My Bra Itched and Scratched my Prius

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.

 

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 - 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.

 

Love the title of this thread.

 

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.

 

Looks like your prius developed a rash

 

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.

 

OK, finally got around to getting mine off. After the Zaino treatment, I can see no evidence on the hood or on most of the bumper that the bra ever was there. No scratches anywhere. None at the edge of the headlight as Galaxee reported on hers. None like you have described.

On that subject, something really seems odd, given the nature of the damage and the fact it happened only on one side. Your picture shows what appears to be damage right at the lip of the wheel well, as though the bra was tightly wrapped around it and abraded it. But on mine, the bra doesn't wrap around it; the back edge of the bra comes only to the outer edge of the lip. The only thing that wraps around anywhere close to the damage location are two plastic clips, but they are above and below the main area of where your damage appears to be. And the clips themselves caused no apparent damage on mine. I wonder if somehow one of your clips was allowed to repeatedly slide up and down the lip. Or am I misinterpreting the damage location in your pics?

Anyway, I did encounter another issue, described in this new thread.