Stolen wheel covers.

that was my thought, its not like they are high end or have some special molding logo in the middle. perplexed.

 

^ Have you priced replacement wheel covers through the dealership? I think they're something like $100 per, up here, it's crazy. They get chewed up by curbs, or fling off, due to the easy to pull off fastening method.

 

They may be expensive, but that's just Dealership OEM mark-up.
Outside of rumored aerodynamic design, there doesn't seem to be anything very special about Prius wheel covers.

I could buy a better looking set for $24 bucks at Wal-Mart.

2 simple cosmetic/functional things about The Prius I have never liked, is the IMO very ugly wheel covers, and the base Prius's steering wheel has again IMO a horrible sand paper feel.

Both "problems" that I think are easily if NOT inexpensively addressed.

 

Yeah, in the OP's shoes I'd try some aftermarket wheel covers first. But he's falling in love with his black steelies, lol.

 

There is a market for stolen hubcaps? Really!! Maybe someone was trying to get you to have a better looking wheel set up/ Any kids?

 

Easily damaged, easily removed, expensive? A perfect storm. Here's what Honda uses, yeah I know, if I like Honda so much... But anyway:, the wheel goes on, then the cover, then the lug nuts, through openings in the cover. The plastic washer on the lug nut presses down on a shoulder in the cover's opening. The only way to remove the cover is to remove all the lug nuts. No wear-and-tear on the rim inside wall, too.

 

I painted that within the first two months of owning my c.


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I'd say leave em be.

 

Here's my solution:



As for the steering wheel, I fixed that too:



Gotta love ebay.

 

Those center caps and trim rings look good.

 

What are the centre caps. Home made? Or?

 

Mr. Gasket chrome wheel caps. The diameter isn't quite big enough, so I've cut a few slits and bent them outwards so that they'd stay put.

The lug nuts were $10-15 for 20 from ebay (search for Lug Nuts Chrome 12x1.5).

The stainless beauty rings are noisy though... need to pound them in tight (again).

 

Good idea. When it's time to put snow tires on, I might try that, with the rims off. Clean them up, mask it. I've got both flat black paint and plasti-dip on hand, maybe try the latter.

 

Honda's system is brilliant, all the car manufacturers should use it. I had a Honda Civic for several years and swapped wheels twice a year to change to and from snow tires. I never had any problems getting the covers on or off and I never had the slightest worry that they'd come off on their own.

The wheel covers on my Plymouth Voyager never fit all that tightly and within a couple of years one of them had fallen off somewhere. I didn't want to spend money on a replacement wheel cover that was just as likely to fall off, so for a short while I just removed the other wheel cover on the same side as the one that was missing. Since you never see both sides of the vehicle at once it looked good on at least one side. But after a while I just took them all off and I've been running with just the steel wheels for about 20 years now.

The hubs do get that rusty colour - that's not a Toyota peculiarity, it's just the way things are.

 

With my groddy looking front hubs, a few days back I just took the front wheels off, took off the rust best I could, then coated the area lightly with a wax/oil lubricant I've got: goes on wet, and leaves a waxy film when it dries. That process takes a while, but when you check it months later, it'll look just sorta dark brown, matt.

Going back further with Honda, they had nice center caps for their steel rims. I've half heartedly looked for those, without much success. All the manufacturers used to paint their rims silver, and you tapped one of these center caps onto the middle rim, gripping on the outside. They're not flush like the ones you see on alloy rims; they're little cups, stand proud a bit to clear the axle's nut.

FWIW, the O.D. of the Corolla steel rims center hub is around 60 mm on ours, maybe 2 3/8"?

 

This 2" ABS end cap might work:

ABS Permanent Plug | RONA



The measured O.D. of the steel rim hub is just over 60 mm. 2" ABS pipe has a nominal O.D. of 2 3/8" inch (60.325 mm), so I'm thinking this end cap is going to be very close to that number.

Not sure if it would stay on though, might be able to dream up something. The typical center hub cap uses some sort of interior bumps, say 4 around the circumference, that are in interference. When you tap it on with a rubber mallet it's in a little bit of tension, holds it on very securely.

Maybe 4 pop rivets around the circumference, right at the edge, to act as little bumps would work, be enough to tension it when it's pushed on. Getting ahead of myself, lol.

 

Picked up 2" ABS end caps, they are a perfect fit, no slop, no interference. I'm thinking I might just run a thin bead of clear silicon caulk all 'round the steel rim's hub opening lip, then push the cap down onto it. Or maybe just four spaced tacks of caulk.

Lug nuts and socket clear ok:

 

These are $24 a set.... Not worried if stolen.

 

My factory ones are in my trash can right now. I tried selling them a few places and tried giving them away locally, no interest. Would have been nice if they had been stolen.


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