Lowering Prius IV on stock 15's

^^^ Hey URboosted, welcome over to the Prius club!

A fellow Vette owner bitten by the Prius bug...and already modding.

Is that WKRP I see in the background? Great pic.

On topic...where are folks getting the spacers to put the wheels out? I agree that they look too tucked in from the factory.

 

Sold it for $13k . I put over $30K in it over a span of 7yrs.

Lol Joe. Yeah that's good ol Cincinnati.

 

Man dead sexxy photography in the last few photo links....

 

I love M cars. Very nice. I've actually thought about getting a wrx wagon as a daily, but I know I wouldnt have the will power to keep it stock. So I've avoided them. Lol

Here's my favorite picture of my Vette.

 

I guess I should show off Deuce Coupe too then. 1993 MR2 Turbo, 2.2L stroker, 345 RWHP on 92 octane:

 

I love this thread.

Lowered on stock 19's and 18's

 

Getting the Motegi SP10's this week. Hopefully installed today!

BTW, if anyone is intrested, Discount Tire had the SP10 17's Hyperblack for $116 a piece (In San Diego on Mission Gorge near the 15). I almost fell out of my chair. Tire Rack has them for $136.

 

The 15's look so small in today's world...and I'm going to need tires soon, I'm used to buying 345/30/19 Vette tires so the price of Prius tires is a joke to me! I could get wheels and tires for what I pay for one rear tire on the Vette.

Does anyone have real, definitive data on MPG loss from going to 17's? I'd appreciate a link...

 

No definitive data, but have been reading anywhere from 2-4 mpg loss based on various posts.

 

It's all anecdotal evidence from what I've seen...However, keep in mind that even if you buy light wheels, so you aren't increasing your unsprung weight, or the amount of weight you are having to accelerate/decelerate, larger diameter wheels have an additional downside: They move the weight farther from the center of rotation, which makes it harder to start/stop. To see what I mean, tie a fishing sinker to the end of a piece of string. Spin the weight around in a circle while holding the string in the middle of it's length (simulates stock wheels) now hold the string at it's end and spin it (simulates larger diameter wheels). It requires a lot more effort to get the weight started and stopped with the longer string length.

 

I know from my Vette experience that putting on light wheels and skinny front tires drops my 1/4 mile time by about .15 to .2 so light wheels and low rolling resistance make a huge difference. I can feel it when I drive with my track setup.

I hope someone who's done the 15 to 17 swap will chime in, perhaps I should start a new thread.

Meanwhile I'll use this as an excuse to post up a pic of my Vette with its drag pack on. I love the skinny wheels, looks like an old school funny car.







Here is my buddy with a N/A H/C setup last fall at the MIR rental. I haven't quite been able to do this yet...his car's an automatic with a 4000 stall, the magic elixir for the drag strip.

 

MIR - my home track!

 

MIR & VMP used to be my stomping grounds /sniff...

 

Honestly man, think of it this way... Toyota sells the car with 17's...

With high quality low reisstante tires to boot and keeping it within the same dimensions you could probably pickup some MPG.

 

Do those cars take a mileage hit? I know the Lexus CT200h gets about 10MPG less than a Prius. I've always blamed the 17s for at least part of that loss. My PiPA came with 15" alloys. My SW20 drove SO much nicer with the OE 15" wheels than with the aftermarket 17s.

 

I'd like to know this too...I don't want a 10 mpg hit, that's 20%!

 

Won't happen.

The mpg loss for 17" tires is a minimum of 2mpg using the OE Toyo Proxes A20 and is more like 3mpg-8mpg depending on wheel/tire choice as well as driving style. Hypermilers are more likely to see the larger loss.

The honest average I tell people to expect to lose is 4mpg vs. the OE 15" tires or more if comparing to the 15" Energy Saver A/S. I've done the tests on a multitude of tires and wheels. The loss is always there no matter if I match the wheel weight to OEM or not.

 

Or you can do a search for the dozens of posts on the subject.