12 easy little mods I did to my Prius V

I sold my mint 31K mile 2013 V to some friends a few days ago, so I won't be around here much. (I really liked that little car, but have a bunch of other cars already, and just like to try different things every few years.)

Anyway, I've enjoyed hanging out with you folks virtually.

Thought I'd do a quick post of the 12 little mods I did to my car. Other than the exhaust tip, I'm sure they've all been documented before, but thought putting them all in one thread might be convenient for newbies. I used links to my posts mostly, just because they were the easiest for me to find.

1) Debadge. Other than the oval Toyota badges, the rest are held on with double sided tape, and can be removed- most folks use dental floss to cut through the tape, then use solvent or orange residue remover to clean off the remains of the adhesive.

2) New background for oval Toyota emblem. I think the black and blue is just weird, so I used adhesive film that closely matched my car's paint. Other folks have used contrasting colors.

Changed background color of Toyota emblems | PriusChat

3) Personalized license plate. I used "650V," indicating the system voltage. There are lots of other ideas.

4) License plate frame. I ended up just using a black rubber frame, but that's an easy way to show your interests.

5) Had dealer turn off reverse beep. The car beeps continuously inside when you are backing up- what is that about? I already know I'm backing up. The dealer can change this to a single beep, which is not too bad. I think I paid $75 or so to have this done.

6) Bigger shift knob. I think the dainty little V knob is just weird. I found a normal Prius knob on ebay that had been modified to screw onto the V shifter. I like it a lot better.

Replacing silver dash panel with black one | PriusChat

7) Black dash panel. The same ebay seller had a dash panel that was changed from silver to satin black to match the rest of the dash- looks a lot better to me. It would be easy to remove and paint this part yourself.

8) Added underhood small oem wiring shield. This part is standard on the Lexus, but missing on our cars. Inexpensive, just snaps on. You might need a Lexus VIN to order the part, there's one in one of the posts in this thread.

Question in engine compartment | PriusChat

9) Added dual exhaust tip. I see the Prius as a premium vehicle, and that little oem exhaust pipe looks low rent to me. The hardest part of this was finding a tip that wasn't gigantic.

My meaningless and juvenile mod: dual exhaust tip | PriusChat

10) Aftermarket tail lights. I found Valenti aftermarket tail lights on ebay, and really like the way they look.

Installing Valenti tail lights | PriusChat

11) TRD rear anti sway bar. This Toyota accessory reduces the car's lean in corners, and is easy to install.

TRD Rear sway bar for Prius v? | PriusChat

12) Different wheels. I changed to oem RAV4 17" wheels with 225-50-17 Michelin Cross Climate tires. Note that our cars have a different bolt pattern than the normal prius. Other folks have used other wheels, just search and you'll find other threads.

Installed 5-spoke 17" oem Rav4 wheels | PriusChat

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There are certainly a few other popular mods that I didn't get around to:

DRLs for cars that don't have them. (I just changed the parking light bulbs to bright LED and leave them switched on.)

Aftermarket LED front turn signals. I bought a set on ebay but never installed them.

Adding lighting behind the lower rear reflectors.

Lowering springs. Tanabe and others make springs to lower the car, but I decided not to go that route.

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Anyway, hope this is helpful to some folks. See you guys and gals later!

-Paul