What's with the Prius's hub caps?

There are some on here who feel the alloy rims are butt ugly, while others love them. You decide

 

Improved aerodynamics.

 

They're just shipping covers designed to protect the wheels during transport. Feel free to discard them.

Mike

 

I finally found some low cost 'plugs' to fill the center hole in the wheels. They're all brass and 'friction' fit into the openings. Four plugs for about $ 7.00.

 

Link?

 

They're actually transported with the hubcaps off.

 

No.

This is the first (fossil-fueled U.S. market) production car that has ever needed to use just about every little trick they could squeeze in to get that headline milestone of "EPA 50 MPG".

For all other cars, that milestone has been just a hysterical fantasy.

 

I'm not so sure I buy the aerodynamics aspect of it. There's probably much more designs they could have used if they wanted to, and at that point, why not just use a standard, cheap alloy wheel with cover? I always considered it more of a protective cover. Prevent a lot of the dings from curbs, pot holes, rocks, etc that get flung up. But then, I go back to the using a standard, cheap wheel with cover again.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was done mostly as a design aspect. The wheel design looks better than the cheap wheels w/ hubcaps but the cover may serve as a protective cover for that.

I think it falls into the category of questions, with "how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?"

 

The "improved aerodynamics" are more than offset by reduction in weight.

 

If the wheel covers are intended to improve aerodynamics and thus increase MPGs, I have yet to see it. I've had mines for a month and a half now, and I took the covers off about three weeks ago. My MPG calculations (based on miles driven divided by how many gallons of gas I put in to top off the tank) have not changed since the removal.

I suppose it really comes down to a question of aesthetics. Some like that the spokes of the covers "flush out" at the edge of the rim (like pretty much what all wheel covers do) and give the perception that the wheel diameter is larger. Some (myself included) like how the thin spoked alloys look. To me they look very JDM-ish, I'm often tempted to get them powder coated dark bronze.

 

Absolutely.

But on the same token it appears that whatever difference the covers make is very minuscule perhaps even negligible.

 

I wish to purchase the plugs, do you have a link or toll free phone number???
thanks
JDS

 

Taken individually, many changes are minuscule and likely to be undetectable to regular drivers, masked by the large daily and seasonal variability.

But taken together, they can really add up. My recollection, from just before the release, was that Toyota was struggling to get that 50 MPG EPA rating, which is based on far more precise and repeatable tests than we owners can possibly replicate.

 

They are there to control air flow to the brakes.