I'm Seeing a lot of 3rd Gen Prius Missing Wheelcovers

Took the caps off my two month old 3G Prius two, bought and installed the ebay center caps for $20...last mpg were 59 on the display with 55.8 actual. IMHO, much better looking without the hub caps. With the hub caps on the mpg was slightly less.54.5 In my experience, the weather and driving behavior has more impact on mpg than the hub caps.

 

Doh! ... It's all clear now. :banplease::bolt:

 

Having a hard time figuring out why Toyota put wheel covers on. They don't cover much of the wheel, so I doubt they'd have much aero benefit. Most folks trying to aero their wheels put on moon disk covers. The Insight-I alloy wheels, supposedly very aero, have mostly solid centers with just some slots near the rim.

I thought maybe the Prius covers are intended to pull air across the brake disks, but the "spokes" of the covers aren't pitched. I don't use the friction brakes heavily anyway.

Perhaps Toyota put them on because the finish on the alloy wheels isn't designed to be exposed to road dirt, etc.? But the wheel covers don't completely cover the spokes of the alloy wheels. And you could always put the covers back on if the finish on the wheels deteriorates.

Any other ideas out there??

I'm not much of a custom-wheel fan, but I just don't like the look of the covers.

 

Toyota most likely used wheel covers because they wanted that wheel cover design, but actually making a steel or alloy wheel in that design would've been too heavy. So they made a lightweight skeleton alloy and put a plastic cover on it to still get that design. Problem solved.

 

After reading all about the nice looking wheels under the plastic covers I had my husband and son remove them for me tonight and I think they look much nicer now. Thanks everyone!! Will store them in the basement if I ever need them.

 

Have one of the guys go to Lowe's and get 4, inch and a half electrical box knock out covers. Bend the tabs out slightly, and use them to cover the center holes in your rims.
I read somewhere where HD has them too.....but they have "1.5" stamped on them.
Or.......you can get a $20 set on eBay with Toyota's "crossed bunghole" emblem on them.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks! I found some on Ebay that say they are for years 2004-2010. I can't find any that are specifically for a 2011 Prius. Will the 2004-2010 caps work on the 2011? The seller is superwin-seller and the starting bid is $.01, $19.99 for shipping, coming from China. Is this what everyone is getting?

 

Description says they are 2-1/4" wide. Can anyone please tell me if these will fit my 2011 wheels? Thanks!

 

I ordered OEM Toyota caps here:
Genuine Toyota and OEM Scion Parts Catalog
Enter the year, model, etc, then look under wheels, covers&trim, center cap. If you click on "View Illustration" it's part #7.
$11.75 each plus $10 shipping.

I suspect they are normally used on the optional 17" wheels but I'm fairly sure they will fit the 15" - probably somebody here knows for sure.

They indicate that the caps are the same for 2010 and 2011.

 

The caps for the 15 inch alloys fit the 16 inch alloys.

I don't understand why they use wheel covers on the Prius. They don't use them on any other Toyota models with aluminum rims. They take a nice looking rim and make them look like the steel wheels with wheel covers on an old Cavalier.

My vote is to take the wheel covers off.

 

Again, the reason is because Toyota needed a lightweight rim but couldn't acheive their design (without aesthetic covers) and stay light. The result is a compromise. I actually think the car looks better with the wheel covers. The spokes of the 15" alloys are an inchoate design IMO.

 

Do you have a source of this info? Are the 15" rims lighter than other average 15" rims for Toyota to go thru all of what you said?

 

It depends on the type of wheel material. For an alloy wheel it is average. For a spun aluminum wheel it is heavy.

I think the GenII 6-spoke 15" wheel looked pretty good. The GenIII 15" without covers is hideous IMO.

At least you have a decent choice.
This


or this

 

Exactly...it ain't that featherweight for Toyota to go thru all that trouble. (And i do agree that GenII alloy rims are more attractive.) Thus, i don't buy macmaster05's claims. If the OEM 15" alloys were super lightweight, then i can see macmaster's claims, but they are not.

So, like macmaster05's very dubious claims in the past, I like to see some facts behind it. He always seems so reassured of his statements (99.9% in fact!)...and then only to have to retract it several posts later.... But, i am sure that this time, it's different...and i just want to see some facts or Toyota links to back up his statments...my brother has a IV and would love to have more reasons to keep the alloys!

 

The only things that i have heard about the 15" rims are:

1. Alloy rim underneath has thin spokes to help keep weight down.
2. Plastic cover is to improve aerodynamics.

But, i have no facts to back this up...just from what i have read on this forum.

 

thai you are so abrasive!

this aggression will not stand man!

 

Abrasive? I am just asking macmaster for some info....:focus:

 

I'm not asking you to buy my claims. What I said was a personal guess. If you want the real answer you'll have to find out from the team in Japan that designed the wheels, but you probably don't buy that either.

FYI - Thai has a personal vendetta against me, lol. I don't know why. He'll attack anything I say. The sky is blue, but to Thai, he'll ask me how do I know that. I don't take it personally, at this point it's comical.

 

Lose the cover and you have alloy Factory rims. Two looks for the price of one. Powder coat the alloy rims (black, Bronze, red, Yellow, White)for a 3rd look.

 

Does anybody out there actually know how many pounds the Gen III 15" alloy wheel weighs?