Mine were plastic and are hanging in the garage. I saw a single sell on ebay recently for $31 so someone must like them.
Actually, mine are in the well house, along with the Integrity tires, so I can restore my Silver Cloud to original condition when the time comes to trade. Clean, dry, and out of the way.
I think they're flat, er, "extraneous"-looking (i.e., just shy of ugly). Why don't we all mail 'em back to Toyota, c/o Dept. of Over-engineering?
I like the trim rings. I saw another Prius in a parking lot a couple weeks back without the trim rings and frankly the vehicle looked naked.
I took mine off of one side and had my wife and daughter give me their opinion. THey both voted to keep them on.
I suspect that the rings are either there for aerodynamics or to save the alloy rim from scratches if you rub a curb. Not sure about the aerodynamics, but they do protect the outer edge of the alloy.
One of my rings is at the dealer. Forgot to put it back on after rotating the tires for an oil change. Been waiting for a replacement for months. Almost bought that one seasalsa saw on eBay.
Has anyone tested their mileage with and without the trim rings? Those engineers in the prius division really did their homework on making this car efficient, maybe the removable rings were a compromise between engineering and marketing? I'd be interesting to know what they were there for...
Probably a weight issue. I wonder if plastic is lighter than the alloy used in the wheel. For example, the 16" alloys on the Euro/JDM Prius are actually small. The nice spokes you see are plastic covers.
Mine are sitting on a shelf in my laundry room (no other convenient place to store them). Personally I think the car looks better without them. Yesterday I saw a Tideland Prius here in Chapel Hill that had one on the rear wheel but was missing one on the front wheel. That reminded me of those cars back in the '70s that were driving around missing a hubcap.
kicking this up for Walker 1 and flareak Walker and/or flareak, if you read this, please post so I'll know.
Must have been mine. We're enjoying going au natural inspite of the cold weather. I'm keeping my rings for summer. Thought they might make a novel frisbee.
I put them away for future Ebay fodder. Perhaps in 5-10 years someone will pay more than the car cost me for the 4 of them.
My friend put mine on his H2 and he's now getting 32 mpg highway and 27 mpg city. Obviously just joking, he actually hung them from his rear view mirror.
