17" Wheel/Tires & Mud Flaps Installed

Those with 17" tires, do they make the car handle much better? I really want to try a car with 17" tires before I buy, but no one has a prius V to test drive. I don't like the body roll. I'm not sure if it needs more suspension components to give a better ride, or simply a tire up grade. Does the Prius V have any different suspension components or tuning than the ones with 15" tires. I don't want to wait for a V and don't want leather so am likely to buy a II and change wheels/tires.

 

Of course the 17" wheel/tires make the car handle better but body roll is still pronounced. When going into a corner hot simply let the body roll and set then cut in harder.

The ride will get worse, as in bumpier, with the 17's as will road noise in most cases but it's tough to have your cake and eat it too.

 

Any new updates on who may be selling the mud flaps? I can't seem to find them on eBay

 

Don,

There is a mudflap thread. They are available on ebay.co.uk. I can't remember the name of the Toyota dealer selling them off the top of my head.

 

Here you go. The UK's 2009 is our 2010.

eBay Store ? Pentagon Toyota Sheffield: Search results for.

 

Ordered, thanks!

By the way, in case some folks don't know about it, eBates is a great way to earn cash back on online purchases. I'm only mentioning it because one of the MANY "stores" it works with is eBay. I use it anytime I'm buying something off eBay and I get 2% cash back on any purchase. Works great.

If it sounds like something you may be interested in, use this link so we both can get $5 when you sign up. Not a scam, works great (my wife and I have been using it for a while).

 

I'm also *very* interested in this. When you get it on, can you PM me? I'm also in nova, and it would be nice to check it out too, as you are pretty close by.


On the road noise thing, I noticed that as well. I'm thinking about getting some sound damping stuff and doing my entire car... It would be slick to have a "take apart your car day", and get a bunch of peeps + beer and have a blast doing it. I got a set of nylon interior panel removal tools in the mail too.

 

Expect it to be expensive if you have a shop do the install for you. If you plan on doing the work yourself then it will still be somewhat expensive for the material and expect a lot of work and some sore hands.

 

Brian, thanks for the information,

Let us know how the brace works out. I wouldn't call a bumpier ride with more solid footing worse, I don't like road noise though. I know on my last car, the tire made a huge difference on road noise. That rim doesn't look very aero either, so I wonder if it contributes to the noise.

I'm torn on the wheel/tire upgrade on 16 versus 17. It looks like you can put 16x205R55s or 16x225R50s on the car, I wonder whether one of these might be a better choice when it comes to noise. What do you think? I do like the look of the 17s though. I assume I'll end up adding different springs, or braces to help with the body role.

I now have a Prius II on order thinking that the handling can be tamed. I did the II rather than the III since it seems like I'll need to change speakers anyway. Are you happy with your speaker choice. I may have the shop add some sound deadening material in the doors when the change the speakers. F8L are you happy with the sound mods that you have done?

 

I am very pleased with my set up but I would not recommend these exact components to anyone unless they were rich. You could easily duplicate my system with less expensive components and have a great sounding system. The two 12" subwoofers and 1500w amp may a bit overkill for a lot of people on here so a single quality 10" sub and 300-500w would be more than enough for great sound and a bit of kick when you want it.

I'm setting up something similar for Hyo Silver if he ever gets around to buying the stuff.

 

Venom, do you feel like the mudflaps make the car look any " cheaper" so to speak? Icve had mine on my black prius and there's something odd about them being the only rubber/ matte finish looking part on the car. Kinda reminds me of the types of things many cars had in the 90's. Oh well it should start raining soon so maybe function will trump form enough for me to keep wth it. Otherwise I'll be selling em here in private sales and looking into a subtle lip kit

 

We can assme the the greatest majority of Prius owners are frugal and I am no exception. But..... man I like the 17" wheels & tires. I think Brian (Venom) got a very reasonable deal. After reading everything I could on this website, I issued myself a challenge. How little money can I spend and upgrade to 17"? It needs to look good and be light weight. This is what I found:
Discount Tire Direct - MB Wheels 17X7 5-100 42SM (19.4 lbs) $330.00 with the online savings and free shipping.
Local Tire Dealer - can balance, install, etc. Goodyear RS-A Eagle P215/45R17 (OD 24.7, RPM 848) for $496.48. With a $40 Goodyear rebate, I can upgrade for $786.48. Let me know what I am overlooking before I pull the trigger.

 

You can probably factor in some money you'd get if you sold your stock wheels and tires. Seems like on eBay the stock 15" rims go for ~ $300. I haven't checked in a while but that seems like what they were last time I did.

 

I just got my 08 and its got brand new tires. I hate to upgrade to 17" when i could get the 15" and swap my tires over. Did i mention that I hate road noise.
Does anyone have this set up on 15" SP10?


Venom your car looks awesome!

 

I have a '10 Prius IV with sunroof, nav etc and also upgraded the tires and wheels to 17's. Just remember to add the cost of new sensors for the wheels and the cost for your dealer to reprogram the TPMS system so the warning light won't illuminate.