Lowering springs and 17 inch wheels

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(roadbkr @ May 26 2006, 01:36 AM) [snapback]261205[/snapback]</div>

You can rest easy knowing that you are NOT the only one who wants to chage the stock look. If you search on this site, you'll find TONS of threads on the topics you've asked about. I'll answer them briefly anyway.

Lowering springs: The TRD kit is not lowering springs. It's a set of matched shocks and springs. SImply adding lowering springs is not hte ideal setup, as the stock shocks are going to give substandard performance. THe TDR kit adresses this by providing specially tuned shocks for hte lowered height. There are springs available. Check http://www.sigmaauto.com/jdm/prius/prius0405.php and go to the bottom of the page. THere are springs available from Modellista and Blitz.

17 inch wheels: Will they lower your mileage? Yes. Will it be drastic? Depends. It all relies on what your drivign style is. If you check my thread http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=17149&hl= and you will see that after instlling my 17" wheels, I dropped from an average of 52 mpg to 42 mpg. But wait! It's not that simple. Becasue of the handling gains fromt he swap, I drove the car much harder. When I went backt o driving like an 80 year old grandmother, I went back up to 51.3 mpg. So the 17" wheels only accounted for a 0.7 mpg drop.

Problems Any problems with lowering and wheels. Simple answer, no. As long as you get a wheel/tire combo that is close in size. A 215/45 17" tire is within 1% of the original size, and will be just fine with no negative effects on the car. Springs? Well, the Prius is already low and prone to scraping the front bumper. Just keep that in mind so when the car is even lower you will be even more prone to do so. Other than that, significantly improved handling is not a problem to me.


One reason you haven't seen many modified Priuses around id beucase the people who buy them are usually not hte type who cares about that stuff. Around here, the average age of Prius drivers is around 65...

 

Hey all to answer your question no your not the only one that wants to change their prius from stock I work at an auto shop and I found that not only does it look better with 17" wheels but it also handles way better I owned a 2005 prius and took the wheels of a 2005 scion TC it took Toyota 5 years to offer this pakege on their 2010 prius witch I now own. So go for it you might try tinting the windows too :rockon:

 

I have a 2008 Prius with TC Rims with Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires. Pros:

1) Car Handles much better and is very stable
2) My mileage in the last 10000 mileage is now 43.3 down from 49.1. I don't believe my driving is any more aggressive than it used to be.

I wonder if these tires are not low rolling resistance. If I still had my old wheels I would switch them back.

 

Tenada has both coil overs and lowering springs for the Prius and Prius C. The springs listr for $325 for all 4 corners, thed coil overs about $1325.
As for 17' wheels you can get fairly lightweight wheels but your biggest need is lightweight tires because that weight is the hardest to turn. Worsde, you want to keep the diamer close toi the oem diameter in order to avoid serious reduyctions in mpg. The oem diameter for 175/65x15 tires is 24" so you need to keep the diameter at 24" or less depending on tire weight. When you have 17" wheels the sidewall height is tghen 3.5", meaning youre on a 45 or 40 series tire, aka 195/40x17 tire on 7x17/5 wheels. Its the setup for the Honda Fit. The oem tire weighs about 15 lb and the best 17" tire is about 18lb so the 23.14" diameter of the 195/40 x17 just about makes up for the heavier tire without causing noticeable speedo or odometer error (about 2.2 mph at 60 mph).
Go ahead;you can indeed have fun. Those tires on my Fit did not change mpg enough to notice.

 

First, larger diameter wheekls may affect the mpg if its that much heavier but the tire weight is far more important. If you kerep the tire weight down with 195/40x17 tires you won't see a penalty.
Second, if you use 215/45x17' you damn well will see a significant drop and truthfully slower lap times at a track like VIR (we know because we tried it on a Fit with a trifle more power.) If you want maximum performance with good looks 195/40x17's are the answer.
For lowering, stick with about an inch lowering aka Tenada Fn springs, Yes, they help a lot and the stock shocks are more than up to the task because the oiston is deeper in the valve ranges.
We are in process of playing with the sway bars now because the oem is a bit too much of an understeer to be quick in corners. So far we've just disconnected the front bar but testing is next weekend. Tallyho.

 

There is an elderly couple in Hawaii that purchased a used 2012 Prius, had the lowering springs (that the previous owner installed) removed and reinstalled the stock springs. They are selling the removed springs for $150, let me know if you want me to try and contact them for you as they just left for an extended trip to Europe the the West Coast.

 

I've thought about going larger just to fill the wheel well and give it a more flush look...
I have stock right now, would going 195x40/17 be much different from stock with MPG?
I'm sorry if it was asked, I've scanned through quickly but didn't see anything comparing stock to it.
I do both city & highway, just to add that in there.

 

The original posting was in 2006 for a Gen II Prius. I suggest you start a new thread.