experienced with fabricating and forming fiberglass, you will most likely install ill-fitting body kits that look sloppy and out of place, even after the paint is applied. Even kits that have been custom-made for your car may have slight imperfections due to the manufacturing process.
2. Lay out all of the body kit pieces and determine if everything will fit your car perfectly. You may have to sand a few rough edges if there are any variations in the body kit, or your car.
3. Determine how you are going to install the pieces of the body kit to your car. Most professional installers use a combination of fasteners, adhesive and even welding to attach body kits to vehicles. If you are removing stock pieces of your car to accommodate the body kit, you may want to reuse those fasteners in the body kit.
4. Sand the edges of the body kit once you have properly fastened the pieces to your performance car. Start with a 200-grit sandpaper for the first pass, working down to a 600-grit paper and eventually a 1,200-grit paper for the final result. Take the time to smooth out all imperfections, since they will become much more noticeable once you paint the car.
5. Tug or pull on all of the body kit pieces before you start the painting process. For instance, you should be able to stand on a bumper without it coming off the vehicle. You certainly don't want your body kit pieces to fall off while you are racing on the track or cruising down the freeway.
6. Paint your vehicle. You should see an almost-perfect seam between the car body and the after-market kit.

Tips & Warnings

• Most car enthusiasts agree that it is best to leave the installation of car performance body kits to professionals, especially if you have no prior experience. Even established body shops may have no knowledge of how to install one of these kits properly.