My Bra Itched and Scratched my Prius

[ravenmaniac]

Okay guys and gals, I just took off the Toyota brand black hood bra for spring cleaning and noticed that the painted area in front of the passenger side tire (edge of wheelwell and fender) has been scratched up pretty significantly by the hood bra. It's not just a minor scratch. We are talking almost the length of that area about 12 inches or so.

To add fuel to my fire, the paint on bumper is clouded pretty good on both sides of the front license plate. Now, I am faced with a dilemma. Either, fix the scratches and try to get the cloudiness gone with some product OR hide all of it by putting the bra back on and get the entire front clip repainted later down the road.

Has anyone else experienced this same issue? I don't think the benefits of the bra are there for me now. If I get it repainted, I'm going to have the clear 3M bra applied and forget about it. What a shame for this product to have done this to my baby? I know what I'll be doing this weekend (glad I already have a bottle of touch-up paint!).

[JimboK]

Yours is the first report I've seen of the vinyl bra scratching the Prius paint. Thanks for the info.

The prominent scratch in only one place makes me think of a localized cause rather than the bra itself, like a stick or other piece of large debris that might have gotten caught behind it.

Galaxee started a thread awhile back with pics showing how well her black paint had done beneath the bra. I've had mine for two years, and last time I had it off (several months ago) the paint beneath the bra looked better than what was exposed. I'll be taking it off again in the next couple of weeks or so for the car's semi-annual Zaino treatment, so I'm anxious to see how the finish is holding up.

[theoriginalwheelstv]

I've never heard of a car bra on any car that didn't harm the paint in some way. Trapping dirt and dust between the bra and the paint is a bad thing. I believe their job is to protect the car from stones chipping the paint. How is your stone chip situation?

[ravenmaniac]

Jimbo:

The seam is what caused the scratch by rubbing against that part of the car. I am a Zaino nut and I try to keep the finish better than showroom. I am really not impressed with the bra so I think I might leave it off for now.

I will try to load pics on Monday when I get a chance.

theoriginalwheelstv: The paint chip situation isn't bad at all, however I didn't put the bra on until about 50k miles. Before I put the bra on, I clay barred the car, waxed and polished it with a couple coats of Zaino, and then put the bra on.

Thanks for your replies! Anyone else may add if they have similar experiences as well.

[Tbirdtony]

ravenmaniac - I purchased a very nice (expensive) bra for my 2005 PT Cruiser when the PT was new. We drove from Oklahoma to Florida and back. I thought that the bra would protect the front of the vehicle from stone chips on the Interstate. When we returned I removed the bra to wash & wax the PT and found that the bra marked up the paint next to both headlamps and in a few other places. It appears that the bra (even though it was installed properly & tight) flapped against the vehicle. The flapping was very slight and could not be heard inside the car but it was enough to mar the paint. After that experience I threw the bra away and would never use one again. As for the clouding you experienced, the bra manufacturer stated in their instructions that clouding of the paint may occur if the bra is left on the vehicle and water (rain or washing) gets between the bra and the paint. For me that is another reason to never use a bra.

I just ordered a 2008 Prius (traded in the PT) and I do not plan to ever use a bra on it.

[Boo]

Love the title of this thread.

[rkskeet]

Did the bra have a protective inner lining? Usually like a fleece lining. If it was a LeBra type bra (no inner lining) you would run into the problems you described in your post. I have used a Colgan bra on a 2005 Jetta that I own along with my Prius.
The bra for the Jetta has a soft inner lining as I described herein. It has never scatched the paint while on the car. In fact it has offered good protection. Point being I only use it while the weather is dry, no rain. Don't use it in the winter. Mainly have it on for long trips, highway driving.. Will be getting a 3M clear paint protection film bra installed this Monday on a new 2008 Prius. Hope this offers you some additional insight.

[Bob64]

Looks like your prius developed a rash

[ravenmaniac]

Here is a pic of the damage:

BTW, this bra does have the fleece liner inside. The last image of the bumper was too hard to see the clouding, but it's about 3 inches wide. Thanks for all your opinions and suggestions over the weekend.

[Optimus]

Fleece is nice and soft--until it starts trapping dirt/gravel/etc... then it's a haven for scratches. Car bras causing scratches is nothing new, and certainly not unique to the Prius. It's common on any car. About all a bra does is protect against rock chips, but in doing so, it causes rub marks and abrassions from constant rubbing from flapping around (no matter how tight it is, it will still vibrate/flap a small amount). In addition, a bra will cause the paint underneath to NOT fade over the years, while the rest of the car does. So, when you take the bra off in 5-10 years, even if there were no rub marks, the paint under it no longer matches. Again, typical problems with car bras which is why I will never put one on any of my vehicles (unless I wanted to cover up something that was already there). A loose cover (no matter what it is made of) over metal is also a great moisture trap, so if someone puts a bra on a car that already has rock chips or other damage down to the metal, it can accellerate rust problems because moisture and salt hang around even longer and never get cleaned off unless the bra is removed, the car body is cleaned, and the bra underside is scrubbed and cleaned to the point that every last little bit of grit is picked off.

Car bras are a great marketing scam to "protect" your car and ends up doing as much harm, if not more, anyway....

Just my .02 cents.