Choosing the Right Underbody Kit
Underbody Light kits have evolved tremendously over the past few years from simple solid colors to multiple colors per kit, and now millions of digitally controlled colors and patterns. Car enthusiasts often find it a daunting task to choose an undercar kit.
Price range
Underbody kits range in price from $9.95 on eBay (with 60 dollar shipping!) to almost $1,000. The price you pay can be drastically different depending on where you purchase your kit. Buying from a local store is almost always more expensive than buying from an online store. Buying directly from the manufactuer is also a huge rip off. Manufactuers prefer to sell in bulk to a few distributors than to sell directly to many customers. Because of this, they set ridiculously high prices.
Generally the more expensive underbody kits have more features and are better quality than the cheaper ones. It is important for you to find the underbody kit that will suit your needs best. If you only want a solid color, you can get a very high quality kit that will serve you well for under $200. If you need multiple colors, patterns, music response, and a high level of control, you are better off investing in a high end kit.
Features
Colors
The most basic underbody kits only emit a single color while more advanced kits can show multiple colors. If you are worried about cruising with a certain color (maybe red and blue), you can get a multi color kit and just set it to another color (example: green). When you go to the car show, parking lot, driveway, etc you can turn it to any color.
Patterns
The only underbody kits than can display patterns are LED kits. Traditional Neon kits - with an inner glass tube with compressed gas excited by high voltage - can't display any patterns. Some LED kits have preset patterns while others let you create your own patterns and control the speed as well as many other aspects of the "show".
Control & Display
Controlling an underbody kit can be as simple as flipping a single toggle switch or as elaborate as a bluetooth wireless interface via a computer program on your laptop computer. Other controls include wired remote controls, wireless remote controls - both infrared and RF. Infrared needs a direct line of sight to a reciever (seperate unit placed inside your car) while RF operates over airwaves.
Color Accuracy
Color accuracy has been an issue for certain multi-color LED undercar kits. Colors like yellow, purple, and white are made by a combination of red, blue, and green LEDs. If care is not taken by the manufactuer, or low quality components are used, color accuracy of certain colors will be very bad. Yellow, white and purple will look nothing like what you'd expect them to look like. They will be spotty and look like puke. When you turn on white, you want it to actually look white! In the tubes, LED spacing, angle and brightness play a big role.
Music
Music or sound interfaces that come built into many new underbody kits vary in complexity. Some use a simple microphone input that picks up sound from your speakers as well as background noises. More advanced systems use a direct line input which connects to the output from your car stereo. Most aftermarket stereos will have a line output, while stock stereos will not so it is best to use the built in microphone input with a stock stereo. Direct sound input will give your underbody kit better response to the music. People talking in the background, doors slamming shut, and engine revs will not be picked up by the underbody kit. Some kits only have one music mode where it just blinks to the beat of the music, other have many modes that scan and show different patterns - all to the beat of the music! Most kits will have a sensitivity knob or control so you can get just the right effect. Combining lights and sound can provide a very stimulating show. Consider adding a fog machine under your car. Add your favorite scented fog juice for extra fun!
Simple install?
Installing and underbody kit is simple, but because of how some kits are designed, they may be more time consuming to install than others. If anything goes wrong with one of the tubes, or you decide to sell the kit, the design can have a large impact on the time you spend laying on your back under your car. Mounting: do the tubes mount in just 2 or 3 places, or do the comes in small one foot sections, meaning you have to drill a ton of holes on each side of your car? Obviously, the less drilling the better. Wiring: the most basic kits use a high voltage wire coming out of each side of the tubes. These wires have to be connected together in series, and then connected to a high voltage transformer.
Warranty
Most warranties do not cover stuff like: rocks hitting and cracking your tubes, damage from carelessly lifting the car, or impropper installation. You should know some things like: how long does the warranty last, is it transferable (or only for the original owner), who is responsible for shipping costs, who do you call for warranty claims?
Plan for the Future
Do you want to buy an underbody kit now, with the plan of adding more lights down the road? Some kits can seamlessly integrate with other add on components like extra underbody tubes or interior tubes.
Are underbody kits legal in Cali?
Are they legal in New Jersey? What about Wisconsin? Trying to figure out the legality of neons in a certain area can be very difficult. It isn't as simple as looking up the vehicle code for your state. Vehicle code can be very confusing and conflicting. Even a call or email to your local police station can be misleading.
People have been told one thing and even had an email as proof, only to be pulled over and slapped with a ticket by an officer who may not know the intricacies of the law.
Regardless of the law in your area, there are things you can do to reduce your chances of being hassled.
- Hide the light source so it is not directly visible from the road. Make a shield with a long piece of "L" aluminum or steel. Use black electrical tape to hide a section of the light.
- Take extra caution to obey all laws. If neons are perfectly legal in your area, and you are speeding just a few miles over the limit, a cop is more likely to give you a speeding ticket than if you had no neons on.
- Save the strobing red/blue for the car show or your driveway. Blue and red might be fine to cruise with as a solid color, but as soon as they strobe, you may cross the line as "impersonating a cop"
- Keep a copy of the vehicle code in your car. You can just print or copy the section that deals with lighting. Present it to the officer if you are pulled over.
- Respect police officers. They protect you when you are being shot at, they protect you when your house is broken into. Respect them and they should respect you.
