I asked a professional body shop about price for installation of side molding to protect from dings. The guy said that he thought that side moldings would not offer much protection because the door at the top, by the door handle, juts out farther than the moldings. He felt they were not worth it. What is the experience of others with side door moldings? Do they offer protection? Are they worth it? Thanks for all the help.
The moldings detract from the lines. But the bottom line is put them on now or wait until your first ding then cry and put them on and wish you had earlier.
I guess since the auto body shop indicated that the higher projection of the door could be an issue, I am also looking at installing them, but am waiting to find something a little more "robust" that could help to avoid those dings. I agree they don't always look as nice with the lines of the car, but some protection is better than nothing. You can rest assured someone will slam a door into it at some time in a parking lot, someplace. You can only hope it will help. I also may think that a door edge guard would help you if you should tap something accidentally. I am waiting to see what my dealer can find for me, as well as searching the Internet.
I'm not sure that "ridge" thing at the top does jut out farther than the moldings would. I think it's sort of an optical illusion the the wide spot is still further down on the door. I read a thread on here somewhere about that, so you might do a search and see.
I bought mine from the shop here, $125 and a five min. install. Paint match is perfect. I like they way they look, but I did spend $125 too
Whenever I look at the surrounding cars in a parking lot I realize I'd need a cascade of about 4 bodyside moldings, all running across the doors at about 6 inch intervals to protect against everybody. It's easier to park in the boondocks and walk. To the OP--they are available from Prius Chat Shop now.
I think they're useless because you can get hit above and below the moldings due to varying heights of other vehicles. I once saw a car with side door moldings and numerous dents above them, which made me laugh.
Not worth it. Totally takes away from the fluidity of the design. Funny thing is, our dealer tried the old tested routine of "my manager is forcing me to put these on all cars on the lot, and it's $1200 (USD)". I just about had a fit. We threatened to not buy from them and whadayouknow, they granted us a "waiver" to not have them put on and not charge us. How magnanimous of them. Anyway, the likelihood that you'd ding your door because you brainlessly opened it too fast and smacked the car next to you is minimal in comparison to the likelihood that you'll have someone ding your car with their door. Not worth it.
No true. Check it with a plumb line. It is true that the door has less curve to it than any previous car I've owned. This is likely to reduce the amount of protection the molding can provide. Of course they will still get some dents. There is no protection from children in the back seat with that curve-edged rear door, especially in the modern narrow parking spaces. All three of my cars with moldings have acquired around dozen dents each over their 12-23 years of ownership. My one previous car without moldings acquired over a hundred dents in six years. And that was before the SUV era. I don't regard something that reduces the damage by 90% to be 'useless'.
Looks very nicely done! Is there any brand name for these? Are the GenIII door panels metal (most likely), or plastic?
I had the dealer put them on & I like them as well. Mine might be a little higher on the doors than yours. Mine are mounted on the door's greatest outward extent where they should provide a lot of protection.
The dealer also put mine on, part of deal on the car I probably could of got floor mats but I like the molding better
I had this concern awhile ago, and posted a similar thread. Someone did check with a level and a plumb line and the thickest-widest portion of the side IS farther out than the "crease". So it was concluded a side molding would help protect the side. I saw the pic's, the crease create's kind of an illusion, but with a level straight against the side you can see that the width of the side does exceed how far the crease comes out.
