2012 PRIUS C3 17" Black Drag Wheels

Thanks!

 

Wheels look perfect! Even if you lose a couple of mpg's it really gives the C some aggression.

 

evox, you have posted a really interesting site. id like to do it as a separate thread but i dont want to lose your reference. so...ill just insert it as a reply. ist, priic3, i like the wheels! as you can see ive gone the cheap way with phonybutt wheel covers.evox, the page you referenced to is really interesting! i think i would do the front chasis stiffener first. i wish we had some reviews. i know i know too early. i wonder if you greatly increase handling if did all the mods or if youd have a stiff, heavier brick.

 

Wow nice! I really want light wight chassis parts. Looks like the chassis parts are aluminum? Wow those parts will make the C handle I think 1g turns haha

I will be adding some of these in the short future.

 

Ahhh, no worries man. It's all good. I am very much considering the purchase of a c but in my case it will only be the designated transportation car. And believe it or not, if I do, I will be selling an S2000 to fund it .

And don't get me wrong, I can definitely relate to the modding fever. The first car I ever owned 35+ years ago in my teens was a '68 Chevelle that I personally replaced the stock 327 with a small block 400 and converted from a "three on the tree" to a four on the floor. Over the decades I've cut several holes in roofs to install aftermarket sunroofs and swapped out the whole stock suspension on an MR2 Spyder to a lowered TRD Sportivo kit not too long ago. Love the S2000 but I still have a couple street bikes for getting my ya ya's out on when I'm craving the rush .


ron

 

Ron,

See, I knew there was a reason I liked you. Pretty much the same history as I had, only with sports cars and motorcycles. Times change, priorities shift and one would need to be pretty blind not to adjust.

Enjoy!

 

Don't you know? You should never start a new thread on the exact same thing.

 

Lol, no worries. Now you know. It's really for your own benefit to have everything in 1 thread; it's better archived that way.

To attach an image you have to reply by hitting the "Reply" button in the bottom left of the page. Then you attach an image the exact same, using the Paper Clip icon.

For adding your own avatar, hit "user CP" on the far left, middle banner.

 

That has to be done by the moderators I think. But don't worry about it, lol, if they decide to delete it, they'll delete it.

Pics look good. Are you planning on lowering your car? Your car is very shiny BTW. Which reminds me I gotta wash my car this weekend. Pollen + light ran = a mess.

 

I see this is an old thread but am hoping to hear the final analysis on the effect on the mpgs. I read through the whole thing and it sounded like it didn't change it too much.

I am wanting to purchase 17s and put them on my new prius c. I just think the stock alloy 15s look to small.

I found some 17" wheels I like, but they weigh about 20.1 lbs per wheel. From another thread, I read that the weight of the tire is an even bigger factor then the rim. Is that true.

I love the look of these Prius Cs with bigger wheel/smaller profile tire, just not sure if it is worth it if I lose a ton of gas mileage.

Would love to know the final results.

Thanks

 

I see from PRIIC3's profile that he hasn't logged in since 2012.

Has anyone else on here with bigger wheels willing to chime in?

Pretty please.

 

The real keys are the wheel offset and rim width if you want to have easy and prper fit.
We use 195/55x15 tires on 15x6 rims with 40mm offset. We didn't choose really wide tires simply because the Prissy doesn't have enough power to pull the heavier tires even though they are a trifle smaller diameter (23.95" for 175/65x15 vs 23.62" for 215/45x17 tires. And a couple pounds hevier per tire will be hard on mpg'g's. With so little power of the Prissy more weight per tire makes the engine work harder and indeed doesn't help much on cornering because the power isn't there to pull the traction. Worse, in heavy rain and flooded conditions the tires are more likely to 'float' and thus hydroplane so be very wary when it rains.
As for having better performance tires 195 or 205 section tires are max for a Prissy; its the proper range of pressure to the road that yields the best results on lap times. 215's are mite wide for an 89 hp vehicle weighing 2500 pounds.
Anyone who has not driven a C2 on Hoosier race compound tires has no idea how much fun it is to out corner a minivan - or even Corvettes - and watch them try to figure out what happened. Besides, if you want to get ahead of that minivan on the cell phone being able to outcorner them is the only advantage.
And they say Prissy's no fun. At 48 mpg !

For the unbelievers who think a Prissy cannot outcorner a Vette its simply a matter of tires. Hoosiers will generate 1.2 g's of cornering acceleration and good street rubber 0.9 g's. since cornering speed is the sq rt of cornering acceleration times radius, for a 100 ft radius corner the difference is 62 vs 53 fps, or 42 vs 36mph. Not only in practice but in calculation the difference is significant. And funny when they always light up the tires at the next opportunity.

 

There is a limit to the cornering that a tire can be useful; the components of cornering are side force, or the resistance to side slip, the normal or weight on the tire, and lastly the thrust of the horsepower. No matter how much resistance to side slip or weight, the limiting factor is most always the thrust represented by the torque from the engine. When that is weak, the cornering force is pretty much the coefficient of friction times the weifght. The less weight and the more adherence of the tire to road syrface, also a component of resistance to slip overwhelms the thrust and no additional cornering takes place.
When the tire size in contact patch, diameter, and weight exceeds the optimum no gain, and even loss is encountered; larger tires/wheels merely are for looks and on a Prius C it results in more funny than looks.
The maximum size wheels and tires thatr work well for the Prius C is 195 0r 205 section tires on 6" wide rims with 40mm offset and a maximum tire diameter of 25.2" The prius C develops maximum drive at about 4500 rpm so 100 to 105 mph is max speed and 24.8" is best for acceleration.
Data from tests at VIR.

 

You can check the weight of the tire you anticipate by the specs on tirerack.com. Its not just that the tire weight is bigger but that the radius, or distance from the axle, is much greater than for the wheel which imposes far greater torque loss on the engine. so you lose more mpg and acceleration by heavy tires compared to that caused by heavy wheels. Its the penalty of too wide rims.

 

By location I expect pretty constant speed with no hills. And the smaller tires help with the added weight and when corrected for diameter the mpg don't look much different.