Protective door mouldings?

I personally don't like the mouldings for the look (ruins the lines of the body IMO), and mostly for the high probability that dents will happen all around that thin strip of moulding- which they have on my Camry with stock door moulding about the same size. My suggestion is to park remotely, keep away from the door banging idiots in parking lots, and use the money to buy other more useful accessories.

 

I think those actually look pretty nice, although they look a little close to the door handles for my taste. I know that the concave doors on the G3 make placement a little more difficult, trying to balance aesthetics with functionality. The Prius has a high side-profile, which on the G2 contributed to the "bulbous" look that many people don't care for.

I put body side moldings on my G2, and they do seem to make the car look less bulbous, IMO. They have stopped a couple of dings from occuring. Also, if the car should get a ding in a door sheet metal, the moldings tend to hide it from view, as they break up the expanse of smooth sheet metal (which thereby keeps your eye from being drawn to any imperfections):

 

The concave area on the doors is limited to a narrow band where the handles are. Below that the car is definitely convex. Try it with a vertical straightedge.

 

I had the ones on my G2 put on professionally. The guy that I used does it for a living (along with spoilers, etc), and came recommended by the Toyota dealership (he does a lot of work for them).

They are not difficult to do, and I was thinking about doing them myself. But his total charge (for the kit and his labor) was really good.

If doing it yourself, the trick is to first thoroughly clean the area where they are to be glued. If the paint is not totally cleaned from wax, polymer finishes, or protective coatings, the moldings may not stay fastened properly over time.

Also, be certain to use some tape (such as painters tape, etc), to serve as an alignment guide. This enables you to make all of the appropriate measurements and get the positions clearly marked, prior to fastening the moldings.

On the G2 there were measurements from the bottom of the doors to the bottom of the moldings. The measurements differed from the front to the rear of the doors. I'm guessing that the G3 install kits are the same.

Please post some pictures after you get them installed!

 

I guess what I would be wondering is this: if you position the moldings on the G3 low enough so that they will protrude past the vertical plane of the top "crease" in the door panel, will they then be too low on the door to actually be useful in absorbing hits from other doors?

 

You'd be surprised how many drivers of clunkers will actually go out of their way to park next to you even if you go to the end of the parking lot![/QUOTE]

I park far away in empty corners and take up two spots at an angle. Rarely get anyone near me.

 

Ah, watch parking like that; you're asking to get keyed .

 

How did the install go? Very curious.... I have the same vehicle and am looking for some protection.

 

Has anybody installed these instead? They look like they fit better with the profile of the car than the straight ones.

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS BODY SIDE MOULDING: eBay Motors (item 250511112017 end time Aug-04-10 14:55:30 PDT)

 

Those look exactly like the ones which cost $113.00 or $119.00. I think they are just selling them cheaper now some places.

 

Mine arrived today from PruisChat. They look very nice but no instructions are included. I was wondering what they recommended for placement (Height). My preference would be best location for blocking dings. Not sure if there is an ideal height for this. Also since my car is only days old and perfectly clean, I am wondering if there is already wax on the vehicle that needs to come off first. Do most dealors wax the car or is a new car naturally shiny.

 

Oh, never mind. I found teh instructions, two Alcahol pads and Pro-Bond Adhesive Promotor tied up at one end of the package.

 

My car came with the thin body side moulding installed (see pic). I removed it and put it on a friends Prius. Yes, pulled slowly and it came off cleanly and reusable. Yes, my friend has a white 2010 prius too..


I ordered the wedge shaped moulding from Sparks Toyota, but haven't put it on yet. My original thin Toyota moulding was about 3/4" wide and 3/8" thick, rubber/flexible plastic strip. The wedge moulding is a much harder plastic, so i don't know how that will hold up to impacts from other doors. The paint on the wedge moulding is a much better finish, and it's applied evenly over the light gray plastic underneath. On the thin mouldings, you could see the paint was thin on top and some shadow from the black rubber underneath showed through.


I figured the moulding that was wide in the back and tapered to a point in the front would match the Prius' shape better.
Since I haven't installed it yet, i don't have photos of the finished product. But, i've attached the PDF installation instructions with color photos for you guys to look at.