2012 Prius Lower Door Chrome Trim

I bought some body side moldings. I was really hesitant at first to "mess up" the look of my Prius but then I realized that I'd rather "mess up" the look than actually have dents in my car. and I had to buy them fast because my wife needed to use my car to work for a couple of days and she works in the worst place for dents (the Mall). In any case, I bought them off of a user on eBay that claimed they were a Toyota Dealership and were a total $86 for OEM moldings. They sent me instructions but they didnt look or sound correct. So I searched around and found this site Installation Sheets ::: Toyota ::: Dawn Enterprises Inc. and I clicked on the Prius Molding 2004+ since the 2012 Prius was actually the instructions for the Prius V.
So I measured and marked with the grease pencil (Sharpe China Marker). I was able to remove my markings with my spit, but I also heard you could use windex to remove it. I noticed that the longer it was on there, the harder it was to rub off.
At first I was really adament about following the instructions to a tee. After the measuring/marking and realizing I didnt have any tape or string, I brought out my Black & Decker Auto-leveling Laser (Black and Decker) and stacked a couple of items. Just to note, I did this in my garage so I already knew it was level in there. I used the mark I made on the rear (back door) and lined up the laser to that mark. Then used that to put the whole thing on there (on top of the laser). The laser has a built in magnet on the back, so I just had to put items under it to make sure the magnet touched the car (I was really careful to not scratch my car so I lightly placed it on there). The hardest part for me was taking off those dang papers that cover the adhesive.

 

Looks awesome. But a shopping mall I'd buy her a cheep car to drive to work

Mike

 

lol, no kidding. I was going to suggest she get a ride to work. But I like being married

 

Buy your wife her own Prius My wife & I have separate cars. She drives her's and never even asks to drive mine and I don't touch her's except for maintenance tasks. Next spring she is buying her own Prius

Mike

 

I'm leaning towards that for her next vehicle, but at the moment she has an SUV. And since I need to borrow her SUV to haul some stuff around, I had no choice. Its been hard to convince her to go smaller and smaller. She used to drive a Suburban (12mpg and $100+ to fill up) and is now driving an Equinox (22mpg city/32hwy). I think she's actually leaning towards a Camry Hybrid, but I'd prefer she drive a Prius C. I doubt she will get the C, but I can dream.

 

I drive a Saturn Vue AWD for hauling stuff and my winter vehicle. I can totally relate to those mpg figures. I sure hope your Prius doesn't get dinged. It looks too damn nice for that to happen. Did you see that thread the other day where some person backed over/into the hood with a SUV or some other large tank? It was a hit & run to boot. I'd go ballistic if that was my car... What you hauling in her SUV?

Mike

 

Ouch, I didn't see that thread. I don't know what I would do if that happened to my car. Yea, I told my wife to park in a spot where only one person could park next to her and to try and stay away from the main entrance. Normally I don't have to worry about dings since I only take it to work and back. At work, I have my own parking spot with concrete pillars on each side.
I'm actually helping my little sister move, so I will be packing some boxes and other dorm stuff. I will probably also be strapping her bed to the roof of the Equinox.
You have a nice ride too, I sometimes wish I had gotten a Four or Five. But at the same time, I didn't want to pay more than I already did. I've also been contemplating getting black rims. What rims are on your Prius and are those 17's or 18's?

 

They are the Plus Performance rims. 17"

I was totally set on ordering a Three to keep the payment down until my wife intervened and told me to order what I wanted as she would not want to hear me later saying I should have gotten this or that. I had her prove to me this payment was not going to cause any issues before I made plans on what I was to order. Even a Two is a nice car in my eye's. It would be neat to own a Two for shopping trips and keep the Four in the garage for the Sunday drive or other occasions Here is a pic the day before I took delivery, it shows the real wheel color more so than my avatar pic does.


