1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Wheel replacement question

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by geognerd, Aug 2, 2024 at 12:09 AM.

  1. geognerd

    geognerd Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2009
    37
    5
    0
    Location:
    Elgin, Illinois
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I have a 2007 Prius base with 15" wheels and the original tire size. I've had a tire with a slow leak for a few weeks and took it to the national tire chain where I bought my tires to have it checked. They found nothing wrong with the tire itself, but there was a lot of crud and stuff on the edge of the rim that they said was keeping the bead from making good contact with the wheel.

    They said I could get the wheel refinished elsewhere, which they said wasn't cost-effective, or I could buy new wheels from them. They were suggesting getting all 4 wheels replaced. I had them put the tire back on and said I wanted to consider my options. The quote they gave me for 4 basic steel wheels installed was $585. I plan on checking with a local tire shop to see what their options and recommendations are. After a lot of expensive repairs and maintenance this year, I'm not thrilled about this expense.

    I've never needed to buy wheels before. Can I just replace the one bad wheel, or will it mess up the ride and handling since it's different from the 3 OEM wheels? Or is this something where I need to get either 2 or 4 wheels to maintain ride and handling? I appreciate any advice and expertise you have.
     
    #1 geognerd, Aug 2, 2024 at 12:09 AM
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,269
    1,624
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    All you need to do is go to an independent tire shop not this national tire business and all that stuff they give you all that safety crap and they can't do and they can't they can't they can't so go to a small place you know usually the Spanish guys run it they even have a tire balancing machine and all that you'd be surprised what you do is is you take a brown Scotch-Brite pad with you when you go to have your tires mounted and when the guy who mounts your tires goes to mount your tires show him the crud by pointing at it and show him the Scotch-Brite pad he'll check the wheel in the tire bouncing machine to make it spin and run the Scotch-Brite pad over the bead and seat this is the cruddy area that they're talking about It look shiny silver on the alloy wheels after one pass he'll do that to each one of the wheels that's supposedly has all this crud and that'll clean the crud down to silver aluminum instantaneously so there's no buying complete wheels so on and so forth especially if you have the aluminum alloy rims they just need to be cleaned as above and you're good to go another 300k Don't fall for it.
     
    #2 Tombukt2, Aug 2, 2024 at 12:47 AM
  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    7,676
    3,884
    0
    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    If what Tom suggested doesn't pan out, I'd try and get one OEM wheel (that matches the other three) from a wrecker's/dismantler's yard. Shouldn't cost too much.
     
    #3 dolj, Aug 2, 2024 at 1:04 AM
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2012
    7,878
    3,117
    0
    Location:
    Honolulu, HI
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    They should also have some bead sealing goop available if the rim is truly in rough condition, even after giving it a bit of scouring with a Scotchbrite pad.

    SM-G781V ?
     
    #4 xliderider, Aug 2, 2024 at 3:18 AM
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)