Where do I start?

Aloha and Welcome Charlie,

I am happy to hear you have acquired the family Prius. The good thing is you know where it came from and it's history. I know almost nothing about a Gen. 2 but there are plenty of nice people here who know allot. They have forgotten more about there Gen. 2's than I have learned about my Gen. 3. Enjoy your new to you ride!

 

Rims, drop, lighting.

 

Or if you're tight on funds... start in the opposite direction.

 

Welcome, Charlie.

2008 Touring packages

2--no autodimming mirror & no 6 disc cd
3--add the mirror & 6 cd
4--there is no 4
5--add nav
6--add leather

if you don't have foglights & HID headlights you don't have a Touring.

 

So far, this is what I've done to mine:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-modifications/90427-17-rims-gen-ii-pics.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-modifications/89778-led-drls-pics.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...0-6-000k-headlights-fog-lights-done-pics.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...402-sharkfin-bumper-cover-installed-pics.html

I also did the LED interior lights as well. Didn't bother to post pictures for those.

 

You and me are sort of in the same boat, except my parents are making me pay for the car. Both parties happy especially since they were getting tired of it while I had been geeking over the machine since day one.

What have I done? Put red LEDs in the map lights. I don't know why every car doesn't do this. I've driven/ridden around in a lot of rental tractor trailers (mainly freightliners) and they all have them. Light up what you're trying to read with almost no glare. The dome in the middle of the fixture and the visor lights are still white.

FCB and inter stickers on the back glass. easy peasie. I think cars covered in stickers are disgustingly ugly, but one or two or three are perfectly acceptable. Very IMO of course, and whatever makes you happy.

What do I want to do?

1) zune soundgate stereo integration or the dice ipod kit. soundgate lets me use my existing music player, dice requires me to buy an ipod :/ but slicker integration. Having only one cable going to my zune to charge and play is worth it to me. And a bracket.

Slightly related, a power cord for my tomtom coming out of the defrost grill or where the speedo screen is. I don't use my GPS often, but I hate having the cord dangling all over the place when I do use it.

^^ will happen soon. These next ones are "maybes"...

2) chassis stiffener... the under plate and maybe front strut tower brace. I'm coming from an elderly '99 monte carlo so I am definitely used to the lack of power and life in the slow lane. If anything the toyota feels much faster, I have to watch my speed sometimes if there are no other cars around but it is a little clumsy with wind and around the corners, and feels less solid in general than the monte which was every bit a tank.

3) LED's on the exterior. Finding quality units that won't melt in the fixtures can be a problem. I'd like 'clear corners' and white LED's in the front markers but can't find them. To be fair, I haven't really been looking. I might play with some different colour wedge bulbs (blue, green, etc) and see what they look like through the amber lens, but I won't be taking the car on the road like that I spend a lot of time in so many states and provinces it is best to just keep everything stock. I want my car to be more visible but without attention from the law. The white LED running lights on some of the new cars catch my eye nicely.

Maybe selective yellow headlights (some say better, some say it's worse, some say no different) but that would be a silly reason to be pulled over (I rarely, if ever, speed and am downright boring behind the wheel... I sometimes smile and wave at the police as I motor along at about 60-63 mph) I do about half or maybe slightly more of my driving at night, lights are important to me. My old cars I've put in 'silverstars' slightly bluish bulbs. These are eye catching but no more not-white than xenon bulbs.

whew, maybe you can tell I am a lightbulb nerd? It IS technically my day job! But I don't like to monkey with my only source of transportation

4) rims and decals. Like dark bronze or gunmetal motegis. My car is that bland light silver color, it looks pretty good when clean tho. I have another year or two on these tires and maybe will be grown out of that phase by the time I need new ones.

Get some sort of subtle design airbrushed in. I would totally dig organic-chemistry-notes-inspired hexagon flames on the side. I want to keep this car for a long time. It's like getting a tatoo on your body. Better to be conservative for now. Besides, the car isn't actually mine yet and probably won't be for another few months. I do have a couple of sketches tho


EDIT: I missed your post above. I always look at tirerack.com for rims. If nothing else, the website is easy to use. I've not bought tires from them. Costco/priceclub is a good place for tires if you are a member. That's where we've been going for several years. Not sure about rims, though

 

Just a note about Costco- I was told they wouldn't install tires on aftermarket rims. This was on my Miata, but I assume it is a company policy covering all cars.

 

Interesting. Our costco has (or used to have...) aftermarket rims on display in the warehouse along with the tires.

Come to think of it, I didn't notice the rims on display like I used to. Tonite was the first time I was there in several weeks. It could be a policy that has been in effect for several years now. I used to oogle the shiny rims at costco when I was a youngin'. Who knows if they actually sold them or they were just part of the display for tires?

Wheelskins? Looks like... not my style... Another option is some spraypaint... but even with wheel-specific product, I think it would still be a real crapshoot both finishing and long term durability. Of course, I don't have good luck with spraypaint lol.



Ah, forgot to mention previously... I killed the reverse beeper. It's easy, like resetting your oil change light or entering a video game cheatcode. hardly a 'mod'.

 

Super late response, but no, those rims only come in 17". They are the stock Scion TC rims. I found a really good deal for the rims which also came with fairly new tires.

 

I think red interior LEDs would make it look like a darkroom... IMHO. White or blue; classic and clean.

 

Well I'd Start with...

Thanks Dad, for the almost brand new Prius....

 

I have red leds in the map lights, a great way to not kill your vision at night. I wouldn't bother putting them in every interior fixture; when it comes to color, good old blackbody radiation is hard to beat (at least at this tiny scale)


Please share with us how your ipod kit works, I think I am going to go with an ipod kit (and ipod) as well. My poor zune is 4 years old now and I'll retire it with dignity.. aka continue to use it while pushing the lawnmower and running.

I think it would be better to use the ipod for what it is good at (navigating music). A product with aux-out and 12v in with a single dock connector (like the zune soundgate) is what I am looking for. I found one product at the apple store website, but it is monstercable... I would be worried about the sound quality.

added: never mind about the ipod kit. My new ipod touch has the dock and headphone connector right next to each other, so I will just neatly zip tie the cables together (the ipod is still in shipping..) The zune has the dock on the bottom and the headphone jack on top, it was always annoying having cables coming out all over the place.

 

Who's name is on the title? There's the answer to your question.

I have to keep extra tight track of things I buy from my parents, ever since I was 12 and paid them back almost $200 (saved from cutting the neighbor's grass with a cranky old manual cylinder mower, no less) for buying me an approx. $80 football. The sad part is my mother used to be a banker, so it was hard to explain her accounting gaff.

The next investment was a shiny new cylinder mower that I *still* use on several yards weekly. It's a good workout. Are we off topic yet?