Body Side Moldings

Three hundred bucks!
I am about to buy color coded side molding for 130 dollars.
Plan to "stick" on myself.

 

no pkg come with them. i bought them here at $110 and installed easily

 

ripoff.

buy them here:
www.metrotpn.com

and stick them on yourself. if you can put a stamp on an envelope straight, you can do this. My wife and I have done it on 3 Prii and on her HyCam.

Congrats on your new car...you'll love it.

rpm

 

Do it your self, just give yourself plenty of time. Do not rush it and it is quite easy. Make sure the surface is clean and grease free, don't wax the car before you install the molding.

 

You're glad to check out this board before handing out $300 to the dealer?

Like others said, the color-matched moldings can be just a DIY thing.
The hardest part is to level the thing right to match the body lines....so it won't look weird.

 

I purchased them here and installed myself. Very easy and well worth it! Go for it! :thumb:

 

Hi Mark,

Congratulations and welcome to PriusChat.

I too recommend that you buy the moldings from PriusChat Store PriusChat Shop : Toyota Prius Body Side Moldings - $122.00 for $122 and install them yourself.

The $122 price is low (includes shipping and everything), and if you buy them from the PriusChat Store, you'll be helping to support this great forum.

BTW, my dealer in New York City is asking $399 for the moldings installed!

You might want to check out the many threads here about installation of the moldings. Here's a good one: http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...ccessful-body-side-moldings-installation.html

Finally, when you get the moldings, the instructions will tell you to have the moldings 1/2 inch lower at the front point than the rear point. I strongly suggest that you increase that differential to 1 inch, i.e., make the front point 1 inch lower than the rear point. IMO, the moldings will look much better that way.

Good luck.

 

Love the moldings from www.metrotpn.com
Metrotpn- they are also sold here on Prius chat- that way you support PriusChat if you buy them here. . They have lasted 3 years so far. Great investment. We were lazy and had a body shop put them on....

 

i think they look ugly and just live without them. i like the cleaner look.
think about that please... but if you have decided they are right for you
i would also recommend the prius chat store.

 

I wonder how these effect gas mileage?

 

I have them and have seen no difference....heck they are mouldings, not wings...

 

don't worry.. some of us realize it's tongue in cheek!

+1 for metrotpn... bought several small things from them including the side moldings and installed myself.. no worries.. (just dont' forget to take ALL the tape off including the small pieces at the point of the spear!)

Take one edge off, align on car and slowly pull the rest off while pressing against the door... easy as pie. And I also think it does wonders to break up the big flat doors, not to mention help cut down on pesky dings!

one other thing.. the instructions tell you to do one way which will make the front look a bit higher than the back.. personally, I would make them parallel to the lines at the bottom of door if I were to do it again.

 

I spent $100 to have Danny's moldings installed by a high end body shop. Of the handfull of installations I've seen here around San Francisco, almost all of them look flawed because the instructions were not followed. They look bad unless raked 3/4" lower in front and applied razor-straight.

 

I'm just curious.
Why do you need to remove any wax before installing the moldings? Will wax eventually breakdown and your moldings will fall off?
So do you wash the side of the Prius with Dawn dish detergent to remove the wax?

 

I don't think you have to remove any wax. Just clean the car, use an alcohol wipe and the tube of surface prep stuff they give you.

 

Here is a thread from two years ago where a couple of us described how we installed them.

 

If you decide to install them, definitely buy them from the PriusChat shop. Danny does all of us a great service by providing this forum. When you compare the value this site provides, a possible savings of a couple dollars is nothing.