To Wheel Cover, or Not to Wheel Cover...

Gen II - take them off off because they reveal the lip of the rim. Nice touch.

Gen III - keep them on because they look like a fat kid's fingers.

 

Lol

 

You should take them OFF, only because I'd like to buy one for my sister's 2009 Gen II.

 

I assume there must be a reason they are on, and it seems like it must be for aerodynamic reasons. Right? I mean the wheels look pretty cool, and even tho the covers are plastic, it cost money, and money to put them on, why else?
I know with Bicycle wheels, covers help with aerodynamics, so.....?

 

^There's a theory that the wheel covers exist because Toyota wanted to design a lightweight wheel in the design of the wheel covers, but couldn't because it'd be too heavy. So they designed a lightweight alloy that happens to be the uncovered look, with a cover that gave them the look they wanted.

 

We had our Gen III for a few months before I found threads on this forum talking about the wheel covers. I removed them, scrubbed off the mud that had accumulated (used an old toothbrush to get behind the spokes), bought 1 1/2" knockoff covers and painted them.

I don't feel like such a dork now at the stoplights. If there's a difference in gas mileage it's miniscule.

 

My wife keeps them on her Prius. I took them off mine. Its a matter of personal taste.

 

Toyota didn't want the II, III and IV wheels to look better than the V wheels, so they put ugly wheel covers on the II, III and IV wheels

 

Some members who do a lot of highways have noticed a mpg hit with the covers off, so side aero drag is likely a factor.

Plus, they probably wanted to make the wheel design consistent across the board. The covers share the same design as the 17" factory rims, only that they look dorky due to their small size (especially relative to the Prius body).

 

On the Gen 2 the lower priced wheels didn't look better than the higher priced wheels, so they didn't feel the need to artificially make the higher priced wheels look better by only hiding the lower priced wheels.

 

Don't fool yourself. The wheel covers are exactly the same design as the V wheels, just smaller so they look dorky relative to the Prius body. Even the 15" alloys look dorky to me so I don't really understand people who think there are "really nice alloys" under those covers.

 

That was my point, they put the plastic covers on the low end wheels to make them look like a cheap version of the V wheels.

 

If you look in the parts catalog, they're actually listed as wheel uglifiers.

 

I took mine off ages ago and haven't noticed any highway mpg "hit". And my numbers are high enough that I would expect to see an effect if there were one. Trip down from Boston to CT on Friday was 73mpg on the HSI, so probably 69mpg actual. That's about as good as I've done with the covers on. This is certainly not scientific, but it's enough to convince me not to bother with a controlled test.

P.S. I don't think the wheels without covers are beautiful, but they look a tad better than the covers, which to me just scream "plastic!!!".

 

I took mine off and installed the OEM center caps that I purchased from another PC'er. I have already received tons of compliments since taking them off. The wheel looks horribly cheap with those plastic pieces of crap on. The car looks much classier with the bare alloys.

Of course... Others may disagree.