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Protecting car door from dings

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Punkinann, May 28, 2006.

  1. Punkinann

    Punkinann Junior Member

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    The person who has the parking space next to mine in our apartment building has an unhappy habit of dinging my car when she opens my door. It's a tight space, and she is not thin.

    Over the years, my old car has acquired a row of scrapes and scratches along the front passenger door. As have my roommate's cars when they parked there! The dings and scrapes are quite visible in daylight.

    I resigned myself to it with my old car, but I'm will be very unhappy if it happens to a brand new Prius.

    Any suggestions? Would the 3M clearbra material, strategically placed as a horizontal strip along the passenger door, work?
     
  2. Ed Vatza

    Ed Vatza New Member

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    Well there are things you can do to prolong the inevitable but unless you wrap that Prius in bubble wrap, sooner or later, it's going to happen. I've had my Prius for going on 6 weeks now. I've done what I could to avoid incidental damage. But I just got done washing the car about 5 minutes ago and there are two pinhead-sized chips in the paint already - I guess from small sharp stones thrown up from the road. One is on the front of the hood. You would have to look real hard to seeit but now I know its there. And there is another on the corner of the front bumper. Again both pinhead-sized but annoying nonetheless.

    One thing I will say. Those little pinhead chips are visible on my Silver Pine Mica because of the light color and the dark primer underneath. They would never be noticed on a darker car.

    Good luck and enjoy your Prius.
     
  3. KD6HDX

    KD6HDX New Member

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    I would set up a camera. Present her with the evidence of the door dings. Demand to be paid for all of the body work, and then insist that she begin her own BODY work to reduce the chance that the DING-BAT keeps dinging your doors.

    Or how about this? Hide a small FRS radio in your wheel well or under the car somewhere. Wait for her to get home. When she starts getting out of the car, take the other walkie talkie (FRS radio) and start making cow noises and fart sounds as she struggles to get out of the car. Videotape this and threaten to run it on cable access. Send a copy of the tape with a sad letter to Richard Simmons the fitness pixie. Use her return address.

    Or how about this? Bribe one of your fat friends to come over and drink beer and watch football. Pick him up and drive him to your place. Park real close to the fat broads car. Tell your fat friend that the car parked next to you belongs to an anorexic vegetarian that hates meat eating football watching beer guzzling gas brewing frat boys. Tell him that SHE especially hates metabolically challenged mouthbreathers.

    Maybe you could hang some bird feeders over her parking stall. Mix in little pieces of ex-lax with bird seed and watch the liquid squat-bombs start to fly. When the queen of all cows starts asking you about the bird feeders, tell her that it is a county animal care project and that there are vitamins in the seed. The project is designed to prevent birds from getting bird flu and other sexually transmittable diseases such as chirp-eez.

    I could go on, but you get the point.

    05 PRIUS
    GO BIG ED ON AIR AMERICA
     
  4. hilore

    hilore New Member

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    Have a nice talk with your neighbor first.
    Talk is cheap.

    If that doesn't work, secretly tape the neighbor activity
    leaving or enter the vehicle.

    Go get a quote on how much it'll cost to repair
    the damage and then go to a small claim court.

    Or go hide your car at your friend house and
    go rent a big ugly SUV and pactice with the SUV door
    on your neighbor car.

    --Hilore
     
  5. rudiger

    rudiger Active Member

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    I'm afraid I must agree with KD6HDX. Being a fat, overweight cow is one thing. Being a fat, overweight cow with no regard for others' personal property is quite another. Flinging her car door open into the vehicle she's parked next to so she can pry her morbidly obese, fat nice person out of her vehicle isn't exactly an enduring trait. Does she have a disabled sticker/license plate, too?

    If it were me, rather than utilize any of the clever suggestions, I'd be very tempted to simply retaliate by putting a few dings in her lard nice person transport, but I'd use a baseball bat instead of a car door.
     
  6. ghostofjk

    ghostofjk New Member

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    Go to Pep Boys or other cheap-o car parts chain and buy a rolled-up length of 1" wide black body molding such as I have on my silver Prius (see avatar). A 16-ft. roll costs $15. The brand I used is called Style Guard and is made by Cowles Products Co. in New Haven, CT. It has stayed adhered to my '04 for 2-1/2 years. It's wide enough that chances are it'll cover a lot of the dings you already have. You can put it on front-to-back as I have, or only on the doors. A very inexpensive solution.
     
  7. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    Your best solution? Add door-edge guards to HER car. In fact, the best solution for ALL door dings is to cushion the edge of everybody's door. You have no idea where anybody else's door will strike your car, so if all edges were protected, it would be best for everybody. No, not the most practical advice - but I still think it is what would work best if it could ever be implemented.

