Simple, cheaper mods for my new Prius?

Its been a while since I looked but I had trouble finding all the lights in the car and by the time I got done I was getting up there in price. Patience isnt exactly my strong suit so I ended up giving in and just ordering from them.

 

Found a $2 iphone holder at Ichban Kan, a local Japanese $1ish store. Very basic but should work. Maybe use that with Proclip. Photos to follow if it works.

 

exLEDusa 10pc LED set | PriusChat
for the interior LEDs, exLEDusa is the best
click this thread and you will figure out

 

Here's a pic of the $2 iPhone holder. Just need to figure out best location and mounting method.

 

Inexpensive interior LED upgrades - 1pcs Blue T10 194 168 2825 5 x 5050 SMD LED Super Bright Car Lights Lamp Bulb | eBay

You can search the sellers items if you want a different color, that link is for blue LEDs.

 

I definitely want to upgrade all of my lighting... I have no idea what to look for to see if things will fit... Does everything have the same "plug" and physically, the size, will these fit?

 

Idk about those but the exledusa lights are all cut out to fit perfectly in the light fixtures they just come on a board that they need to be broken out of. Lights are a great upgrade though...another one of those things you don't realize how bad it is needed until its done

 

Reading this post, I ordered the exLEDusa kit for my 2012 PiP. Installed today with my son. Lights are absolutely worth it. Here in Virginia we might have a li'l problem with using the colored LEDs for the license plate lights (I ordered the blue LED kit). We'll see...

However, the install on the central ceiling headboard where the map lights are is more complex than any of the other lights. Anyone trying this mod, I suggest Googling for solutions - I read several different suggestions before I decided to pull off the entire map light unit out of the ceiling. Doing it by pulling the lenses off significantly risks breaking lens pieces off. All the other light lenses came off the "normal" way i.e. via a small flat tip screwdriver. Hope this helps.

 

Idk about the PiP but on the 2011 the map lights are little more then a rocker switch. I got mine out with a flathead by going next to the hinge and wedging out the pin. Once the first pin is out it falls into your lap...how did you take the whole unit down? Im going to have to drop my headliner at some point...

 

The trunk sub-compartment is awesome. Just add a zip or string to the loop on sub-floor so you can open it up easily.

 

My PiP is different - the best way (what we did) is to pull the front plastic cover by its forward (windshield) edge down t separate it, then slowly pull the main cover with all the buttons down about 1 - 2 inches from the front. This cover is held on by four white pushpins that mate it to the roof, and it has a pair of rear-facing rails that mate it horizontally to the ceiling liner. Once the front two pins let go, we worked the cover loose from the rear two pins while pulling it forward to have the rear rails clear the liner. At that point, it was a snap to access everything inside the light wells.

 

A good coat of a high quality wax should be applied!

 

+1 and quickly!

 

just curious... why do you say to quickly get on a good coat of wax? got mine a week ago and will wax it tomorrow if its recommended. i figured it had a decent coat from the dealership...? my first brand new car

 

Cars aren't waxed from dealer.

 

It is amazing at how poor the paint will be coming from the dealer. It wasn't protected from the factory and had to ship in a boat and likely rail. Then some lot monkey probably put a lot of scratches in cleaning it up.

What I did was:
- Wash & strip the car of any dirt/wax using a strong soap (some use blue Dawn)
- Use Iron-X to remove any rail dust and iron contaminants (optional)
- Clay bar the entire car including glass (get Meguiars kit from WM /AZ)
- I then polished with a random orbit polisher using Duragloss 501/601 then 105/601
- Finished with a coat of wax

Big investment in time and some materials. But it makes keeping the car clean much easier. Make sure you use the "two bucket" method to wash.

 

thats what i was afraid of.

in the past ive used Mothers 3 step system with AMAZING results. i was however going to look for a Mothers wax that may be a little less time consuming. the 3 step stuff looks unreal, but took me a pretty long time to do it. having to coat and buff the 3 steps, multiple times each, really sucks. i actually just got done washing it again (second time this week... i swear the birds in my hood all know my car is brand new ) with Mothers "wash and wax" and it looks great. i am fully aware that this wash and wax is not a substantial waxing, but it should hold me over until i figure out what im going to use for the long term wax. the wash and wax will be my "in between waxes" car wash.

i have never used a clay bar before, but will definitely check them out. thanks for the heads up!

 

The first I did was wash it clean it and clay bar. The car sits on the lots with no real protection. The wax after was applied and the paint was great for the next 4-6 months.

 

I flipped the cargo mat over for a free rubber mat. It's not symmetric so not a perfect fit but does the job for $0.
Anyone flip your rear cargo mat? | PriusChat

I installed 4300k HIDs. They hardly looked brighter than OEM and there were annoying hot spots. Water got into the plug and shorted out one of the ballasts. I put things back the way they were. $60 wasted. I went too cheap I guess.

I also cut out a piece of foam for the forward cup holder to reduce rattle.

Extra air will go into the tires once I've exceeded 36,000 miles or 3 years in case of plausible deniability of warranty repair from the dealer.

My favorite mod cost $8. Green HOV stickers.