Lowering springs and 17 inch wheels

[george1332]

Anyone know about Prius lowering springs other than TRD Sportiva? Can't seem to locate any myself. Also do 17 in wheels drastically reduce mileage? Are there any other Prius specific problems with changing wheels and lowering slightly. I haven't seen any modified Priuses around , I can't believe I'm the only one that wants to changed the stock look.
Thanks for any input

[DocVijay]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(roadbkr @ May 26 2006, 01:36 AM) [snapback]261205[/snapback]</div>

Anyone know about Prius lowering springs other than TRD Sportiva? Can't seem to locate any myself. Also do 17 in wheels drastically reduce mileage? Are there any other Prius specific problems with changing wheels and lowering slightly. I haven't seen any modified Priuses around , I can't believe I'm the only one that wants to changed the stock look.
Thanks for any input
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You can rest easy knowing that you are NOT the only one who wants to chage the stock look. If you search on this site, you'll find TONS of threads on the topics you've asked about. I'll answer them briefly anyway.

Lowering springs: The TRD kit is not lowering springs. It's a set of matched shocks and springs. SImply adding lowering springs is not hte ideal setup, as the stock shocks are going to give substandard performance. THe TDR kit adresses this by providing specially tuned shocks for hte lowered height. There are springs available. Check http://www.sigmaauto.com/jdm/prius/prius0405.php and go to the bottom of the page. THere are springs available from Modellista and Blitz.

17 inch wheels: Will they lower your mileage? Yes. Will it be drastic? Depends. It all relies on what your drivign style is. If you check my thread http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=17149&hl= and you will see that after instlling my 17" wheels, I dropped from an average of 52 mpg to 42 mpg. But wait! It's not that simple. Becasue of the handling gains fromt he swap, I drove the car much harder. When I went backt o driving like an 80 year old grandmother, I went back up to 51.3 mpg. So the 17" wheels only accounted for a 0.7 mpg drop.

Problems Any problems with lowering and wheels. Simple answer, no. As long as you get a wheel/tire combo that is close in size. A 215/45 17" tire is within 1% of the original size, and will be just fine with no negative effects on the car. Springs? Well, the Prius is already low and prone to scraping the front bumper. Just keep that in mind so when the car is even lower you will be even more prone to do so. Other than that, significantly improved handling is not a problem to me.


One reason you haven't seen many modified Priuses around id beucase the people who buy them are usually not hte type who cares about that stuff. Around here, the average age of Prius drivers is around 65...

[george1332]

Thanks Bjorn,
I appreciate the great info.





<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ May 26 2006, 06:11 AM) [snapback]261286[/snapback]</div>

You can rest easy knowing that you are NOT the only one who wants to chage the stock look. If you search on this site, you'll find TONS of threads on the topics you've asked about. I'll answer them briefly anyway.

Lowering springs: The TRD kit is not lowering springs. It's a set of matched shocks and springs. SImply adding lowering springs is not hte ideal setup, as the stock shocks are going to give substandard performance. THe TDR kit adresses this by providing specially tuned shocks for hte lowered height. There are springs available. Check http://www.sigmaauto.com/jdm/prius/prius0405.php and go to the bottom of the page. THere are springs available from Modellista and Blitz.

17 inch wheels: Will they lower your mileage? Yes. Will it be drastic? Depends. It all relies on what your drivign style is. If you check my thread http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=17149&hl= and you will see that after instlling my 17" wheels, I dropped from an average of 52 mpg to 42 mpg. But wait! It's not that simple. Becasue of the handling gains fromt he swap, I drove the car much harder. When I went backt o driving like an 80 year old grandmother, I went back up to 51.3 mpg. So the 17" wheels only accounted for a 0.7 mpg drop.

Problems Any problems with lowering and wheels. Simple answer, no. As long as you get a wheel/tire combo that is close in size. A 215/45 17" tire is within 1% of the original size, and will be just fine with no negative effects on the car. Springs? Well, the Prius is already low and prone to scraping the front bumper. Just keep that in mind so when the car is even lower you will be even more prone to do so. Other than that, significantly improved handling is not a problem to me.
One reason you haven't seen many modified Priuses around id beucase the people who buy them are usually not hte type who cares about that stuff. Around here, the average age of Prius drivers is around 65...
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