'08 silver bullet

CORRECTION: To be safe, for the front bumper strips, you should order two (2) 3.5' Strips (not 3' Strips) --- you might need a tad or some of the extra half foot in order locate the strip properly or where you want it.

 

I think if you're going to be spending a lot of time inside the car adjusting the electronics, then start the car (put the car in full "Ready" mode). That way you can keep the heat on and adjust the electronics, and the internal combustion engine will kick in when necessary.

The plug in portable battery chargers do not work on the Prius. The Prius doesn't have a cigar/cigarette lighter hole to plug a battery charger in. It does have two 12 volt outlets --- one in the lower dash and one in the center console --- but those are wired differently than cigar/cigarette lighters and you can't charge the car by putting a plug in battery charger in there. If you want to use a portable battery charger on your Prius, you will need to use the standard kind with jumper cables. The Prius' 12 volt battery is in the rear trunk, but you can and should use the terminals underneath the hood (see the Owner's Manual) to jumpstart the battery if necessary.

 

I don't know exactly why the Prius doesn't have a cigar/cigarette lighter. It seems to me that they could have made the dash's 12 volt outlet a cigar/cigarette lighter. But there probably was a good reason they didn't. I think there are some posts or threads here about this.

In any event, yes the standard portable battery charger -- the kind with jumper cables coming out of it -- will work. To make sure we're talking about the same thing, here's one example:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-..._9?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1197597097&sr=1-9
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-..._9?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1197597097&sr=1-9

 

I'm going to order the Bumper Bully too if no one gives it to me for Christmas. Thanks for the info about it (6 inches wider than Bumper Badger is a good thing). I wasn't even aware of Bumper Bully until you posted about it.

Hmmm ... maybe you can go to Westchester to pick up my daughter from college on Friday?

Sounds like you're having fun. Happy Holidays.

 

Just 3 things:

1. It's a little difficult to determine where the center is on the bumper. If my memory is correct I measured the center of the front edge of the bumper protector and marked it with a dot. Then I tried to line up the dot with I think the pull latch ring for the lid covering the storage space where the spare tire is.

2. Make sure the bumper is clean. Wipe the area of the bumper where the bumper protector is going to stick to with rubbing alcohol.

3. After a couple of weeks, the ends of my bumper protector bowed or popped up a little in the middle. If I could have a do-over, I would have put on extra adhesive of some sort (tape or glue) on the edge of the ends.

 

Nah, I failed to circulate a Christmas list this year so I got the usual sweaters, books, gift cards, etc.

Glad to hear that the Bumper Bully fits well/covers more than the Bumper Badger. Another good thing about it is that it's much better looking than the Bumper Badger ... it's Prius worthy lol.

I know what you mean about not getting to drive the Prius much, living and working in NYC. I'm going to end up with fewer than 3000 miles after the first year.

Why do we even own a car in the City? do not know. I just like cars. Always have.

 

Hi Kathy,

Sure, I can come to Brooklyn or you can come into Manhattan, whatever works best. Do you have a decent place in Brooklyn where we would have some room to work? Something more than a parallel parking spot so that one of us could stand back 10 feet or so to make sure the bumper strips are going on straight. If not, then I'd suggest we install them on the grounds of my apartment complex -- I have some interior roads we could use. That's where I installed my own and IndyTrailMike's (he lives in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, but came into my place for the install).

Sorry to hear about your corner bumper scratches/scrapes. I had many scratches on my bumpers before I put the bumper strips on. Lucky for me, the bumper strips covered all those scratches. Maybe that's the case with your scratches too, i.e., they would have to be located within the 2 inches above the center crease of the bumper.

I think I told you before that another PriusChatter, Christo, thought that "Brite Silver" was a good match to your Classic Silver Metallic. If the one color sample you ordered isn't satisfactory to you, you probably should order samples of the other 3 silver colors. At only $2 each, you probably should order them anyway to be safe. But it's up to you.

And remember, that if you order the strips themselves, you'll need 2" wide strips in the following lengths: Two (2) 3.5' strips for the Front; and one (1) 8' strip for the Rear.

BTW, Toyota of Manhattan wanted $220 to install those strips!! I'm considerably cheaper ($0), but you have to promise not to harm or yell at me if I don't install them perfectly.

Anyways, feel free to contact me at any time. But if you want to be sure to reach me, you should PM me (or email me at [email protected]) instead of posting to this thread.

 

Cool, Prospect Park and environs is convenient for me. I'll have no problem at all getting there.

BTW, those paint pens are good. But they can be a little runny, so be careful about wiping any excess paint off quickly and smoothing out the touch-up. When I use touch up pens or paint I like to clean up and smooth the job out with scratch remover (I use Meguire's Scratch-X).

BTW #2 (Sharpies Rule!!): For thin or small paint scratches and nicks, especially on the bumpers, I actually prefer using an ordinary, fine point Sharpie -- it's much less runny than touch up paint pens, and you can be much more precise with it. And it's cheap and effective too. I think for your Classic Silver, you might be able to get away with using the common Sharpie gray color or the common Sharpie silver metallic color that people usually use to write on dark surfaces. But if it turns out that you need or want a better or exact color match -- try the Sharpie's artist/art supplies store cousin, Prismacolor pens, which come in like a hundred or more colors and shades. In this regard, when you get your paint pen, you should find an extra piece of white plastic or heavy white paper somewhere in the house or thrash and mark it with your paint pen. Then, you could take that piece of paint-pen-marked white plastic or paper to the art supplies store and test and compare the different Prismacolor silver colors on it.

 

Have used Sharpies to touch up places where the "mariner blue" paint has simply flaked off the hard-top of my '90 Miata --- to no avail