What did you do to ur Gen III Prius today????

I had a Sunday with nothing to do so test fitted all 4 wheels (plus test drove) I bought for the winter season for the first time. I was really itching to see how the whole car would look with them but I'll be taking these off in a few days since the soft winter tread will be tortured in the dry pavement. I also wanted to see how the ride quality of the Michelin X-ice3 tires compare to my noisy Toyo Proxes A20. The problem is that that OEM Toyo Proxes A20's (215-45R17) are just extremely loud. So loud that at normal speeds, my nice stereo system is drowned out by the noise! People here on the forums are saying that they are fine. So who's right and who's wrong?

Today proves my hunch that I have been having - the A20's are crap. Perhaps they have a long tread life and give good mileage (plus they look awesome with the rim protector) but the level of noise they produce and the comfort level leave much to be desired...They are not even worn as I only have 13,000km worth of driving on my car. The Michelin X-ice Xi3's are wayyy more quieter than the Proxes A20. I don't have a decibel meter to show you guys but I am dumbfounded. How can an aggressive winter tire be quieter than an all season tire made by a reputable company such as Toyo. (P.S. - The Toyo's also cost something like 250$ per tire in my size to replace). Total BS!

The amazing thing is that after driving around with these Michelin X-ice3's all day today, my instantaneous fuel consumption has not changed...that is pretty incredible! I don't know how they perform in the snow or ice yet but I can tell you guys that these LRR winter tires are quite special; and I believe a perfect match for the Prius.

Anyways, to all the members here considering getting SSR GT-VO2's - here are some pictures of the nice JDM rims on my Prius. I love the matt black finish and I think they look just good enough to stand out but not overdone and cheesy. The offset is conservative but I don't care since I am not aiming for looks or performance in this setup. I am using hubcentric rings so that the wheels mate with the hubs of the car perfectly. I'm not sure if this is needed since the wheels are already lugcentric but there are no vibrations at low or high speeds.

]





I reckon that some would prefer a more flusher look but 50mm offset is fine with me; esp for winter rims. This is the rear wheel.



This is the front wheel.



I also tested my new hydraulic lift for the first time too. It is great not to have to take the OEM scissorjack out the trunk and sweat your balls off trying to lift one corner. This hydraulic jack might be the best thing I've bought for the car!

 

about to pull the trigger to buy some rims, am i going to be ok with some 15" x 6.5" 43mm offset wheels on my 14m PRIUS?

will it sit flush or stick out? any clearance issue? anyone know?

 

Did you new sticker just add the blue part or is it replacement for the entire center circle emblem?

Mine is worn and a new one would be great... is there any way you could help me get one?

 

Drove mine for first time on tollway. avereged 58mpg according to computer, happy with that and it shouldnt be higher than 10% over actual. which would be at leasr 53 mpg. I am Very happy with that.

 

I never used the SG but I believed both are the same OBD II Monitoring System. The different might be only Blitz has bigger screen, easy to read, can Diagnose and Clear ECU Codes.

It's just the blue part that fill in the steering wheel.

You can order it from here:

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/carshop/10572906/

 

Well I dropped my Prius off at the dealer today! Got a full alignment last Wednesday. Drive to work through the city on Thursday and Friday I had to do some Highway driving. When I am in the highway as I'm accelerating and get up to around 60-70 I have some bad front end vibration.... floor and all. I immediately took the may to merchants since they mounted and balanced the new wheels a month ago so they could check. Ended up rebalancing them all. When I picked up I still was having the problem. So this morning I put the factory wheels back on because they installed brand new tires at the dealer when I bought the car a few months back and it had a fresh balancing on them as well. End of having the same issue with the factory wheels on so I believe I've ruled out the wheels. Only thing I've done in the last few months is lowering Springs.. STB.... front end tanabe sway bar. I've found a few treads in this forum that are have the bad 60/69 mph vibrations but there a few years old and never had a fix or what it was.

Any ideas from you guys?

 

Oh crap...this is what I fear. That is why I am holding off installing my coilovers. Hope everything plays out well for you. I wonder what would happen if you bring it to a different alignment shop and have them compare the specs of the current alignment with what their computer says is normal.

More than a decade ago, I helped my sister buy new tires for her un-modded civic. The car then had an alignment shortly after. A year passes and the 4 new tires have experienced massive irregular wear and there is no more tread left. no doubt the alignment shop did not do the right job. I am weary of getting an alignment done now. I bet at least half of the techs that do alignments don't know what the heck they are doing.

Good luck

 

^Yea but since Toyota did the alignment last week it's there now... and u would think they know what we're doing. Guess I'll find out what a going on when they look at it n the morning

 

Could be a blown strut or busted hub if your lucky. Hopefully Toyota doesn't blame the lowering for the problem.


iPhone ?

 

So either one of them wouldn't happen at all times and only during the high speeds I described? (60-70 mph)

 

^ So it ends up being my front driver side axle is falling apart the dealer says. (Of course I didn't tell them that my friend accidentally pulled off the axle boot during installing(removing the factory sway bar) as he said a step from that install was missing and had it been there it would have never happened) the grease ran all out...well grease is suppose to be pretty think but some sort of fluid (ounce or two) came out. So they hit me with the call I was worried about and said the axle doesn't look like its seated properly and my warranty wont cover it. Its not from lowering it at all...we screwed this up! So they say like $350 for oem axle and total would be like $885!!!! damn im sick! I found used like new from 2012 with 1 year warranty for $160 jus waiting to see what my mechanic will charge me...Hopefully a lot cheaper than $130/hr. as dealer said it'll take 3 1/2 hrs. Anyone have any good advice or write ups on a axle install for a 2012 third generation Prius?

 

No preaching here, just sorry that happened and sorry they discovered it was not a defect. Let us know how the saga ends.

 

FYI did some digging, found this Scion one and took a chance. Fit fine. Attachments not working for some reason so I can't post pics. It's not a flat sticker, it's "puffy"

Toyota iQ LX-Mode Steering wheel Emblem Sticker JDM KGJ10 NJG10 Sion iQ2008～2013

thanks

 

Bought these Prius TSS rims

 

Sure look dark? They're not as dark as they look, right?

 

Yes they are. they are powder coated black.

 

Replaced the amber LED footwell light to blue LED footwell light from Rakuten. Very good quality!!

 

How hard is the install and do they have the leds in white?

 

Looks cool!

 

Not difficult at all. Took me 10 minutes to replace both. They have a few colors available. I think I paid $30 shipped and took them a week or two to get here from Japan.