    Our two cars are parked tightly in our garage. We have edge guards on all doors of both cars, and we often rest the door of one car on the other. Doing this for many years shows NO ill effects on the other car. If we had "bumper guards" on the cars instead, at a minimum, those "guard" would be all dinged up by now. Bumper guards only work if the other car's door hits your car in the exact 1" spot where you have the guard attached.
     
  8. Jeannie

    Jeannie Proud Prius Granny

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mike_m @ May 28 2006, 01:22 PM) [snapback]262056[/snapback]</div>
    I got the moldings from Metrotpn and also got a rear bumper protector so I'm less likely to scratch the bumper when I'm loading things into and out of the hatchback. A local autobody shop charged me $60 to install them. Metrotpn paints the moldings with the exact Toyota paint to match your model.
     
  9. Punkinann

    Punkinann Junior Member

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    Thanks for the advice, everyone!

    To clarify--she's not morbidly obese, but it's a tight space. I will leave a note on her car explaining the situation and asking her if I can buy her some door guards.
     
  10. Punkinann

    Punkinann Junior Member

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    An update: I left a note on my neighbor's car, asking if I could purchase a door guard for her driver's side door, and left my apartment number and phone number. No response.

    The very day I got my new Prius, I ran into her outside our building. She didn't acknowledge me.
    When I said and asked her if she'd gotten my note, she:

    a) denied that she could have cause all the dings and scrapes (in a horizontal row along my door and my roommate's car door, in the same paint color as her car)

    B) then said that when I don't park my car just right, she can't get out of her car without dinging my car

    c) refused the door guard. She said she already has one--this is a thin, transparent 3M clearbra-like patch over the edge of the door near the handle.

    What now? I could get mouldings, but I'll have to wait for a couple of dings to figure out where to put them.


    "A ding for a ding leaves the whole world dinged."
     
  11. mmmdowning

    mmmdowning Junior Member

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    You did the nice thing and tryed to talk to her. Know use a camera and take her to court. Once you hit her pocket (money) she will change. Some people are just clueless. Sorry your going thru this.
     
  12. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

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    I'd spend $300 on a trashed-out pickup truck and park it really close to her car so she'd have a hard time squeezing her fat nice person between your car and hers. Either that, or kick in her driver's-side door and put a choke hold on her next time you see her and tell her you're going to kick her fat nice person if you see another ding in your car from hers.

    Sorry, people like her really rub me the wrong way.

    On a more practical note, Google for something called a "Park Smart Hanging Door Edge Guard".

    [​IMG]

    It also comes in a suction-cup version to stick on your car.
     
  13. berkley

    berkley Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Punkinann @ May 28 2006, 12:09 PM) [snapback]262054[/snapback]</div>
    talk to this person........ask 'em to watch it.........threated them.......trash their car and find another space to park in.....
     
  14. SoCal Prius

    SoCal Prius New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Punkinann @ May 28 2006, 09:09 AM) [snapback]262054[/snapback]</div>
    How about asking the apartment manager if you could change parking spaces? Maybe he or she has an end spot free so you could park way over to the side of the space?
     
  15. mssmith95

    mssmith95 Michael

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    Super glue in the keyhole is always a fun trick...can't ding you if she can't open the door! :eek:

    On a more serious note, can you ask the building manager to move your space...better to avoid conflict as those things always seem to escalate!
     
  16. tanteb & rgrpick

    tanteb & rgrpick New Member

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    "Park Smart Hanging Door Edge Guard".

    I checked this out and it looks great if you have a covered parking spot, and the landlord okays your hanging it. Once in place no hassle and it shouldn't matter what type of door bumps you.
    Think I'll save this for future reference.
    Thanks.
     
  17. phumpher

    phumpher um...oh...uh...wa...er

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  18. Punkinann

    Punkinann Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mssmith95 @ Jun 13 2006, 08:05 AM) [snapback]270490[/snapback]</div>
    Already asked--no other parking spaces available. :/

    Well, it may have to be the parksmart door guard. I'm not sure how mountable it is on our concrete beams. But for only $17, can't hurt to try.
     
  19. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Punkinann @ Jun 15 2006, 11:47 PM) [snapback]272084[/snapback]</div>
    Get creative. You could hang it from your own car's windows with suction cups. I wouldn't get the version that attaches with suction cups to the side of the car. Too much chance of scratching your paint.

    To attach to concrete, you could try epoxy glue to attach a metal plate to the beam. Then use a magnetic hook to hang the bumper. That way when the hook was removed, you would barely be able to tell that you attached anything to the concrete.