DIY radar-compatible front emblem ?

Was it stolen? If so, file a claim with your insurance company.

 

3D printing?

 

Most emblems are made of ABS, which is short for acrylonitrilebutadienestyrene.

 

Your OP made it sound like you needed a replacement $900 radar compatible stock badge. As you know, it's totally flat so it's not like you can replace the inlay with something else. However, a fellow member successfully plastidipped his with no ill effect on radar operation.

 

Anything non-metallic, non-conductive should be fine. Commercial radomes for antennas are frequently made of ABS or polycarbonate, and polystyrene, PVC and Teflon are also very popular, but pretty much any plastic should be fine. There are many online references on the internet about picking radome materials, but this is a good primer that shows the basic equations if you want to geek out, and also a table if you just want to pick something: http://www.rfbeam.ch/fileadmin/downloads/appnotes/AN-03-Radome.pdf

 

OK.....gotta ask:
What is this "radar compatible" stuff ?
And why are you concerned about it ??

 

I'm not so sure about that as there must be a reason why Toyota isn't using the $35 raised plastic emblem on ATP-equipped Fives. However, nobody to date has done any mod to the front radar-compatible emblem (other than plastidipping) so we really don't know.

The Advanced Technology Package-equipped Five has a radar mounted inside the front emblem for DRCC (Dynamic Radar Cruise Control) and uses a special flat emblem that apparently costs $900 as opposed to the $35 raised plastic emblem.

 

I would think that the vacuum deposited chrome coating on the standard emblem would do havoc with the microwaves of the radar unit.

If you mechanically strip off the chrome and coat it with a black spray paint, you'd probably be OK.

 

Is the radar emitter stolen, too?

If not, it's as easy as cutting a hole in a standard to accommodate the emitter. A black polyethylene sheet or plug. will allow the 2.2Mhz microwaves to pass.

I know from my experience with satellite TV lnb's that polyethylene is transparent to microwaves. We used to cover them with garbage bags to keep stow off of them.

 

Did you mean 7 Ghz? A 7 Mhz antenna will be about 36 inches long.

At 7 Ghz, the wave length has to be less than 1 mm. Why is the emitter so big?

During WWII, it was a monumental task for the British to achieve radar with the cavity magnetron at 600Khz to make radar small enough to be place in a bomber.

Sorry, I confused my terms, I meant 2.2Ghz for satellite TV lnb's.

I have not explored it, but I don't know if the technology has been available to achieve a 7 Ghz signal.

As you can see, my electronics experience is rusty.

 

You need to be careful here.

At $900, there might actually be something special about that emblem.......like it might be specially designed to be a passive radiator/collector for the radar system.

Without it, the radar might not work right........and I suspect that it might be hard to test without getting yourself into a dangerous situation.

It never ceases to amaze me as to what lengths some people will go to get the "look" that they want.

 

If it truly is $900, it may actually be part of the antenna system like a resonator or passive element that helps shape the beam pattern vs. just a radome (fancy name for RF transparent cover), in which case you should still be able to carefully sand the logo off (stop IMMEDIATELY if you come across any metal in the plastic, as this will be one of the aforementioned antenna elements) then fill/level with plastic model filler and paint with non-metallic paint.

 

Sorry to bring this back from the dead... I just bought a 2010 Prius V with ATP(1st post). The radar cruise would not work until I took off the emblem. Bang, works like a charm! This car was in a minor front collision some time ago and they must have replaced the $$$ radar emblem with the normal one. I do not have the luxury of keeping the OG radar emblem and I am not about to fork over $300 for a used emblem... Has anyone else experimented with a DIY alternative? I was planning on fabing an emblem out of lexan/plexiglass. I could even heat and bend/bubble it to make it similar to the OG. Thought I would ask about any experience before getting started. All responses are appreciated.

 

Thanks for the info KENMCE.

I decided to go ahead and fab something up. Let me try to upload the photos and see how it goes...

 

Here is the plastic backing for the emblem. I used my dremel to "nicely" cut out the center section.