Some serious bra talk

I'd go with one of the 'clear bra' variations; a clear film which is applied to the front end, air dam, and the forward facing parts of the side view mirrors. No paint dings, no worries of paint fade on areas not covered by a fabric bra, or of paint damage on areas covered by the fabric bra.

And from a distance of 6+ feet, you can't even tell it's there.

 

Support for Bra Talk ® is provided by the Natural Endowment of the Eumenides, Victoria's Secret Foundation, and viewers like you.

 

They look good, I saw a white Prius with a black one (I guess they are all black) on it yesterday. I won't buy one though. I had one for my previous car ( Honda Accord) and it looked great and protected the front from rock damage. Or at least it would have if I had used it, but I never used it. It was a pain to put on and it came with a warning that if it got wet underneath it might cloud the paint. So the day the big rock fell off the truck and put a dent in my hood the size of a quarter the bra was at home in the garage.

 

To each his own, I like the look of the classic type of front end protector.

I purchased a Colgan bra for misti. It was easy to install and it wasn't a problem stretching it out to fit, it went right on though I did lay it out in the sun 'because the instructions said to. I don't feel it would have been necessary with this one.

My biggest problem was the instructions which are generic in nature, were a bit of a pain to follow. ie: "if your cover has these type of tabs to this else do that" kind of thing. As it turned out the prius is one of the easiest of the configurations mentioned in the instructions...I probably did not even need the instructions.

The part that fits the hood has elastic straps, the left one goes in a hole on the underside of the hood located by the left side near the rear of the hood. There is no hole on the right (drivers) side but it hooked on to the bracket which hinges the hood prop rod. the only issue is that you have to disconnect the s hook before swinging out the prop rod.

The other drawback I found is that this model does not cover as much of the fenders as the stock covers which go about 4 to 6 inches further (from pics I've seen).

this cover is about $40 less than a toyota branded cover.

its your move....hope this helps

 

Well the thread title sure got my attention!!!

We have a black one on our '05 - I like the way the black looks against the driftwood color and the black trim. My wife wanted to protect her baby from rock chips and the famous Florida blind mosquitoes.

Before we put it on, we applied a thorough coat of wax on the area to be covered (while the bra was relaxing in the sun). We take it off every 3rd car wash to rewax and clean the bra. Seems to look okay so far.

 

I 've in the Boulder, Colorado area, (home of gravel covered roads) so I've had one of the traditional black vinyl bras on all of my previous cars. They were always a pain to deal with. You have to take them off every time you wash your car. When you wash the car you should also wash the bra to get all the fine sand and grit off of the inside, then wait for it to dry before you put it back on.

This time, I had the 3M clear bra stuff put on by a local installer. He covered the front half of the hood, bumper, headlights! grill, and the back of the mirrors, and charged me $300. It's only visible if you look closely and it works. I'm sold on the stuff.

 

have the black toyota one on ours.

have taken it off maybe twice. the top half comes off once a month or so to wash underneath. no paint trouble at all. they say paint fogging can happen but i haven't seen any evidence of that at all. looks beautiful. once you put it on, leave it on. also great protection from stones and various other highway debris.

 

I have one of the Toyota Bras. The install was not bad at all but have 2 people to stretch it the first time. Hint for those in coder climates it helps to put it in the dryer on low for a bit to soften it up. Putting it out in the sun should work if you have sun and warm enough temperatures. I understand once it is on the first time it is easier to put back on. I think it looks good on my silver and it lets me identify my car in the parking lot. We are getting so many Prii that that is becoming a problem. For those in colder areas that are thinking about a radiator cover I am on version 0.3 of an add on radiator blocker that attaches to the Bra comes on and off with Velcro and has a zipper to open it up when you go on the freeway. I will have pictures as soon as the final 1.0 is done

 

I'd say it depends upon your location Given you're in So Cal. somewhere, it might not be a big deal.

My experience with bras have sucked. <_<

er, AUTO bras, that is.

Here in New England, they suck. Too much crap gets underneath too quickly, especially in the winter, and there's a serious risk of scratching if you don't pull it off ever soooo gently *bada-bing* ....

If I were to do it again, I'd go with the clear film stuff.

 

I'm probably the biggest supporter of vinyl bras at PriusChat. I currently have them on my '06 (put it on yesterday) and '04, my '97 Paseo, and previously had them on my '02 and '01 Priuses.

