Black wheels under hub caps?

Mario, I want to say thank you for posting this thread. I never would have thought to pull the hubcaps off to see what was underneath, and it never would have occured to me that Toyota would have hid nice black aluminum wheels underneath plastic hubcaps had I not seen this thread. I understand the aerodynamic reasoning behind making the wheels as streamline as possible, but what I don't understand is why Toyota didn't just design the aluminum wheels to be more aerodynamic to begin with. It sounds to me like it was an afterthought.

At any rate, I have removed the hubcaps and just installed the nice Toyota Logo Chrome Caps. I feel like I have just gotten some nice new wheels for my Prius, and it only cost me $59.94. With a black Prius and tinted windows, it creates more of the stealthy look I was going for. I might be crawling down the road at 50 mph, getting 60mpg; but it doesn't mean I can't look cool doing it as well.

- TP

 

I like the black wheels. I think they look good with blizzard pearl. I found some chrome center caps with no logo. Probably not a Toyota part but they fit perfectly.

 

Just for a heads up. The previous wheels were painted. Just an "aluminum" looking paint. You can't leave aluminum wheels unprotected as they corrode rapidly.
If you remove the black paint you should replace it with at least a clearcoat, but probably an aluminum colour and then a clearcoat. Note that wheel paint is not your average paint. It's really tough. And hard to remove!

As you can see in my avatar Pearl S is not wearing the wheel covers, but does have chrome hub caps, from the dealer. GII ones I guess - parts man told me they would fit and I could return them if they didn't - find a good parts man! - they snapped on with no problem. I thought it was "too black" with the tyre and wheel together but it's growing on me.

 

Anyone happen to know if the 2012 wheel covers will fit on 2010 Prius? The wheels are the same, right? Just the 2012 are black, and the 2010, 2011 are silver?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Edit: Just found another post answering my question... and that answer is yes, they do fit.
Thanks!

 

I purchased my 2012 Prius IV last week and thanks to you guys, today I went to home depot and got those caps for only $4 bucks. great ideas!!! this forum rocks!

 

No problem. IMO they make the wheel spokes look wider which is nice.

 

Looks great! Do you have any other shots handy?

I seem to be in the minority though, as I also like the look with the black wheel behind the wheel covers. Wondering what it might take to paint my wheels black, like on the 2012s. Anyone have any experience with that? I see a company locally that paints alloy wheels. Hmmm. An option?

 

What's this about $4 caps from HD? I don't see it mentioned in the thread...

 

They're covers for electrical junction box knockout holes. Found in the electrical section at Home Depot.

 

Link to thread

FWIW- mine were stamped with the 1/2, but a light sanding and some paint it's hard to notice if at all.

 

Nice look. Where did you get your center caps?

 

toyota parts department. about 15 bucks each. steeeeep but worth it to me

 

Same place, same parts, and same price I paid. Now if Toyota had painted the hub parts, maybe the rust wouldn't show. Or maybe I'll remove the wheels one at a time and paint where it rusts. Something like "where the sun don't shine".

 

I'm having a hard time bringing myself to pay $50 for the OEM-style caps, but I want something a little better than the knockouts.

Anybody have an opinion about something like this?

 

I think those are ok. IIRC, I got my center caps on eBay for about $30, so as long as you don't get ripped off, those look good.

 

think of 60$ vs $1000.00 for new wheels. does that help

 

I got the same knock-off caps on auction for .99 (plus $10 shipping) so we'll see how crappy they really are.

Not really... how would these caps prolong the life of the wheels? They're strictly cosmetic IMO.

 

I agree. Putting on cheap and cheap looking plumbing parts from home depot makes no sense when the problem one is addressing is the cheap looking plastic hubcaps and the baffling black paint on otherwise nice alloy wheels.

 

I think he was saying to make them beautiful any other way would require you to buy new wheels. Ergo, the hub caps are cheaper.

After having the wheel covers off for a few months, I -like- the black wheels with black tyres and chrome tiny hub cap. Took a while to get used to it, but now I like it.

 

I did this same thing to my 2010 prius, on the rear of the hubcap I had to clip off 5 little nubs that cradle the wire ring from behind-- they are not needed but stopped the cover from going on mine
I agree though they look actually better on the silver wheel. Give it a more solid look, maybe it just looks closer to the aluminum wheel that comes on the five. yeah thats it...