Purchasing a body kit in the next 15 days...need advice on the brand of body kit that is most reliable besides MAZDASPEED. I know mazdaspeed will be the best, obviously, but can't pay that much.

Right now I'm looking at a VIS Racing kit, or any of the AIT Racing kits. But any other brand of kit will be fine as long as it has been proven to be a decent brand.

Just let me know what you guys know.....

 

"decent brands" inlclude real JDM stuff... not that knockoff crap from bodykits.com etc.

AIT is good, search for people who have them and your questions will be answered.

Also visit japanparts.com to see a wide selection of JDM exterior parts, they usually have the best prices too

 

both your choices are sub par....they are flimsy, ill fitting and will cost more to look good in the finishing process.....

 

VIS makes some decent CF stuff; (hood / trunk) but I'm not sold on their body kits.
They'll cost quite a bit to get right.

Look at japanparts.com for all the various body kits or maybe even look at what Mazmart has to offer. (I believe they sell the AutoExe)
Are you looking to do front bumper, side skirts, and rear?

 

Just save up for the mazdaspeed

 

Yes. front, sides, and rear.

Also anybody know of a good carbon fiber kits? I know the price jumps up dramatically, but it saves me the cost of painting, so it'll get close to becoming even in the end. Plus it might look better...I got the titanium gray (29Y) color...

 

there's SO many kits out there, you really just need to look around and then decide on which on you like best.
THEN, start saving up and budget accordingly to get it.

It's tough for us to recommend "good carbon fiber kits" because we don't know what you like and what your budget is

 

are you more about the fitment or just want the bling factor?.....what is your tolerance towards gaps?

 

Im all about the blink factor,,, lol sillly mod...
nice fix, k&g arent even close anyway but lol,,,,,

 

Bling and fitment I equally want.

But I think I found the kit I'm going with...the AIT Racing Mint Style kit ($474 w/ shipping):
http://www.racerwheel.com/abk-kit-m803himnt.html

Hopefully it works out........................

thnx 4 all yall's help

 

wow when are you peeps gonna learn,,,
If your going for fitment your gonna fail getting an entire kit for under $400....

 

bro hold up! I hope you didn't buy this, you will be sorely disappointed. I can guarantee the fitment will be terrible and you will end up having to pay a bodyshop a ton of money to get it to fit correctly... should have done some more research first

It's not even legit AIT (AIT Racing Mint Style kit )

 

Thats a good price for a kit but after body work I think you will need to put a 1 in front of that price. The only fiberglass kit I would buy is a real Japanese kit because they use different fiberglass in Japan and they conserve their molds only producing a certain amount from one mold. That is why their fiberglass kits are so expensive because fitment is usually spot on and when the mold is no longer good they make another one so that fitment stays spot on. So they charge more because it cost them more to make. The reason your getting a body kit for 474.00 is because they probably made hundreds of kits from that one mold and everything is profit so they don't care but the fitment is probably crap. Just my 2 cents. I you want real quality with a good price you should buy a polyurethane kit.

 

Okay well I've read tons of conflicting stories about these, but YES! I DO KNOW THAT ANY BRAND EXCEPT MAZDASPEED WILL COST MORE FOR FITMENT! But I like the way this AIT MINT STYLE kit looks. Plus, I believe it is legit AIT. (1) Click on the picture in that link I provided and it says "AITracing.com" at the top of it. (2) On the AITracing.com site (please check for yourself), all of their kits are "___ ___ SYTLE kit". So I believe that when the kit that I'm going to buy says "AIT Mint STYLE kit", that it is just using the same name as that of AIT.

 

ait is a knock off....there is no such thing as legit and ait....the kit you are referring to is ait's knock off of mint blue.....ait fitment is far from great by the way

 

False in so many ways... MS is not the only brand that has wonderful fitment,,.

the wording of "Style" refers to what brand they are actually ripping off, they just have to do that so they dont get in trouble legally. Like Chris said, AIT is not an original manufacturer, and like I said before the original kits is from the company named Mint Blue, thats not the body kits name....

But whatever you seem pretty adament about buying this kit so if you want the geniune article here it is
$840 front bumper- http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2333
$840-rear bumper- http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2335
$640- sideskirts - http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2334
$470-rear wing(fibergalss)- http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2339
$740- rear wing(Carbon)- http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2338
$915- hood(fiberglass)- http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2337
$1290- hood(Carbon)- http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=2336

Agian AIT does not make the original kit...

 

vndr09: listen to us, you do not want to buy that kit if want good fitment 'out of the box'.

Remember the old saying: If it looks too good to be true...

 

Okay well I'll consider buying the real deal. I only got $1500 to play with, so I'll make the best decision from what i've learned.

FYI: probably NOT going to buy that AIT knock-off kit anymore...thnx for the warnings!

 

All right, disaster diverted. Now that you know what you are no going to get, the question remains what kits look good, fit good and are affordable.

It was mentioned earlier with a shamless plug, but I like the tsunami front bumper. I know they dont have a rear bumper, not sure about sideskirts.

See thread https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-exterior-appearance-body-kits-27/tsunami-bodykits-back-159077/ for more info. PM TSUNAMISTYLES for a price.

 

i am sponsored by AIT racing's body kit, everything fit great and you can ask anyone in my local meet, as i said they do fit great and the material of the body kit is awesome as well. Of cause they are at a lower price. Let me know if you need any more info.

 

no offense but someone sponsored by the company might be slightly biased in their response. do you have an estimate on how many hours went into fitment and installation?

 

hmm.. actually they took my car for around 5 days, they do the measurement, paint job, fitting and they did a pretty good job. I am more an authentic person but i was impressive of the body kit fitment btw. they do tested the body kit, R magic wing and new fenders on my 8. just some information, i would say if you looking for a great body kit, go for authentic one, they worth the money but if consider a 800 dollars body kit, they are pretty good quality, just put some money in the paint job and they should fit pretty well.

 

i think that's just the issue - that your cost is unknown. going with a replica you generally pay a lot more for the labor and paint than you would with an authentic so you end up spending about the same in the end and have a replica.

now, that being said, i actually have the shine replica of the autobahn kit so i'm not saying don't buy replicas - just that users should do their homework first. fitment was good from shine and i also used kenny in NJ who did a great job and had done plenty of other shine AB kits before me so i was comfortable giving it to him and i got a great deal.

in the end, i'm glad i went with shine but only did so after seeing the experience of others and knowing a body shop that did really good work and had a good rep here. the funny thing is that i remember meeting chrism, clavius, and benny when i first got my 8 and said i'd say stock but couldn't pass up the look and cost of the shine kit.

 

Ok one last question. I found a place called PRO CARE in San Antonio, TX (my location) that went through every step they would take to get it right and until I was satisfied (they estimated about $1500 for it be exactly perfect). So if I get the Mazdaspeed kit for $1310(front)+$605(rear)+$1530(sides), and then add probably just $500 for installation because it won't need prepping or painting, then that gives me an estimated total of $3945+tax+shipping. That's assuming the BEST POSSIBLE! ORRRRRR...I can get another replica kit that is just $600 (with shipping already) + $1500 for installation, that gives me a total of $2100+tax! Now, when you add tax and shipping to these totals that gives you basically a difference of $2000 between the kits, and in my opinion, I actually prefer the way other kits look than the basic Mazdaspeed. So as long as I get someone reliable to install it, the outcome should be okay to install, in theory, ANY kit???

 

I and many other have got the MAZDASPEED kit from accolade www.body-kit.com and the fitment was really really good, the exception is their fender set on the right side.. but if you're going with just a body kit check them out because the quality is superb. good luck!