I’m not expecting much, more just doing it to have fun. I will be sure to post up scans of my timeslips, and am going to ask Cassidy to bring the digital camcorder to get some video as well. I will either update this post, or add another one sometime this weekend with how it was, and the slips/videos.

For more information on midnight madness, check out the Midnight Madness page on the Gateway Raceway Website.

Once I made it to the closest gas station I got out and looked underneath the car to find the ends on each of the front light still attached, but nothing between them. Luckily all of the other lights were still attached and working fine. A bunch of the clips for the bottom half of the bumper had come undone as well, so I popped those in. There is no damage to the car, so I am thankful for that. However, I really hope that raccoon is still lying there suffering with a glass shard in his eye for busting up my light.

The side tubes were mounted using the included brackets to the inner-side of the welds running down either side on the bottom of the car. The front tube is mounted to the same brace that holds the radiator using zip ties (no drilling needed). The rear is held to the rear bumper supports using zip ties as well.

Take note of where the drain plugs are in the vehicle and position the end of the tube with the wire as close to them as possible. To put the wire into the car, simply drill a tiny hole just big enough for the wire to go through into the drain plug. I then used a silicon sealant and sealed all around the hole to keep any water from coming out. Running the wires this way prevents them from shorting on a sharp piece of sheet-metal, as well as from coming loose and dragging on the ground or getting caught on things you may run over (such as small animals).

Once the wires were in the car it was just a matter of running them to the distribution box i placed near the fuse box under the dash. The driver side one came in right where it needed to, and the passenger side one simply ran inside the kick panel, and then under the dash to the drivers side. The front tube wire comes in through the firewall the same place the stock wiring did. Take care when running this wire not to allow any slack that could catch the radiator fan or other moving parts. I ran it along the same path as my amp power cable. The rear wire runs through kick panels all the way to the front drivers side of the car.

Once all the wires are running to the location of the distribution box, you have two options: a) tap into another wire using a quick connect or, b) run a dedicated fused power wire from the battery (i chose this option). Running the power wire is relatively easy, and StreetGlow even include one in the Underbody kit, along with a switch. I simply ran this wire along the same path as my amps power wire.

Note: While StreetGlow is nice enough to include a fused power wire, I opted to replace the in-line fuse holder with my own, as the one it came with was impossible to find fuses the right size for without ordering from StreetGlow.

Once everything is hooked up, double check your wires to make sure they are secured and not going to get caught on anything or short out, and then try out the lights.

When I arrived home I opened it up to take some pictures for the eBay auction. Upon opening the box, and getting through all of the foam padding, I was disappointed to find that 3 of the 4 neon tubes had been broken. The next day I called Street Glow and was informed that because Circuit City was not an authorized seller,  they would not replace it. After explaining that Circuit City was going out of business, and would not accept returns, I convinced the rep to speak with his manager about the matter. After about a week of emails and phone calls, I was finally informed that because Circuit City was previously an authorized Street Glow dealer, they would replace the kit.

I shipped the kit that Tuesday, and followed up with an email to the rep giving him the tracking number, and going out on a limb, asking if they could ship me a red kit instead of a green which is what I had originally purchased. The rep said he would do so, and today I received a the kit.

I hope to install it sometime this week. Once it is installed I will take some pictures and post em in the photo gallery for all to see.

1. Get together the supplies. I used a rubber spatula, goo-gone (or similar product), and an old dish-towel.
2. Check out your badges and make sure they are not riveted or bolted into the car, the Rio’s are not.
3. Take your bottle of adhesive remover, and pour a bit behind the badge, you may need to use your spatula to create more of a gap. Be sure to wipe up any that may run, as it will make clean-up easier later.
4. Let the adhesive remover soak in for about 2 -3 minutes.
5. Slide your spatula between the car and badge, pulling towards the badge, slowly work your way from one side of the badge to the other. If it seems excessively difficult, remove the spatula, and apply some more goo-gone.
6. Once the badge is removed, pour some more goo-gone on the remaining adhesive (the Rio has doubles sided foam-tape, which is a real pain), then let it soak in.
7. Using your finger nail, start at a corner and scrape the adhesive off the car. This is the most time-consuming part of the process, and you want to take care not to damage the paint. If you don’t get all the adhesive on the first go around, dont worry, just pour some more goo-gone on, let it soak, and start working at it again.
8. Once you think you have all the adhesive removed, wipe down the area with a wet rag and run your fingers over it. Scratch away any bits of adhesive you feel left.
9. Wash the car. You don’t have to wash the entire thing, but at least wash the back. I recommend using a very mild mix of dish-soap and water, as it removes all the oils and doesnt have the addatives many car-detergents do to protect paint.
10. Apply some turtle-wax or whatever your prefered brand of wax is. The location where the badges were doesnt have any wax, so unless you do this, it may still be a bit obvious where the were if you look.
11. Enjoy to new, cleaner look of the back of your car.

I don’t have any pictures of the finnished product yet, but will be sure to take some and add them to this post as soon as I get a chance. If I had thought about it, I would have taken pics of the process, however I didn’t think about it until after I was finnished. Either way, its a rather straigh forward mod, so you should be good.

A little about myself, and the car…. I am 22 years old and live in the St. Louis area working as an Engineer for a respectable IT company. I bought my “Tropical Red” 2008 Kia Rio5 SX in September of ‘08 with only 7 miles on it. I had always been skeptical of Kia’s because of the things I had heard about their reliability and quality back in the early 2000’s, but after doing some research, and some pushing by my fiance (because she thought it was “cute”), I decided to take one for a test drive. I immediately fell in love with the car and within a few hours I was saying good-bye to my ‘95 Ford Escort Wagon, and leaving the lot in my brand new Rio5.

This is my first blog, and also my first time working with Word Press, so be patient as I learn the in’s and out’s of this software, as well as get into the habit of blogging.