What did you do to your Prime today?

Thanks. Next time I go shopping, I will look for one. However, my usual idea of washing a car has been just rinsing with water. That may be the safest.

 

For traditional washing (not rinseless), this is one of the best wash mitts that I have ever used.

Premium Microfiber 8 x 10 Inch Cyclone Wash Mitt with Cuff | The Rag Company

Good technique is critical though. Dip frequently, keep the mitt very wet and rub against the grit-guard periodically. Use the 2 bucket method if the paint is perfect or has been polished to perfection; otherwise single bucket is fine as long as you pre-wash well before washing. Never use the same bucket and mitt for wheels.

 

Drove home from Bangor, ME. Total trip ~1,200 miles. Started with tank and battery full on Wednesday (*).

- First gas added at 410 miles, 74.6 MPG at the ME - New Brunswick border because Canadian gas is EXPENSIVE. Of course this Irving station was expensive for gas in ME, they know they've got you.

- Added 2 gallons when we got back to ME because I didn't want to push my luck with the projected gas range ALMOST making it back to Bangor where prices are more reasonable. We stayed on Rt 2 coming from Moncton, NB thus going west to ME rather than south on 1 back the way we came. The Shell station on I-95 was even greedier than the Irving which is why I stopped at 2 gallons.

- Got gas in Skowhegan, ME - 594.7 miles, 52.7 MPG. Nasty for MPG 70 MPH roads in Canada and on I-95 in ME. It was 102.9 miles to lunch in Gorham, NH, 64 MPG (**). Gorham to home was 124.7 miles, 63.5 MPG. From the gas station, Trip A shows 227.6 at 63.7 MPG. Note that this was on 1 mile estimated EV range so any EV was only what was regened. Gas guesser shows 2 blocks gone at home. Simple division says HAH! I've used 3.6 gallons based on math. Probably a bit less than that since I did get some regen EV that was used as it was created.

Odometer now reads 2,583 and 67.6 MPG. Not exactly the 75.5 for 1,186 miles it read last week. I got some work to do!

* Had filled up Tues ~25 miles from home and had saved my EV range for the trip from the gas station to my other errands and home. Thus over 50 of the first 410 miles were pure EV.
** 55 MPH max and going through small towns at lower speeds. This was true the rest of the way home. For comparison my daughter's 2010 showed 54 something in Gorham (we both filled in Skowhegan). Not totally an equal comparison because her car still has snow tires on it. I'll fix that this week.

 

Thanks. I just ordered them on-line. Now we just need warmer cloudy day hoping up in 50F. Today rain again, no good.

 

To avoid this, use a wash mitt, and separate wash and rinse buckets with debris grates at the bottom. Any grit or other impurities goes to the bottom of the bucket and the mitt can't reach it. One bucket with soapy water, the other bucket with clean water to rinse the mitt.

 

As suggested by @The Critic

I also ordered this Combo Pack Grit Guard -Washboard | FREE Shipping Available in Lower 48 States* along with suggested microfiber mitt.

 

I'm going to put two Velcro stickies on the hatch, and on each one mount an LED puck light powered by AAA batteries. Easier than wiring and I can move/upgrade as necessary.

Another easy option is a COB LED light - you can get these with magnetic bases and hooks. Super bright, run a long time on 2 x AA. Advantage to the portables - you can use them outside the car (fix or check something), and most have a strobe/flasher feature for emergency use. I'm partial to the NEBO Big Larry:

 

If they are on the hatch, the tonneau cover would probably be in the way and so would I. I'm planning to do something like I did on the PiP which was wire a couple LED strips, one on each side, to come on with the existing and grossly inadequate light.

 

With 12V, you might blow a fuse but you won't hurt yourself.

 

For cargo lighting, you guys might want to look what @citiprius has done as shown on this thread and his write-up. Overhead cargo light | PriusChat

 

The hard part on the PiP was that I had to directly solder one of the wires for the new lights onto the socket for the bulb in the existing light since there's no switched wire to solder to. And it's close to plastic that likes to melt. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. I'll try to be neater this time, but I haven't yet taken out the light to see how challenging it will be.

 

Thanks. I did see that and it's a nice clean installation. I just would prefer to have my lights lower. Actually, having them low and high would be the best of both worlds.

 

I like that setup, but I'm afraid I would damage the exposed LEDs when I toss stuff in the back. I'll have to look and see if there is a protected location for them.

 

IIRC, in addition to the overhead cargo light, I think @citiprius also installed a second cargo light on the other side of the wall panel and changed the incandescent bulb to LED on the original cargo light. All switched by the same door switch mechanism. I couldn't find his first thread on this mod, but his avatar shows two LED lights on both side walls of cargo space.

Edit: I found his original mod thread.
Prius Prime Plus - Trunk additional LED lighting | PriusChat

 

I think that when I do mine, I'll change the existing one to LED and then just add one on the left side.

As for damage, @jb in NE, I had none in the more than a year that I had them installed before trading it it. The wires were on plugs, so if you hit that too hard they just fell off. And I think that only happened twice.

I will be exploring various light choices soon. I'd like to do this before our trip and that's less than two weeks away.

 

I'll be interested to see which bulb you choose and how it works. I have had very poor result with Amazon bulk bulbs - both of the LED W5W on the license plate of our Subaru crapped out and I went back to incandescent. If I'm going to go with an LED on the hatch light (and I want to), it needs to be crazy bright and last a long time.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

I am known to be the pickiest guy on earth.