Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

I did test the first one right away to make sure the end stop wouldn't hit the bottom of the car, which is how I discovered that it did hit, which is why I trimmed them. As for the jack, I'd be pretty surprised if it fit under the car with the 1-1/2" ramps I cobbled up for the transaxle oil change and didn't fit with these which double the clearance. LOL!

Yup! That's what I did, but I didn't have anything quite right so it took a lot of scrounging and finagling. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. But quite often, it's just laziness that gives birth to invention.

Yup. This way I'm actually looking forward to the job to see how much easier it will be. Delayed gratification.

 

I'm saying exactly the opposite. It can be rolled under with 1-1/2" ramps, so I'd be surprised if it could NOT be rolled under with 3" ramps. Actually "surprised" is too mild. LOL! Read it out loud without the extra description: "I'd be pretty surprised if it fit under the car with the 1-1/2" ramps ... and didn't fit with these which double the clearance."

 

Remember the encounter with the roadrunner in Texas back in May? I think Santa is going to bring me a new grill for a belated Christmas present. I'll know for sure after I talk some more to Todd at Tampa Hybrids later this afternoon. Looks like his price is within a couple dollars of the cheapest online price.

The crack I got in May from the bird isn't all that bad, but this will also remove the front license stuff and clean up the whole front end. I may also put the old grill up for sale if anyone has a really busted up grill and doesn't mind having a small crack and some screw holes to mount the front license plate. Or, I wouldn't mind just keeping it in case something worse happens to this grill. I'll have to think about that.

I found the link to a Japanese PDF that @Salamander_King posted that looks like it's sufficient for my needs. I used Google translate to convert the verbiage. (2019 Prius Prime Advanced - Front Grille Replacement | PriusChat) Thanks, SK!! If I do order the grill, I'll just wait and change the oil at the same time.

 

My plan at the moment is to remove the whole front as it says in the PDF you linked in the other thread. Then I can see if it can be removed from the rest of the bumper/grill assembly. I do know that the acrylic and the flat black below it come free from the painted part.

We'll know more once I have the part in hand.

 

Well, this order is taking me a while. Todd suggested I order online since his price to buy one was about the same as the online discount stores. Problem is, the online stores either have really bad customer reviews or they want $200-400 for shipping. The worst of the lot is just over in Hollywood, FL, about a 4-hour drive one way. It's an even $400 shipping. I guess they carry it by foot to the customer. Gonna talk to Todd again later. I like buying stuff from him. He treats people that well.

 

For some reason, PC didn't put these recent posts in my "New Posts" feed. I just came back to update and found all kinds of new stuff here. LOL! Thanks for all the great thoughts everyone. I appreciate your ideas.

I've been thinking about it quite a bit and decided that I'm just going with the plasitdip that @Salamander_King and @Mendel Leisk mentioned.

I do plan to remove the grill to make sure I get good edges. The crack by itself, isn't a big deal. But I'd also like to remove the front license plate bracket. Whoever installed it just ran the screws in w/o pre-drilling. This made huge crater walls. So while I'm at it, I plan to fix that before spraying the plastidip. Also, while the crack isn't open, it is offset a little. I'd like to get to the back side and put on a splint to line it back up before applying the plastidip. I'm hoping that when I get done it'll look like it was supposed to look that way.

Simply unplugging the sensor should not cause any need for recalibration any more than disconnecting the aux battery. I'll just need to make sure I don't bang it around. If it does need adjustment, I have Tecstream and will get to learn how to do that task. This will be much less expensive.

It's going to be a few weeks before I get to it, though due to some other more urgent responsibilities.

 

I've been fixing stuff all my life. I'm not too worried. But thanks for the kind thoughts.

 

LOL!

 

No. The car came from up north where they deface the front of the cars with plates. His cars that didn't have front plates don't have anything hiding the scars inflicted by previous dealers since there are no scars to hide. (Check the pictures on his website; you'll see cars with and without.) If he's going to cover the scars, he might as well do it with something useful. My wife put a John Deere plate over her scars. I kept the Tampa Hybrids on there because he's the best car dealer I've ever encountered. In my book, he's earned it. But it'll still look better with nothing there.