Protective Front/rear Bumper Protectors

[dojoandme]

My Wife And I Both Have 2008 Prius'. And We Live In Los Angeles. Anyone Living In Los Angeles/west Hollywood Area Know That Parking Can Be Rather Tight. Yes, It Is Understood That Bumpers Are There To Be Bumped. However, Does Anyone Know If There Is A Product Out There Which Can Protect Prius' Front And Rear?

Any Comments Or Suggestions Would Be Greatly Appreciated!!!

Thanks
Dojoandme

[JimN]

Originally Posted by dojoandme

My Wife And I Both Have 2008 Prius'. And We Live In Los Angeles. Anyone Living In Los Angeles/west Hollywood Area Know That Parking Can Be Rather Tight. Yes, It Is Understood That Bumpers Are There To Be Bumped. However, Does Anyone Know If There Is A Product Out There Which Can Protect Prius' Front And Rear?

Any Comments Or Suggestions Would Be Greatly Appreciated!!!

Thanks
Dojoandme

I've seen "city" cars with black rubber strips affixed around the car. I don't know if it is precut or if you buy it by the foot.

[Boo]

Hi dojoandme,

Welcome to PriusChat.

I have three suggestions:

1. BumperDefender.com Color Matched Bumper Guard Strips. For the front and rear bumpers, I use color-matched, 2" wide, full-length bumper guard strips from BumperDefender.com. I installed mine right above/on the center crease of each bumper.

These bumper guard strips come in over 25 colors so you should be able to get a close color match to your car paint. You can send away for color samples at $2 per sample. I also have some knowledge of the available colors that best match some Prius colors; so if you're interested, tell me the colors of your two Prius and I might be able to help.

If you order these strips from BumperDefender.com, you will need an 8' long strip for the rear ($36), and two 3.5' long strips for the front ($31.50) -- 1 on each side of the front license plate, for a total price of only $67.50 + shipping. In this regard, note that my Toyota dealer (and I understand other Toyota dealers as well) is charging $299 for these same bumper strips installed, i.e., it's charging about $230 labor to install peel and stick strips!

Note, that if you install these strips yourself, you will need "anvil" type shears to cut the strips. BumperDefender.com also sells these anvil type shears for $12, but you may already have a pair in your gardening shed --- they're common anvil type pruning shears, i.e., with one straight cutting blade on top which closes down on a flat "anvil" bottom (as opposed to "bypass" type pruning shears which, like scissors, have two blades which bypass each other).

If you want to see photos of these strips on my car, go to this thread and scroll down to my post with three photos:

New To Sfbay Group? Say Hello Here!

Also, here's a link to the BumperDefender.com website page for the bumper strips:

Select Your Bumper Guard Style - 1" or 2" Width

Note that if you do not want color matched strips, body shops (in addition to BumperDefender.com) sell similar type strips in generic black.

2. NoBump.com Front License Plate Screw Bumpers. I also have little front bumpers from NoBump.com. They are like rubber spools that screw onto the top two front license plate screws. The lowest delivered price for these are from GirlsLoveWheels.com. You can see them on my car in the photos I've linked for you above.

3. Bumper Bully Rear Bumper Guard. This is like a rubber blanket or mat that you hang over your rear bumper. The more common one that you see in stores is called Bumper Badger. But I like Bumper Bully more because it looks better, hangs better, and has red reflectors built into it. Here's a link:

Amazon.com: Bumper Bully - The Ultimate Outdoor...

Good luck.