OK, I took off the trim rings because I really prefer the look of the wheels without them and I can't afford racing disks yet. I just drove home from New Hampshire and couldn't get my mileage for the tank over 50. I spent a lot of time around 49.7 or 49.8 and I ended up around 48.6 or so. I'm thinking of putting them back on to see if they make a difference with my mileage. What do you all think? That 50mpg line is a big psychological thing with me... Do they really have some effect? If any of you have the racing disks, do you have the pop-on kind or the screw-on kind? I'm pretty uncomfortable with drilling my wheels and having to periodically put a dollop of silicon on them to keep them from leaking... Personally, the pop-ons sound better to me and it seems like it would be much easier to check the air pressure, too.
My guess is that if you drive the same route in the same way with the same weather, that you'd see about 49.6 or 49.9 with the covers back on. Drive 0.5mph slower on average and you'll increase your mileage by more than anything those rings could add. OR add more air to the tires. Or just drive down-wind. [/quote]If any of you have the racing disks, do you have the pop-on kind or the screw-on kind? [/quote] There is no pop-on kind for the alloy wheels. But some folks have made their own by drilling into those plastic disk, and installing the caps to the disks. Then pop the disk on the same as before, and you're off to the races.
If any of you have the racing disks, do you have the pop-on kind or the screw-on kind? [/quote] There is no pop-on kind for the alloy wheels. But some folks have made their own by drilling into those plastic disk, and installing the caps to the disks. Then pop the disk on the same as before, and you're off to the races. [snapback]220382[/snapback][/quote] <_< :blink:
Mine have been off for a few weeks now and my mileage has improved. It might be my 6 month learning curve (someone once posted timelines for adjustments to the Prius). I can't imagine that they would make a huge difference. Maybe you are driving a bit faster now that the ride looks cooler!
Is it just me, or do the quotes have a mind of their own lately? Sometimes they just don't work! And back to the subject... though I was being silly, I am quite serious that I'd be SHOCKED to find any hard evidence that those trim rings could have any significant impact on mileage one way or another. Why not just make a smoother wheel to begin with, one wonders... But the bottom line - even if it only makes you THINK you're saving gas - there's no reason not to use them. I'd personally pay $1/day to not have them on the car. I've already given mine away to a guy who likes to make love to the curb at frequent intervals. For him, these are GREAT. His wheels are still unscratched, but he's destroyed three out of the four rings.
Those ugly trim rings have no effect whatsoever on the mpgs. Those disks are not going to help either if that's what you are going for....unless you drive 200+ on the salt flats every day.
I know, but at least the disks look cool, efficient, and fast. B) The trim rings look... well... ugly. :blink:
I think that the real purpose of the trim rings is damage control. In the course of parking, we all will one day scrape a wheel on a curb and chew up the edge of whatever contacts the curb. Would you prefer that be a relatively cheap piece of plastic or the actual wheel?
yeah! who needs those ugly trim rings!! If you guys don't want them, I do! I park on the street all the time, already got couple of bad scratches. PM me, I'll buy couple from you guys.
I'd prefer to have the car look good until I screw up. No sense in starting off ugly, and feeling like I can't make it much worse.
I'm not sure of the thread, but on Friday (3/3) someone had disks and said they actually dropped the MPG by 1.5. Something to do with air flow. I haven't found that thread yet.
Racing disks are interesting. I personally think it is worth losing a little mpg on this car for some better wheels. The "rims" hubcaps that come with it are pretty ghetto looking.
Recently there has been a lot of discussion on "hubcaps," more properly wheel covers, on the Gen III forum. Apparently at the Gen III pre-release event the "Chief Engineer" said that at, least for the Gen III, the wheelcovers are intended to contribute to FE. There are conflicting reports as to whether with or without gets the best FE. I think that there are just too many variables for any one driver's experience to be determinative. For the Gen II, to my knowledge neither Mother Toyota, nor any of her minions has said anything about the design of the Gen II wheel covers. With or without, it's up to you. Personally, I'm going without the covers on my '08 Touring model and don't see any meaningful adverse FE effect via ScanGauge. (I do not even remotely try to get within the 6" from the curb when parallel parking that is required to pass the Merlin state driver's license test. ) YMMV Interesting numbers on the contribution of the wheels and wheel wells to total vehicle drag in this Opel document, pages 29-31.
Nice red ! Back in the day rims were the wheel rings you put on ugly wheels. People call wheels rims which is incorrect. Wheel rings as they are now called serve some purpose. I don't know what since the wheels are nice looking. With or without I still get the same mpg. I chose to chrome mine the same color as the car (dark chrome). They twinkle as they go around. To each his own. I can't sell them, they would just hang around in the garage and if they look good or not is an opinion. Plain factory, I agree they look getto (my .02 cents).
The purpose was already stated in this thread, it's protection for the outer surface of the rim from curbs when parking. The only other purpose is for aesthetics, but I (like many others here), prefer the look without them.
