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3 of my 4 plastic wheel well liners are missing.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tmorrowus, Jul 15, 2022.

  1. tmorrowus

    tmorrowus Member

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2003
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    I heard a loud sound while driving my 2004 Prius, and my rear right plastic wheel well liner was on the road behind me, shredded and unusable. I did an inspection, and noticed the there was only one wheel well liner (right front) left on my vehicle; the others had all apparently come off in a similar fashion. I suspect this is related to having attached a hitch-mount bicycle rack to the car which I leave on permanently. It which does make the car ride a little bit lower, hitting speed bumps a bit more.

    Since I will only hold on to this vehicle for another few years, until global supply chain issues ease and maybe a new Prius plugin comes out, I'm thinking it's OK to just let this be. I live in Austin, TX where salt is only used on the roads a few days of the year if that. I don't see any signs of corrosion.

    It does seem like the front and rear bumpers feel a bit more loose without that structure, but nowhere near dangerously so.

    I replaced the struts March 2015 and the suspension still feels decently firm for this car.

    Just curious if anyone sees any serious issues I'm missing with letting the wheel well liners go, other than road noise. I think I'll just ask about it the next time I get a regular dealer multipoint inspection.
     
    #1 tmorrowus, Jul 15, 2022
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Aftermarket wheel liners are cheap and easy to install. Just buy 'em and get it done. The drive will be way quieter and the severity of damage from road debris will be less. And based on your lack of 3 of 4 wheel liners, you're already a bit of a magnet when it comes to hitting road debris.

    I often explain that the biggest problem in not fixing little broken things in your car is that when a big expensive broken thing happens, all those other small broken things will add up to make it unrealistic to spend money on keeping the car going.
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Jul 15, 2022
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