Report: Toyota Car Bra experience

[galaxee]

When we first put the car bra on our new Prius, everyone and their mother told us that unless we removed the thing when it rained or when we washed the car, we were going to have some nasty paint issues at hand. I kinda disregarded them and said screw it, and left the thing on for 3 months. I would have left it on longer, but we needed to re-wax the car (Turtle Wax looks great but wears off quickly...)

Here's what the car went through. 3 months of constantly having the bottom half of the bra on. Never removed. The top half was removed at one-month intervals, the hood was washed well and the bra was washed an dhung up to dry before re-installation.

Results: The bottom half was in MUCH better shape, because the bra fits very tightly. The only places where the felt was dirty were the wheel well areas, and that was expected. The paint looked great after one wash, the only problem was pollen dust from the spring pollen explosion. The top half (hood cover) suffered a little despite my monthly cleanings. Apparently some sap had made its way underneath one day and it won't quite come out. My husband is on the way right now to get some sap remover and we'll see what happens. [edit: all the sap came off. the finish looks almost perfect.]

Conclusion: The car bra can be left on for 3 months, probably longer. I would imagine removal once every 6 months for a fresh coat of wax would be fine, as long as the top part is removed and cleaned often enough. I'd say the benefit of protection against stone chips and bug hits is huge, and outweighs the risk of "paint trouble" since we had none of that.

[c4]

I've kept car bras on my last 2 cars 365 days a year with basically no problems, and I will continue to use bras on all my future cars..

My first car was the only one that had any kind of paint issue with the use of a bra, but I attribute it to the cheap paint (it was an white Tercel hatchback purchased for $500 at auction with a cheap Ziebart paint job). I got the bra because I picked up half a dozen paint chips on the front of the hood within a week.. After leaving the bra on pretty much permanently (I recall taking it off and washing it separately the first year I had it, but then I stopped and just left it on) for 5 years, the white under the bra had a noticable yellowish tint to it that the rest of the car did not have.. Again, I attribute this to the cheap paint, because my next car, a metallic blue Corolla showed no significant difference in paint color after *14 YEARS* of having a bra on without ever being removed (I may have removed it a handful of times for an infrequent hand waxing, but in general I left it on and either waxed around it or stuck the edge of the applicator under the bra as best I could and did the same when buffing; the usual case however was that I left the bra on and drove through automated car washes every couple of weeks.). The protected section still had its factory gloss vs. the exposed section which showed swirls and some haze, but the color was basically unchanged.

This year, I bought a Classic Prius second hand, and it was driven by its previous owner without a bra and its hood was a mass of stone chips. The degree of paint scarring was so bad that retouching was basically impossible- I was able to touch up a couple of the largest chips right at the front edge of the hood where the steel underneath showed some surface rust, but there were just way too many fine chips- it was almost as if the front of the car had been sandblasted.. I think the design of the Prius hood leaves it incredibly vulnerable to strikes from stones, sand and various road debris as I've never seen so much fine chipping on any other car- even after using heavy-duty rubbing compound on the hood, a great deal of hazing was still evident.. The bra covered up this damage and prevents further paint damage- my feeling is that if paint deterioration occurs with the bra (and from my past experiences with car bras, I'm not convinced that it's a serious risk), I'd rather have faded paint than no paint at all on the hood..

[sbradley1]

Where does one buy a Toyota car bra? What is the brand? I have searched on-line and at auto parts stores.

Much thanks if anyone can help.
Sandy

[c4]

I went into the dealership, to the parts counter and asked them for a bra for a Prius.. The guy looked it up on the computer, went into the back and brought out a box..

I should perhaps follow up to my post above that I have only ever used the top-half of the bra (ie, the hood protector portion).. I tried the bumper protector portion and didn't like the looks, and on my previous cars (Tercel and Corolla), they both had black plastic bumpers that really didn't need the bra.. On my Prius, the hood was severely chipped, but the bumper, besides having a duller finish, is actually fine in terms of chips, so again, I only installed the hood protector portion..

Anyone want to buy a bumper protector portion for a Classic Prius? New and unused..

[galaxee]

Sandy:

It's a Toyota accessory. You get it from the dealership.

[Gen2]

Some people get lucky, but most of the cars I worked on (a lot of cars over many years) when I was in the automotive industry showed at significant paint scouring if not other issues. I have seen so many problems that when I purchased my new Prius, I has the clear film installed on it before it completed its 1 day anniversary. That was over a year ago and I still do not regret it at all. The paint looks great and the rock strikes that I can see have not left any permanent marks or paint damage.

Maybe these newer bras fit a bit tighter so the bad stuff takes longer to creep into there?

[ski.dive]

My PRIUS wears a bra 'NO STONE CHIPS AT ALL"

Every other PRIUS I see without a BRA, the front bumper looks terrible with bugs and stone chips on them!!!

[ashe]

i went w/ the ventureshield clear bra & absolutely love it. people can't tell that it's there until i point it out. i got sandblasted couple of weeks ago by a truck carrying full load of dirt. the driver had cut in front of me in an effort to make the freeway exit ramp. if not for the ventureshield my front bumper & hood area would have certainly taken a few chips or scratches.

my headlights & fogs are also protected w/ ventureshield.