I don't know anything about installing a body kit...
I'm curious if i were to get something like the veilside kit, do any of the panels of the car get damaged? I'm speaking specifically about how the sideskirts seem to go up on the body... how does that work without molding it to your rear quarter panels?
Can you order a kit like this, have it painted, and then install it on the car? Can u do it yourself?
Also, assuming the road is flat, is there any problem taking hard turns and having the kit touch the ground?
ok the side skirts here is how they do it for the onest that go up the side. They use double sided tape so that it sticks to the pannel. You dont ususally want to mold the body kits because of the expanding and contrasting in the heat. so they side skirts are stuck there with tape. It doesnt da,mage the side pannel. And the front bumper depending on how low it is you will want to get a umm. ... I cant think of the name. It connects to the front bumper and adds protection kinda like a grind plate. But to put them on yourself can be hard but you need to go thoruhg and un screw all the little screws and **** and get under the car for the side skirts and un screw and screw them in. It takes body shops that know what they are doing about an 1 to 2 hours to get it on. So iwould figure that it is going to take youa while to do it yourself considering you have never done it. IF your roads are as good as you say they are Nuro then you dont have anythinhg to worry about with a kit unless you get a Extreme front bumper. That kit sits abou 2 inches off the ground. So dont get that ojne but any other kit will be ine eve with your car drpped. Oh BTW i am getting my kit in tuesday i am pretty sure. I need to put it on but i will be doing it myself on tuesday. HOPEFULLY any way. It is an invader type 2 full kit. Aslo nuro you need to call me i have a guy that is comming to my place on tuesday when we do the kits and he is seilling alot of **** and i want to see if you want any of it so let me know and call. I also found out about the Apexi controllers. I got a great deal on them through Volks. Call me
-later MrMan
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Sold the Lude - Dumb chick i sold it to crashed it - I bought it back - Fixed it - And got it for only 2500$ SCORE FOR ME!
Veilside makes a kit for the Prelude? Ish dogg, Im there.
I got the VIS Invader for my 2001, so I just went through this huge hassle.
1. I dont know where youre getting this "molding" idea from. Did someone suggest to you to kinda glue or heat the kit up, so that it sticks onto the car? Im kinda lost here. But besides that, my body tek simply screwed the sides skirts onto the old black plastic ones. Some people use double sided tape, but I wanted my skirts screwed on, cuz I didnt want to have to deal with anything falling off (tape sounds kinda weak).
2. When you get a new bodykit, you pray that you can drive on flat surface the entire time. Where I live (the friendly hilly plaines of Chicago, IL) we have alot of plaza enterances, and driveway enterances with enormous drops and inclines. At first, I would recklessly go through the drops and inclines, and thus I scratched up my kit a little bit, but not that bad (my front is about 5 - 7 inches off the ground). One day i floored it through an incline, and I cracked part of the front. Its not a "horrible" crack, but its definetly noticable at close range. Being the perfectionist that I am, I got really scared and started taking it really slow through inclines and drops because I couldnt afford any more damage. Speed bumps are no problem, but watch out for drops and inclines, because they are like a deceptive posion for your front kit....
3. Oh yeah, if you get lowers with your bodykit, plan on scratching on even speedbumps.
4. I recommend that you get someone to do it, but it all depends on your cashflow. I had enough bling bling, so I mistakenly paid a guy named Salvador, who only speaks Spanish...no English.....to put it on. He did a pretty good job, considering I didnt understand a word of Spanish (other than pourque sp.). The kit itself had alot of flaws, and he did a pretty good job of making it fit. If you order from these no-name companies, be prepared to gaps and misfits.
5. My advice to you.......dont order the kit unless you know it will be a good fit. I've heard too many horror stories where people ordered 4-piece bodykits online or from the mail, and got kits for the wrong car or completely defective kits (such as holes and deformations). Run down to an Import Shop, if not, run down to a bodyshop, talk to some guys, and go from there. I had a hard time finding a bodyshop that would install Aftermarket kits, because they "didnt" want to go through the hassle. At that time I though they were all lil chingalores, but after going through this huge hassle, I realize what they are trying to avoid.
6. If the price is too low, dont buy it. It wont fit. Unfortunetly in the lucrative buisness of bodykits, the nice fitting kits cost more Bling Bling (upwards 1K).
I paid $1000 total for the 4-piece VIS Invader and a pair of Z3 fenders. I got it shipped directly from VIS (Bay Area), and they almost screwed my order up. At first, they werent accepting my credit card number, which raised a red flag. They made me send them a check, after which they recieved, they would ship my order, which they said would take 5-7 buisness days. Instead, it came 20 days later. I was so mad with Asylumms.com... (the worst Import Site ever....another long story), that I chose to forget about it. It took about 2-3 days to put everything on (they had to cut some steel bar in front of the radiator so that they could mount the front kit). I paid Salvador's company $200 for their service.
