Protect against passenger door bottom scrapes on ground?

Make a shoe for the door edge. You can get a bit of weatherized steel trim with a low profile and secure it to bottom lip.

Repair any rash first, it’s going to rust if the paint isn’t good first.

Example trim:

 

Yeah, that has happened on my car several times. Sometimes, when the door is opened wide, the bottom of the door clears the sidewalk pavement OK. That is until someone sits in the seat. The weight of the passenger lowers the car, and now the bottom of the door scrapes the sidewalk as the door is closed. Major bummer!

My car came with the door edge guard, but it only protects the side of the door, not the bottom. I already have too many scrapes to worry about protecting it. I may have to do some touch-up jobs first then will try installing something similar to door edge guard but on the bottom side of the door.

 

Yes, this is a problem in many places in the city where there is a high curb. Mrs. Bear and I know this and whoever is driving will pull out slightly to allow the passenger to enter or exit before pulling in close to the curb.

It's more of a problem on one-way streets where it's the driver's side which is toward the curb and the only option is to park further away from the curb.

 

I think Toyota sells touch up paints that match the paint code for the car. There is some other aftermarket touch up paints such as Duplicolor sold in any Auto parts store or Auto section of a big box store like Walmart. The thing is those touch-up paints even when it is a perfect match tend to stand out when painted on a large background. The bottom of the door is probably not a huge problem, but try not to paint too big of an area. If it gets covered by an edge guard, then it doesn't have to be perfect.

I guess I have to do that on mine too before winter. Salt on the road is going to start the rust on the bottom of the door if I don't take care of it soon. That can be worse than the scrape.

 

Salt will make a mess out of an already scraped door. Seal the paint soon. There are acceptable generic white auto paints sold in almost every auto parts store.

Also keep in mind: a bit of trim like this will help prevent scrapes, but it can also gather and retain salty water. You need to manage that somehow- pop the shoe off twice a year for cleaning, cut a drain hole in it… something.

 

Agreed. The drain holes on the bottom of the door must not be blocked. I did most of the major damages this summer when I had to street park my car in a big city. I did not check on the door when I changed to winter tires a few days ago, but I will have to take care of any scrapes very soon. Snow in the forecast later this week and next week. Yikes!

 

Took a closer look at the bottom of the front passenger side door on my PRIME. It actually did not look that bad. I did not see obvious paint chips or bear metals. I think the rubber flaps (there are three along the bottom of the door) are the location of the drain holes (shown by the red circle).

What I may do is to just clean very well and spray the bottom edge of the door with clear coating to make sure any paint that may have been scratched are protected. If I do that from the inside face of the door, I may not need any kind of masking to accomplish the result I want. If I can find TOYOTA OEM edge guard of matching color (shown on the side of the door by a red arrow), I may install it on the bottom, but they are very expensive for what they are. I may try the cheap black generic one and see how it looks.

 

I put clear door edge guard tape on the side and part of the bottom of my doors. It won't protect against someone slamming the door into the sidewalk, but it helps for those times where it's unavoidable and you need to let the door slightly touch the sidewalk to get out. But I should probably add a small piece of more protective trim.

 

You can do Amazon search and get many, many different ones. Clear tape is something like this. I think.


They also have a clear or white edge guard like those. I just ordered and received a black edge guard for my car, but have not installed it yet.

 

They look like good ideas, but I suspect they'll catch sand/salt/water, especially through winter. That kind of of poultice we cause the slightest chip to rust badly. At least drill some weep holes in the underside. Holes might wick up moisture too, so I don't know...

 

Yeah, that's a valid point. I have never used door edge guard on my other cars, but I have seen plenty of cars including my own rusting at the bottom of the door and rocker panel when they get old. I do not know if that could be prevented. At the least, I am going to wash and clean the bottom of the door well and spray rustproof clearcoat to protect existing scratches.

 

Too, get the touch-up pin in your colour. Those edges are the easiest to repaint: clean first with isopropyl on a rag, dry, then apply paint. Being on a bottom edge the paint'll flow right where it's needed, look pretty seamless.

When waxing the car, run the applicator pad around those bottom edges, twice yearly.

The rocker panel edges might be good candidate for (wait for it...) boiled linseed oil.

 

When I checked the door, I did not see obvious paint chips at the bottom of my doors at least not from the outside or inside of the door. If I had the car raised, I might have better look at the bottom of the doors, but just feeling the bottom edge of the door with my finger, I did not feel any irregularity, so I think there are no gouges.

As for the rocker panel, what I have seen on my older cars is that it rust from inside out. The paint looks pristine until the rust perforates through from inside. This usually does not happen on cars less than 10 years old but after that, I've seen it happen on 100% of my cars. My feeling is that the only way to prevent this happening is to spray inside of the rocker panel with rustproof material like FluidFilm using a long tube. I haven't figured out where are the holes and plugs on my PRIME rocker panel. I did not look for them when I was swapping the winter tires. That would be my next project.

 

Here's a quick photo of the clear tape.

 

The clear door edge guards can be had at O'Reilly's for less than $4 for two 3 ft. strips.