After market rims - To lower or not

Check out this 18" wheel Prius that actually makes the wheel gap look smaller without being lowered.

It's not that difficult. Just get the rims you like and if it looks goofy after putting them on, install some lowering springs to close the gap.

 

If you choose a larger wheel then the tire sidewall will be lower. This due to the fact that the total diameter of wheel and tire and wheel circumference must stay the same (within a small tolerance) to keep the speedometer align with the real speed of the car. Therefore you will not close the gap with larger wheels unless the wheel design make an optical difference. Closing the gap means lower the car and the easiest way to do this is with lowering springs.

 

As robby3 stated, other than an optical illusion created by the specific design of your new wheels you will not close the wheel to wheel well gap by changing wheel/tire size. If you try to attempt it anyway by using larger tires you will throw off the odometer and speedometer and likely screw up your MPG.

Realistically the only way to close the gap and get the lowered look is to actually lower it using lowering springs or coil overs. It's unfortunate but that is how the game works. Besides, you'll never get the same benefit of awesome handling unless you put new springs on the car although a set of 18s with a new rear anti-sway bar could help significantly!

 

You already know what I think you should do. I will say a couple things though.

To accurately measure a drop, measure from the center of the wheel to the top of the wheel well. That eliminates all variables like rim size, tire size, tire pressure, ground slope, etc

I started having nightmares after my springs were installed. Either my car was getting stolen or people were uninstalling my springs. Weird.

 

lmao!

 

You woke up too soon. If you had slept a little longer, you would've woken up to coilovers

 

Lower.
Now, repeat after me: hella-flush...hella-flush....

 

"Praise the Lowered"

I think you have two choices to close the "gap":
1) Lower your car
2) Upsize the rims but with a higher profile tire. Your total tire/rim diameter would be bigger than stock, which would throw off speedometer readings (and probably others). It might look "off" as well since you'll probably have a little too much meat to the sidewalls. Ride probably will not be as harsh as with lowered springs or even lower profile tires.

 

As far as replacing struts, that depends how hard you drive and less to do with the suspension you're running. Hard drivers will need to replace their struts whether they lower their car or not, usually at 60k+ miles. And then often there's a correlation between hard drivers and drivers who lower their cars...

 

Is that because your springs gave you such a slight drop? That's actually what I would like to do -- just drop the car enough to narrow the gap a little without it looking lowered.

 

Most of the quality springs available for the Prius do just that. With my oem 15s on I don't think anyone even knows I lowered the car. With the 17s it looks suspect only because it is modified. The Geniii has such a large wheel well gap that it would drive me nuts to drive it without lowering springs. The fact they improve handling so dramatically is icing on the cake.

 

I checked out your link on the Eibachs and you're right, the before and after pics don't show much of a difference at all. A little, but just barely. That's pretty much what I'd like (except I wouldn't mind maybe a LITTLE bit more of a drop so that you could at least tell!), but I don't think I'd like the bouncier ride. Is your experience unusual with such a small difference? I don't know that I've ever seen quite that subtle of a drop.

Also, just curious -- I saw that you have the Michelins that received such high ratings on the DT website. But I didn't read where they are LRR tires. Do you still get decent fuel economy with those tires?

 

I believe the same springs on a Geniii are a bit more noticeable. With my 15s the ride is less bouncy. In fact I wouldn't even use that word to describe the ride characteristics. It just feels solid and tight compared to the oem marshmallow ride. The 17s create a litter harsher ride when encountering bumps but when I reduced tire pressure to the low-mid 40s the ride was much smoother and obviously handling improves.

I fyou're not 90 and require Buick-like ride characteristics then go for the springs. It will transform your Prius. Seriously!

My tires are still new so the mpg change was not drastic compared to my old Kumho tires. I was struggling to get 45mpg so I swapped my 15s back on and the last 4 tanks have been at 55mpg. I have been driving more carefully on the 15s. The MXM4 is a LRR tire. All LRR Michelin tires carry the GreenX symbol. I really really like these tires but I stuck them in the garage so I could wear out my 15s and save the MXM4s for winter when I'll need the better wet handling.

My experience aside, another member just took a long trip and got 49mpg on the same tires. If my commute didn't have a 1200 ft. elevation gain I could probably get close to that number.

 

I forgot to mention that my MXM4s are taller (larger rolling diameter) than my Yokohama dB Super E-Spec tires. This causes my speedometer to read lower but more accurately as verified by GPS. Thus the actual MPG loss is less than is indicated due to the Yokohamas being smaller and turning more revolutions per mile.

MXM4 on left (brand new), dB Super E-Spec on right (1/2 tread left)

 

^^ F8L - I've been curious to what that car is in the background... is it a Stingray?

 

Yup

It's my ex-roomate's. I still use his storage shed. It was his dad's car and his dad died when he was very young so he is storing it until his son, age 4, is old enough to work on it with him.

 

Absolutely not. If you were installing springs at 70-80k miles, it might be worth it to change struts at the same time only because your suspension is apart, so you save money on the labor. (If you're doing the job yourself it doesn't matter).

It should not cost this much. Really. $200 for the springs. $300 for the install, tops. Call around. Tell shops you've been given a quote for $150. (My guy actually quotes $150. When I called other shops, their prices were $300-400. I told them I'd gotten a quote for $150. Most all dropped their price to $200-250, saying they couldn't go that low. One guy said he'd do it for $150. But I didn't trust him, and what's the point? I was trying to beat $150. Lol...)