Yes, using one requires some maintenance, but not that big a deal to me (and I'm 64). And yes, the FIRST time you put the larger piece on, it'll take maybe half an hour.

To me, it's all a "bottom line" thing. Do you ordinarily trade/sell a car after 2-5 years? If so, what's the part of the car that usually looks the worst, no matter how well you clean it? I drive a lot (20-25K mi/yr), and for me a front end full of pock marks detracts from resale/trade-in value. What's it cost to have the front end re-painted (and probably not matched perfectly)? Several hundred dollars. If you carefully try to use touch-up paint on, say, 50-100 pock marks, it'll be noticeable no matter how well you do it.

So it's the $120 cost of the bra + some maintenance vs. a loss of several hundred later on (in either re-painting OR reduced resale value).

Do I think the bra makes my car look cooler? Not automatically. I didn't like the way it looked so much on my white '01. On my red '06 (and red Paseo convertible) I like it.

Believe me, these "official" Toyota bras are TOUGH. The vinyl is thick, and the flannel backing makes the whole thing almost a little cushion-y, even when it's snugly on the car. They're measured and cut almost perfectly, and the fasteners are great.

When on the car, the bra is easier to clean, no matter how thick the bug splatter, than the sheet metal on the car would be. I use the plastic scrubby back part of a dish sponge.

The scary stuff you hear about possible paint damage if dirt gets trapped under the flannel and there's any grinding action from the bra shifting slightly while in use is VERY remote, and avoidable. First, such damage is a much greater possibility on the much smaller, upper part that fits on the bottom few inches of the hood. Because of the slope of the hood, small dirt particles CAN wash down the hood and work their way under the edge of the bra when it rains. But that edge hugs the sheet metal tightly, so if any water/dirt does get under, it's only the top inch or so. And this can be checked easily by simply putting your finger under the edge and lifting up slightly to see if anything has gotten underneath.

The good news is that the small hood piece can be removed/put back on in about 30 seconds (only 4 fastening hooks), so there's no good reason NOT to take it off every 2-3 car washes, as 2hybrids and galaxee indicate. It's smart to re-apply a little polish/wax to that botton few inches of the hood as "insurance".

In my experience, there are two cases where you're more susceptible to paint damage, and it DID happen to me once. One is if you get an "off-market" bra that's not sold through dealerships. The biggest maker of these is LeBra. And they're not really bad, either; just not cut to fit as tightly as possible. The other problem is if the particular car you're putting a bra on has any styling "sculpted" indentations on the hood that easily allows water/dirt to run all the way down the hood under the bra. I bought a LeBra for a Honda Odyssey van with a slightly sculpted hood and had a few paint scratches. Even then, the scratches weren't as deep or as bad as pock marks would have been.

For all that, I'm open to a clear bra application on some future car, but I wouldn't pay over $200, which means I'd have to suck it up and do it myself. For now, I'm good with the vinyl bras. And I HAVE wondered why more---many more---owners (of ALL cars) don't use them. All I can figure is that people are AFRAID of putting them on, and ASSUME that they're "more trouble than they're worth". Too bad.

If galaxee or 2hybrids reads this and disagrees with anything, think I left anything out or overstated something, please note it. I haven't usually gone into this amount of detail. Just trying to help someone make a good decision.

 

:lol: w00t

 

I prefer my priuses (prii?) topless! w00t!!!

 

Jack -- didn't you mention the official Prius bra doesn't fit the '06?? How did you get yours on? And what about the wonderful California front license plate?

 

OHHH... NY has the mandatory front license plate also...

 

I am going with the 3M clear stuff and I got the dealer to pay for it. I'll post about my experiences later.

 

I do not believe in car bras at all. Topless Prii all the way

 

the toyota bra has a front license plate cutout for those of you unfortunate enough to haev a front plate. i don't know about aftermarket bras.

 

I had a bra on my Honda Civic for about eight years, until it started to disintegrate. It was a Honda bra.

Are they making them differently these days (I bought mine Honda one back in '94 when I got the car new)? I never had a problem putting mine on or taking it off and did so every time I washed the car (except the rare occasions I didn't wash it myself). It was a breeze to get on and off. Even if I was being excessively OCD about the side pieces matching up perfectly with the hood piece, it only took me about 5 minutes to put it back on.