PriusChat Earth Day Chat

Doh! I didn't realize that.

All the more reason ditch them though. If they require a mod to prevent rubbing, they shouldn't be using them to begin with. They need to engineer a rim/tire upgrade that works with the standard steering setup (to save cost), and doesn't invoke a weight penalty. Maybe that's the challenge to which Doug was referring.

 

I thought I saw a spec sheet somewhere on this forum that showed the tread width on the 17" rim/tires to be essentially the same as the 15"ers. I will look for it and post a link if I find it.

Roy

 

At the risk of being accused of double posting, I would really love to get clarification from PriusTeam on how trivial it will be to change between 15 and 17 wheels on either the IV or the V, preferably before I have to decide to pull the trigger on my pre-order!

 

Either that or just don't ever turn the wheel all the way to the extreme left or right.

If the only time the wheel rubs is when the steering is turned fully to the left or right extremes (which is what it sounds like from the fact that the mods for the 17" are to limit the turning circle), you're only going to encounter that in tight parking situations and you can just train yourself to back off the bump stops a little after you hit them before you start moving. A lot cheaper solution, and it would allow you to have the tighter turning circle should you decide you don't like the 17" and switch to the 15" later.

 

It also occurred to me later that the AT package could also be affected, though I'm not sure how. Even with the same total wheel circumference, I wonder if the distance maintenance and collision avoidance calculations, and stopping distance, could be affected.

 

I misread the data. It was "Tread width (front/rear) 60.0/59.8 (15-inch tires), 59.6/59.4 (17-inch tires)"
Obviously, they were talking about total track width not tread of each tire.

Roy