Damn air dam

You can answer your own damn dam question.

I suppose. But I wanted to know if anything really bad might happen, and if %65 every couple of months would avoid it, was it worth it?

I really hate having to drive up to the dealer, dam dragging on the ground, everyone staring at me.

So leave it off. They make very poor battering rams.

Without knowing much about the Prius implementation and how integrated it is with other functions, most chin/deck spoilers, wings and aero packages generally are mostly cosmetic, ineffective below highway speeds from an aero perspective.

The value of the front air dam under a car bumper is that it lower wind resistance at high speed ( >40 mph) [and they look super cool ]

The limitation of a front air dam under a car bumper is that it reduces the road clearance and is suspectible to damage on irregular road surfaces ( e.g. pot holes). If you are driving at metro speeds (10mph to 30 mph) - loss of an air dam probably will not affect the fuel efficency - BUT your car will look kinda-of-funky in a Mad Maxx kinda-of-way. ;-)

Neo:

If you think that air dams look "super cool," you can't possibly be old enough to drive a car. Cool is here, and it ain't got no stinkin' air dam .

Bzzzzzzt! It's high curbs. Most of us don't drive all that much in Pennsylvania for potholes to be a factor.

Davoud

From my experience, they mostly strike high parking space curbs. Regardless, I have never had to replace one. What is the OP doing to completely destroy it so often?

Davoud:

greenpjs:

Ditto.

One could only speculate. Being a careless parker would be my first stab at it.

Davoud

The OP (that's me) parks in designated "Handicapped" spaces, which usually have one of those small(ish) curbs to keep one from knocking down the "Handicapped" sign. he one that got me this time had a bolt sticking about 2" higher than the curb itself, intended to keep the curb in place, but it got me in the air dam and tore it off.

With respect, have you had your eyesight checked lately?

Peter Granzeau:

Bad luck. The only solution I know is to remember that your car is shorter than the average car and does not need to be as deep in the parking slot as larger cars. Stay a foot back from curbs and you'll do fine. I scraped my Prius air dam once (no visible damage) before having that little epiphany.

Davoud

I sometimes forget and pull over a curb that touches too, but have been lucky enough to avoid one with a locating stake poking out the top. My Prius is lower than the Honda van and Nissan pickup I drove before the Prius and it has been a learning experience for me too.

Sorry you lost your air dam. I didn't know what you were talking about the first couple days. Still don't understand the purpose of such a thing. I suppose it looks better with one on, rather than off.

The curb piece is invisible (below line of sight) when pulling in to the parking place.

With respect, if you missed seeing "a bolt sticking about 2" higher than the curb itself, intended to keep the curbin place, but it got me in the air dam and tore it off", then you need to either be more aware or have your eyes checked.

I can see the bolt when I start to park. I can not tell when the bumper gets near it because it is by then below my line of sight. There are no index markings on the pavement to either side showing me where the curb is. If it were a real curb/gutter, I would have no problems at all. The entire piece of concrete is hidden be the front of my Prius when I pull into the parking place.

My eyesight is 20/20. The air dam on the Prius is about an inch too low.

Oh heavens no! that would be like Roseann O'Donnell in a bikini...

It seems to me the Prius designers were more influence by the Import Tuner crowd in Japan.

Yes. Curbs are more of a problem than potholes.

So according to that logic you inch ahead just far enough to catch the dam then back off to remove it.

Brilliant.

At which point, the dam tears off.

Indeed.

And you've done this how many times?

This is a test. Are you constitutionally incapable of leaving a post unanswered?