Prius with Gunmetal Five AD wheels

I purchased my Prius on June 1, 2010. We love our car! I have really enjoyed using this site as a source for information and checking out all of your cars. Thanks to everyone who has answered my questions and posted. Finally!!!, here are some pictures of my Prius....

2010 III w/ Modifications:
Katzkin Leather
Llumar Airblue 80 Tint
18" Five AD S6:F Gunmetal
Falken ZE-912 - 225/40
Tein H-Tech Springs

I am really happy with the way things turned out. I'm not sure if the color came out in the pictures but the wheels have a really cool blue tint to the gunmetal finish. It ties in nicely with the blue on the factory emblems/badges and also the Llumar Airblue tint I had installed. I was also very happy with the installation kit from Five AD - it included the black open-ended lugs and valve stem caps with the "5" logo which I tried to get a decent shot of.

I included pictures of the carseats we have installed for anyone interested. They are Britax Frontier 85s in the Onyx color. They fit great and were very easy to install.

Plans for future mods include:
OEM-Look Fog-lights (anyone live near SD to help me install???)
"Red-Out" Tail-lights
Etc.

 

I also wanted to share with everyone my experience with each of my modifications for anyone considering similar options:

Katzkin Leather:
Love it - perfect match w/ interior pieces. It was a necessity for us to change the cloth as we have to young boys (2 and 4) and the durability and easy-to-clean factor of the leather made it an easy choice. Great install by ASC in San Diego.

Llumar Airblue 80 Tint:
Nice heat reduction and I really like the look of the blue tint. The blue color is very, very subtle. I would have left the car "fishbowl" status but the Airblue 80 still lets a lot of light in while keeping a good amount of heat out. Also, the UV protection was a must for all of us that ride in the car.

Wheels/Tires/Springs:
I am very happy with all. The wheel design really compliments the Prius. The springs give a nice clean drop and ride fantastic. The guys at Pann Auto in San Diego were so impressed with the ride quality after the install of the springs. By the way, for anyone in the area, going to Pann was a great experience. Everyone is very friendly and professional. I also want to let everyone know that with my set-up - I RUB!!! It's when I go over dips in the road especially at higher speeds on the freeway - It happens mostly in the front, although I think I might have rubbed in the back a couple of times. (And when I say rub, I mean tire to fender) Also, be aware that if you mostly drive w/ a family of 4 like we do and have the H-Techs installed, the car is going to sit lower...

MPGs:
We really don't pay attention to this that much. I didn't before or after the modifications. After owning a number of cars, I have realized that car ownership is "relative". Your personal, particular experience with a specific car is relative to the last car you owned or other cars you have owned. For example a Civic owner who goes to a GTi thinks the GTi is pretty fast, where an M3 owner who may have to "down-grade" to a GTi might not think it's all that fast. Ok, so sorry for my tangent, but what I am trying to say is our last family car was a very nice, but very heavy gas-guzzling SUV with a very sophisticated off-road system (VW Touareg) that we never used! We averaged an MPG rating of 12-16 so basically anything above 35 and we are thrilled! We gas the Prius and go. I never really read the charts on the display...

Hope this info. is helpful to anyone considering these mods. to their cars...

 

Thanks Rodney! Special thanks to you for answering my questions about your set-up...LOL at your comments about the car seats! No, I wouldn't get those until you really need them...

 

Thanks for all the comments. I agree that wheels transform the car. My Dad who is not that in the cars was just amazed how my car is now "transformed".

I forgot to put in my "write-up" that anyone considering just going with springs and stock wheels should go for it. I rolled around like that for like a week and really liked it. There was actually something I liked about that even better than the 18s. The 18s highlight the gap still present even after installing the H-techs. I might sell the 18s within a year or so and go with 15" Volk Super Ecos on stock LRR tires.

 

Hello BC Prius - Thanks for the comments. I actually lowered the car first before installing the 18" wheels so, sorry, I don't have any pics of wheels w/ stock suspension. I would not recommend it though - I think the focus of the car would be the wheel gap. Actually if you look up HawaiianHB's thread, you can see his car on 18" Five AD wheels without lowering springs...

 

Thanks Wyun - yes I am really happy with Katzkin - the price was $1200 installed I believe. The install was done great and quick! I went to a shop that has been in business for many years and does all the dealer cars in town. They had my seats out within 5 minutes of me arriving! The company is American Sunroof Corporation (americansunroof.com) located in San Diego.

 

Thanks for comments Ragz! I actually got my wheels and tires from SD Tire and Wheel Outlet locally here in San Diego. and YES! I do rub...The car is lowered on Tein H-techs. Initially I was directed to wheelstudio.com by Five AD and they have a pretty good price - I was able to get the wheel/tire package cheaper locally though. Check out wheelstudio.com