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A body kit or bodykit is a set of modified body parts or additional components that are installed on a
car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
. They are typically composed of front and rear bumpers,
side skirt Semi-trailer aerodynamic devices are devices affixed to semi-trailers, for the purpose of reducing aerodynamic drag caused by air turbulence. The two major types of device in use are trailer skirts (or side skirts), affixed to the underside of trai ...
s, spoilers, bonnets (bonnet scoop), and sometimes front and rear side guards and roof scoops. There are many companies that offer alternatives to the original factory appearance of the vehicle. Body kit components are designed to complement each other and work together as a complete design, but often owners will 'mix and match' pieces from different body kits. Automotive body kits are usually constructed of either
fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...
,
polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...
, or in some cases metal or
carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...
. Fiberglass is cheap and widely available, although it can crack upon impact. Polyurethane is popular because it is flexible and thus more resistant to damage. Carbon fiber body kits are rarer, due to the cost of the materials.


History

The roots of modern body kits go to the beginning of the first part of the 20th century. With the growing popularity of
custom car A custom car is a passenger automobile, vehicle that has been altered to engine tuning, improve its performance, change its aesthetics, or combine both. Some automotive enthusiasts in the United States want to push "styling and performance a st ...
s in America, many car enthusiasts were looking to alter the appearance of their vehicles in order to improve the performance characteristics or make their car look different from the others as a styling statement.
Motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...
engineering also influenced the development of vehicle's body modifications, as certain changes in the construction of stock body parts allowed cars to achieve better results in terms of performance. Bumpers with bigger air dams and hood scoops deliver more fresh air to the engine, resulting in better performance output and heat reduction. Wide fenders or bolt-on flares allow fitting wider wheels. Trunk spoilers, bumper lips and bumper splitters reduce or properly distribute the down force, which improves the overall air dynamics of a vehicle. Although originally most popular on cars, body kits are now also offered for SUV and trucks. While some body kits are designed to be functional and improve the performance of a car, others are designed purely for aesthetics. Factory-fitted body kits are now becoming more common, perhaps in response to the growth of the aftermarket tuning industry in the late
1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...
and onwards. Many manufacturers now work in-house with their motorsport divisions to develop styling upgrades (such as HSV). Examples of well-known body kit brands include Veilside, Mansory, Novitec Group, Hamann Motorsport, Liberty Walk and Rocket Bunny.


Common body kit components

* Front and rear
bumper (car) A bumper is a structure attached to or integrated with the front and rear ends of a motor vehicle, to absorb impact in a minor collision, ideally minimizing repair costs. Stiff metal bumpers appeared on automobiles as early as 1904 that had a ...
* Side skirts (rockers) * Bumper lips * Bumper canards * Bumper diffusers * Bumper splitters * Bumper grilles * Fenders with vents * Fender flares * Widebody fenders and quarter panels * Spoilers * Custom hoods * Hood Scoops * Roof scoops * Side scoops * Window louvers * One piece front end * One piece rear end


See also

*
Automotive aftermarket The automotive aftermarket is the secondary parts market of the automotive industry, concerned with the manufacturing, remanufacturing, distribution, retailing, and installation of all vehicle parts, chemicals, equipment, and accessories, ''afte ...
*
Bumper (car) A bumper is a structure attached to or integrated with the front and rear ends of a motor vehicle, to absorb impact in a minor collision, ideally minimizing repair costs. Stiff metal bumpers appeared on automobiles as early as 1904 that had a ...
*
Car tuning Car tuning is the modification of a car to optimise it for a different set of performance requirements from those it was originally designed to meet. Most commonly this is higher engine performance and dynamic handling characteristics but cars ...
*
Custom car A custom car is a passenger automobile, vehicle that has been altered to engine tuning, improve its performance, change its aesthetics, or combine both. Some automotive enthusiasts in the United States want to push "styling and performance a st ...
*
Downforce Downforce is a downwards lift force created by the aerodynamic features of a vehicle. If the vehicle is a car, the purpose of downforce is to allow the car to travel faster by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more gri ...
*
Import scene The import scene, also known as the import racing scene or tuner scene, is a subculture of modifying mostly Japanese car industry, Japanese-import cars, particularly in the United States and Europe. History Car modifying has been popular among y ...
*
Kit car Kit may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Kit (surname), a list of people Places * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill ...
* ''
Pimp My Ride ''Pimp My Ride'' is a staged American television series produced by MTV and hosted by rapper Xzibit, which ran for six seasons on MTV from 2004 to 2007. In each episode, a car in poor condition is both restored and customized. The work on th ...
'', a television series about vehicle restoration and modification that uses body kits extensively *
Spoiler (car) A spoiler is an automotive aerodynamic device whose intended design function is to 'spoil' unfavorable air movement across the body of a vehicle in motion, usually manifested as lift, turbulence, or drag. Spoilers on the front of a vehicle ar ...
* Stance (vehicle)


References

{{Reflist Automotive accessories Vehicle modifications