7. Lastly, BUY URETHANE. Dont mess around with fiberglass. Yea fiberglass CAN be made to look extreemly nice, but all of these bodykit companies like VIS cut corners, and make kits that dont fit even 70%. (what they do is buy a Veilside, WingsWest, or Bomex mold, and use them to make their very low "cost" kits). Buy from WingsWest (something I should have done), and/or Bomex and Veilside (if they make kits for the Lude). I hear they almost always fit 90-100%. If you ever want to enter your car into a show, go with high price but quality bodykits. You might have to saveup, but its worth it.
BTW, my kit fits about 70-75%, but it looks good enough for people to give me looks or the finger. Oh yeah, Electron Blue Pearl also helps.
Email me at "tha_hot_sauce@hotmail.com" if you want even "more" info. Id be glad to help.
Sorry to the poor chaps who open this thread, with 28k connections.
dang.........................ViS is really that bad huh.........they're close to me and they said they could let me come in and pick up a replica mugen kit (fiberglass) for $450........its so tempting i almost did yesterday but i didnt get the chance to and now i read this thread......... im not so sure nemore........but..........a lot of people have gotten vis kits that fit well and look damn good........i dont know of any other relpica mugen kits as reliable as vis.....but im not sure........wwrs is too plain........and a lot of ppl have replica mugen and swear by them.......nd i love how it looks........but.......????????????????? im so torn
I think what he meant by "molding" the side skirts is what I have. The shop used bondo to blend in the edges of the side skirts. I think it looks damn good. Ofcourse if you damage the side skirts bad enough to have to replace them, that'll be a b*tch. My front bumber was an inch and a half of the ground so I had to remove the lower lip. My front bumper is a 2 piece thank god. Also, IMHO a car with a body kit that is not lowered is a It looks like an SUV. Lastly, if you do not have rims yet get rims first. I went the body kit first route and never liked how my car looked till I got my rims.
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-Rich
2002 TRD Tacoma 4x4
cantdrive92: i can drive a straight woman ***
cantdrive92: I need to go get a hooker
Originally posted by KulSecHskY I think what he meant by "molding" the side skirts is what I have. The shop used bondo to blend in the edges of the side skirts. I think it looks damn good. Ofcourse if you damage the side skirts bad enough to have to replace them, that'll be a b*tch. My front bumber was an inch and a half of the ground so I had to remove the lower lip. My front bumper is a 2 piece thank god. Also, IMHO a car with a body kit that is not lowered is a It looks like an SUV. Lastly, if you do not have rims yet get rims first. I went the body kit first route and never liked how my car looked till I got my rims.
not if u get OEM kit or WWRS.......or maybe even mugen.......something thats not crazy that duznt require the complement of rims
i think it depends on the driver......i have a VIS battle Z frt kit, my car is lowered 2.25 inches...putting my frt kit only 1.5inches off the ground. i've had the kit for more than a year, and never cracked it once. And i live in so cal, so theres plenty of dips and deep driveways. DON"T think i don't scrap tho.....i do scrap the bottom of the kit once in a while. but nothing major.
I havent seen many urathane kits for the lude, anyone help me out what urathane kits are out there for this ride, i love urathane bendable and easily fixable!
The reason why most companies don't make kits using urethane, rather then fiberglass, is because:
1) Its not cheap.
2) Urethane isn't easily molded into crazy styles.
3) Urethane over time, tends to "sag" and change shape.
Yeah, it's easily bendible and it can stand more abuse then a fiberglass kit would, but if all kits were made of urethane then we wouldn't see some of the crazy styles that we have today, plus the price tag on a full front/rear bumper replacement and side skirts would be crazy. Btw, don't discredit Vis because of some imperfections. At the price you pay nowadays for a full bodykit from somewhere like Vis, you couldn't even buy a OEM front bumper and paint it. You can't complain about what you pay for, unless you buy a legit kit from Mugen, Veilside, Bomex, etc. and have problems with it, which then would be something to be pissed about. Kits aren't perfect, that is why you take them to a shop and have them professionally painted & installed. Good luck.
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Ofcourse if you damage the side skirts bad enough to have to replace them, that'll be a b*tch. My front bumber was an inch and a half of the ground so I had to remove the lower lip. My front bumper is a 2 piece thank god. Also, IMHO a car with a body kit that is not lowered is a 
It looks like an SUV. Lastly, if you do not have rims yet get rims first. I went the body kit first route and never liked how my car looked till I got my rims.
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