That is a nice part of owning a SUV for those times you need to haul stuff you wouldn't dare put inside or on a nice ride. Up here we have road salt in the winter so my summer cars have always sat in the garage until spring. The SUV works perfect on those salted yuk roads. I can see why you two got rid of that Suburban and got the Equinox. Way higher mpg My Vue runs about 19.5 city & 24 highway running E85 and weaker blends. For some reason it seems the trend is for darker wheels on cars. Seems years ago chrome was hot but that doesn't look right anymore. My other car has Gunmetal Gray wheels which was a first for me. I liked that color and the Plus Perf wheels were just screaming buy me Your wheels look cool. What are they? I noticed you have the Plus Perf body kit. Did you do the suspension also? The body kit makes an already cool car look freaking killer

Mike

 

Wow, that's a great looking car. I didn't see any nice looking prius (other than mine) at the dealerships I went to around here in Central Texas. I think if I had seen one like yours, I would have bought it. I didnt really want leather at first since I'm in Texas. But since I park in a parking garage at work and then in my personal garage when I get home, it hasnt been an issue.
My prius is actually the TSS package version (Spice up your 2012 Toyota Prius with the TSS Limited Edition Package - Austin Cars | Examiner.com). It comes stock with the Plus Perf body kit, TRD springs, and my favorite, leather interior with carbon fiber accents (instead of the stock gray). It also came with those rims and the Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires. I have no idea what brand they are, I'll have to take a look. I haven't really done anything yet other than the molding but then again, I've only had it for about 2 weeks. I'll take some pics of the leather interior with blue stitching later today if you'd like. I think that was the only downfall of the TSS, I think it only came out in the Two and Three. If they had a Four or Five, I would have definitely bought it (or at least I like to think so).
I only use my car for work (I dont even keep the kids car seats in it) so even though its my daily driver, its only to and from work. If we go anywhere else after I get home, we take my wife's Equinox. And one good thing about living in Texas is that we don't have to worry about snow or ice. And yea, I hear you about the chrome. I was considering the chrome lower side moldings that your car has, but I think theyd be too bright for my winter gray prius. Here is the pic of my sticker, I took it the other day when I was trying to decide if the TRD was low enough. I think I will keep the TRD springs, but I was considering the Tein springs.

 

That is interesting finding out about that regional package. It looks to be darn similar to the Plus Perf Package but I did not read anything about a rear swaybar. Can you see a white swaybar like this pic?

I'm heading out for dinner right now so gotta cut it short...

Mike

 

Man, Mike, I thought you were much older. You don't even look old enough to drive, let alone have a wife.

 

I doubt I have the sway bar. I'll have to check when I get back in town tomorrow. Thats another reason I took a pic of the sticker, I was hoping it would say it included the coilovers and the sway bar, but neither is listed. I'm going to get a sway bar if I find out mine doesnt have one. Thanks for the reminder to check. I'll update you once I've found out for sure.

 

That's our future Prius owner

Mike

 

You did get the good tires

Mike

 

Yup, that is one plus. I don't mind the rims too much either, better than stock.

So did yours come stock with the sway bar? Anything else besides that that came stock?

I just got back (saved it from the mall) and checked for the sway bar not there. I guess that will be on my "to do" list.

 

Mine is bone stock ordered as a Four Solar Plus Performance. It came with the MXM4 tires, TRD wheels, TRD springs, TRD rear swaybar, & body kit. The lower door chrome moldings were port installed along with the PPP kit. It also came with embroidered floor mats and the rear cargo carpet mat.

Wonder why they did not install the rear swaybar in your car? Definitely buy it. My car corners very flat and stable. You will like it. Did your wife wonder why you got home so fast so she could drive her SUV to work? I envision you hauling nice person down the road to get your moving done ASAP

Mike

 

Yea, not sure why it wouldnt come with the sway bar, but thats definitely on my list.
Haha, yea, I think she knew I was worried about my car. She parked it in a spot where there was nothing next to it other than the curb and the handicap parking lines. She did good.
Btw, here are the interior pics of the leather interior, carbon fiber plastics, and embroidered mats.

 

Neat how they color matched the blue in the seats to the shifter blue I thought about the wooden overlay in mine. Wonder why a specific region would put together a special package?

Mike

 

Lol, I've had the car for almost 3 weeks and just realized (with your observation of course) they matched with the shifter. I actually thought to myself a few times why they decided with blue. I even considered getting the stage 10 shifter to get rid of the knob.
Not sure on why they only have this in a specific region, maybe because they only made a given amount? Apparently mine and the other one at the dealer had been there for at least a couple weeks. I went back last week and the other was still there. So apparently not very many people are in the market (at least not around here) for the specialized Prius.

 

I don't think many Prius buyers are interested in the fancy stuff. Their after the car for it's mpg capabilities. Is that stage 10 shifter the one with buttons instead of the paddle? I come from manual tranny cars so the shifter suits my style although it isn't like you can go bang thru the gears in this car

Mike