Purely Aesthetics

When you have a $16,000 Civic suited with a $700 body kit, you surely have spent to have a head-turner. But to keep your ride’s dazzling looks, you should never underestimate having your car undergo routine maintenance.

Aside from periodic check-ups on the performance parts, regular cleaning, waxing, and using car covers are just some of the fundamental techniques used to keep your car in shape.

When a car or truck is outfitted with a great body kit, making sure it always looks good is a task that car owners should always keep in mind. A simple solution is by washing and waxing a car. Always wash before waxing and a car will maintain its true shine and killer looks. After putting on a full or partial body kit, keeping the parts looking good brings unbridled satisfaction to proud automobile enthusiasts. Not only will the car receive more ooohs and aaahs this way, the car will shine in the way it was originally meant to. Of course, it will appear even more aerodynamic and aesthetically brilliant than ever.

In considering tweaking your car body’s look, you need to consider parts with similar style and shape to allow for smooth flow on the vehicle’s exterior. A full body kit makeover does exactly what individual add-on parts should do to make the adjustments seamless. If you want the kick-ass features of a particular race or street car, then you may want to bolt-in different parts that particularly suits the exterior specs of it.

First on the list are the front and and back bumpers. With better aerodynamics in mind, bumpers can either be replaced or added by a “bumper cover.” A common bumper “tuneup” is the addition of a front air dam and/or rear skirt to your stock bumpers. A nicely-fitted, well-painted front air dam or rear skirt gives the appearance of an all-new bumper.

To add a sleek appearance to your car, you may want to add a set of side skirts. Depending on your car, the basic contour lines and the existing side skirts will decide what needs to be done in this category.

Hoods also serve as a great opportunity to give your car a “contemporary” look. Some hoods have hood scoops built into them and are functional. Usually hoods are made of fiberglass material or you could choose a carbon fiber hood for a fancier front. Hoods also contribute to a car’s aerodynamics.

Car spoilers or wings, on the other hand, sit on the trunk of your car or coupe. It basically redirects where the air flows. Spoilers alone gives your vehicle the race car look and appeal. It’s not surprising why many enthusiasts and body kit newbies start with spoilers. Like specially-designed hoods, spoilers provide extra aerodynamic lift to the car.

Another way to sleek-en your ride is by replacing your stock rims with a set of alloy/chrome wheels. As chrome wheels spin in circles against the wheels direction, any probing eye would get knocked out. Wheel rims serves as an icing of the cake when doing a complete body kit makeover.

Your car’s new look and feel basically depends your body kit, which in turn, is made up of either of two basic materials – urethane and fiberglass.

Because of its good reputation as a high quality material, urethane has been widely used by top body kit manufacturers today. Urethane is a hard, but flexible type of rubber that has relatively good resistance against “bumps” and dents. Urethane is so strong and durable it could take some good beating before getting disfigured. They are also easier to install than fiberglass body kits. However, I noticed that urethane body kits are a bit pricey, and once they get damaged, they have to be replaced.

On the other hand, fiberglass body kits are far cheaper (almost half the price) than their urethane counterparts. Aside from its lower price, a fiberglass body kit or part can be widely available everywhere. Fiberglass kits are highly ‘repairable’
especially if the tear or dent is not extensive.

In a nutshell, if you are looking for quality and strength, urethane may be your best bet… But if your budget is tight and you’re looking for a specific part/item, fiberglass may best fit you.

Despite their distinct characteristics, many enthusiasts usually choose — deliberately or unintentionally – to mix fiberglass and urethane depending on the part and taste. Anyway, I bet virtually know one would know, at first glance if your kit is fiberglass or urethane.

Can you tell which material was used for each car?!

Shrek, Voltron, hip-hop artists, and a lot of girls trooped to Atlanta last May 20 as part of the many attractions the 14,000-strong fans went for at the 2007 Dub Auto Show & Concert Series’ 5^th Leg.

Reminiscent of the past four legs held in LA, Phoenix, Memphis, and Dallas, the Atlanta DUB leg proved to be an arena for awesome display of car aesthetics and hot chics.

Atlanta is home to some of the best hip-hop, so the DUB show also had to deliver knockout hip-hop performances. The main stage was shared by top talents including Jim Jones, Lil Scrappy, Lloyd, Chamillionaire, Crime Mob, and Purple Ribbon.

DUB’s fully pimped-up autos will next strut their wares in Charlotte next month.

Body styling does not just mean lowering the ground clearance, attaching a wrap-around body kit, and tweaking a car’s aerodynamics. In fact, the only “accessory” that is purely aesthetic in value is car body graphics, or more commonly known as decals.

A decal is a plastic, cloth or paper substance that has printed on it a pattern or graphic that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for decalcomania, which means "the fad of transferring tracings." The other part of the word became "cockamamie," referring to the fakeness of tattoos produced by this process. With the cars’ uneven surface, decals have been used to engrave lifelike images, patterns, and logos onto pimped up coupes and trucks.

So if you want to express yourself and give your sedan or SUV some flair, dress them up with nasty decals.

Cowboys buckled up and trooped to downtown Dallas for the ride of their lives as the fourth leg of the 2007 DUB Custom Auto Show & Concert went to Texas’ capital last May 13.

Over 11,400 enthusiasts came out to see the best dressed up rides and hip-hop Texas has to offer. Just like in the first three legs, hundreds of fully pimped up cars, trucks, and motorcycle strutted their way, while Famous artists like Bow Wow and Lil John rocked the house with their hip-hop performances.

Already rating as the nastiest in its class, the Mercedes SL Roadster still underwent a facelift and upgrade. Behind a team of Brabus engineers and designers, no stone was left unturned as the roadster was given sportier and more exclusive looks and specs.

Brabus dressed up the latest Mercedes road monster with aerodynamic-enhancement parts that has given the SL a sporty yet elegant appearance while at the same time providing aerodynamic benefits. At high speeds up to almost 350kph, these parts reduce lift on the front axle and thus further improve directional stability.

Stitch up a strikingly styled front and rear fascia, rocker panels, and a set of 20-inch Brabus Monoblock alloy wheels, and you have a Roadster that is monster on the road and sheer beauty on the side.