sfprankster's (mis)adventures modding a 2014 Prius Model Three

Nope, my friends at Extreme HID in San Jose did the mount and they removed the front most under carriage cover and there's plenty of room to reach up into the grill.

 

I have VLEDs all over in and on my car(back up, turn signals, marker and everywhere I could place them in the interior). Definitely not cheap, but after a few years the LED's are as bright as ever.

 

SHAMWOW these high beams are bright!!!


The VLED LED is next to a 35w HID. These light up the trees and road signs in the middle of the day.

 

From the Xtreme HID shop in San Jose.

 

Let there be light...


...and there was light.

 

Another (mis)adventure in the dark...

Having a rear hatch cargo light die, I ordered a pair of VLED's 8 LED pod lights. These are another well made product from VLED. The housing are a black anodized aluminum with a split nut for mounting. Since all the wiring was already in place, all I had to do was find where I hid the original interior parts. After a minor search of a few hours(just kidding ), I drilled a small hole and mounted the LED pods, spliced into the wiring and VIOLA!!!




Once it got dark, my cargo space looks like it's lit by stage lights.

 

I went on a binge when I first got this Prius, but slowed down after a while(couple of years or so ). Now with this virus crap going around, I have the time to hunt 'n search for more stuff.

Now that I have the VLED's Micro Extreme LED high beams and had a few drives in the redwoods at night, I regret replacing the HID bulbs and went ahead and ordered a pair of the VLED Micro Extreme LED low beams. So sometime next week, may you never be in the "oncoming" traffic at night.

 

Coming SOON©


...currently in transit via FREE FedEx 2 day shipping...cu


Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the code "TOYOTA10" gives 10% off all orders.



...and no I don't have any affiliation with VLED's, I have used their products for several years and I like the quality of their products.

 

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

FedEx has no recent information on my delivery...

No estimated delivery date, originally it was scheduled for Feb 16. Now only "pending" without a date...
No tracking information beyond the package leaving its origin(Bellingham, WA)...


I'm thinking aliens needed my VLED LED's more than I did...

 

I've been lucky with my orders from China. But I paid for the high speed skiff boat, not the slow one normally used.



Whoo hoo!!!

Fed Ex located my missing package and it was stalled within 250 miles of its original shipping point in Bellingham, WA. Such a relief, it only took FedEx 7 days to move the package from Bellingham, WA to Troutdale, OR, with FREE 2 day shipping. So close to having all LED's in my Prius, just waiting for this last pair.

So now the question is...
How long will it take to get them delivered to CA, another 700 miles...



So it could still be aliens...

 

FedEx finally delivered my lost VLED's package last night, but the contents don't look like anything like what I ordered. I'm positive I ordered the Micro Extreme low beams and for some unknown reason, I received 2 pairs of 1157 mount red and amber LED's that has someone else's name on the packing list.

Time to get creative, engineer an adapter and mount these babies.

 

My 1st idea involves lots of duct tape to make my mod waterproof, drilling a hole in the front bumper cover or lower grill to mount a red Xmas nose early, so I ready for the upcoming season.

 

This LED (mis)adventure was too much, even for me. I give up on the VLED's Micro Extreme LED low beams. It gets old having the VLED's customer service blaming me for FedEx losing my delivery for a week. Then to make it worse, VLED's sent the wrong items and wanted me to pay the shipping to return the incorrect items. What a joke. A quick payment dispute request and my payment was returned by PayPal, in a matter of days. After the payment dispute, VLED's was coincidentally willing to pay for the return shipping of the wrong items. I should have kept them, but I did go ahead and send them back to VLED's.

Since I had money burning a hole in my PayPal account, I ordered a pair of easy mods to appease myself. I ordered some drink coasters($10) and front row floor mats from Weather Tech. I just got the drink coasters today and the install was easy enough, even a caveman could do it(no tools required).

The coasters are made of a nice flexible rubber and they come in 2 sizes per order(2 each size). The smaller of the 2 fit right into the center drink holder without much effort. The coasters must have been made exclusively just for me, knowing I have a habit of spilling drinks with my reckless swerving and weaving through traffic driving style.




Now the wait for the floor mats to arrive continues...


Tomorrow has me on a trip back to Xtreme HID to check out some low beam options for my Prius.

 

A new (mis)adventure begins with the delivery of some Weather Tech front row floor liners yesterday. This should be another mod easy enough for a caveman to do, without the help of any tools. My Toyota floor mats have been in my Prius since I bought it in 2014, and are becoming worn and thin where I drag my feet around while I drive. The Toyota floor liners don't provide the best coverage, and living in the redwoods, there's always something being drug in on my shoes, as seen in the image. So with more coverage with the Weather Tech floor liners, I'm hoping the dump and wipe down makes it easier to clean up after myself.



My only concern with the Weather Tech floor liners is the material is a fairly hard plastic(?) material that may become slick when wet. I know, I shouldn't be wandering around when driving, but you never know. I kind of with the floor liners were made of the same material as the coasters I got last week, more of a flexible rubber.



We're supposed to get rain over the next few days, so I'll wait to take my Prius to the car wash on Friday and get the interior done before I make the effort to install these floor liners.

 

A new (mis)adventure with squeaky suspension ended yesterday. Due to the squeaks, squeals and bird chirps from the front suspension, it became time to replace the struts and a 4 wheel alignment on my Prius. With the magical power of a credit card, I had the OEM struts replaced with a full set of KYB struts. The result, no more squeaky front suspension.

Now my Prius has the same plush ride as a BMW X5(at least I will keep telling myself that ).

 

Weather Tech floor liners successfully installed without a car wash. I had to bust out my mini vacuum and do the floor boards myself.