Upgrade to 17" wheels and tires

Congrats on the recent purchase.

I was in your shoes a few months ago myself. I ended up buying my 17's from TireRack, but I also looked at DiscountTire and any other online vendor I could find at the time.

Going with 17's did improve the handling of the car, expecially in taking on/off ramps, the car feels as if it's not running at the limit anylonger. Although body-roll is still present, it's manageable. To address that, we'll need larger anti-roll bars. But of course, because of the lower profiles of the 17" tires, the ride will be firmer, feeling more of the surface irregularities than you would with your 15's.

From what I understand, the suspensions between the IV and the V aren't different. The steering turning ratio and steering wheel speed is the only difference between the two as the motors used differ between models. Because I haven't driven a V, I can't make any comparisons for you.

You can take your TPMS wheel sensors off of the 15's and transfer them to your new 17's. That'll definitely save you a bundle.

Hope this helps answer your immediate concerns.

 

A few of us have the motegi sp10 which are light weight at a good price. I bought them from tire rack, then bought continental extremecontact dws 205/50R17 from discount tire that charged me $30 for rebuild kits to move my tpms sensors from my 15" wheels. The new tires are very close to the same size of the yokohamas. Most people upgrade to the same size as on the V 215/45R17 which are slightly smaller than the stock 15", but your speedometer should read at most 1mph fast. Tire rack has revolutions per mile on their site for comparisons.

 

Congrats on your Prius! I've had mine for about 5 weeks, had this idea myself when I first got mine, a IV. I don't know what you can get a set of wheels for from these "aftermarkets", but I found a set of original Toyota V, 17" wheels at auction on Ebay, (didn't buy them, maybe should have). I think they ended up selling for over $700, had no tpms valve stems on them. You might keep watching on Ebay, as there are people, dealerships as well, for customers, who buy the V's and then want aftermarkets on the car. I think I've decided to buy the center caps for the 15" wheels and go that route. I really want the "mud guards", but want some that can be painted in my Barcelona Red, to match the cars color.

 

I shopped around and ended up using Tire Rack The TPMS sensors from factory 15" wheels can be used on your new 17" wheels. I chose 215/45R-17 Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid XL tires (50,000 mile treadlife warranty) and 17X7.5 Elbrus I02 SDC Ice wheels. Great handling. So far, loss of only 1-2 mpg.

 

Nice rims, and the 1-2 mpg hit is about equivalent to the stock 17" on the V.

 

kurtvote, those came out great! I love the stock 17's, but I think those just might be even nicer-looking. Good job!

 

They really do look nice - not over the top. They look like they could have come that way. Did you notice any difference in ride or noise?

 

Maybe upgrade to 17" brake pads instead? just kidding.

 

Nice rims Kurtvote.