Just recently bought a black 2010 Prius II ....mostly to save money on both car payment and more importantly, FUEL ECONOMY. I just came from a 2007 Nissan Titan (Black, with tinted windows, exhaust, black powdercoated rims)....a real "Man's" truck, so needless to say I felt kinda wimpy in my Prius although saving money in payment and gas was helping ease my mind plenty. I still wanted to give my prius a makeover like my truck had. I'm really addicted to the black on black on black look in cars/trucks. Soooooo, I took off the stock hubcaps and blacked out the stock alloy rims using plasti-dip matte black spray and then got all windows tinted with regular dark 20% tint. I fell in love with my Prius all over again. Looks truly amazing in my opinion. Just wanted to share;-)
I'm probably strange. I've always liked the unique and almost geeky look of the Prius. I think I even like the "less" sporty...higher roofline look of the Gen2 better... To me? I don't know why anyone complains about The Prius and how it looks today. To me, it looks like a sporty hatchback...I mean it is what it is...but accept for the signature look of the rear hatch and rather identifiable rear lights...it's bordering on becoming pretty generic looking. Yours looks great. I owned a black pick-up when I was younger, and I currently own a black Honda Fit...I love black vehicles as well...but honestly as I approach middle age? I don't know if my next vehicle will be black...so hard to keep looking clean. But if you can put in the time and effort? IMO nothing looks better when it is up to par...
I am also strange - I actually have come to love the geekiness of the Prius. I still own a full size truck (just for hauling and towing - its all paid for and in great shape - 11 yrs old). The daily driver champ is my Prius, a vehicle that still amazes me 2 years after purchase. The only problem I have with the Prius is I tend to use it as a truck (my bad). My wife has to remind me that is what the truck is for. All told, if i needed to purchase another vehicle today - Prius would be it. Its' a vehicle that makes a lot of sense. DbCassidy
Honest question: isn't the Titan the truck which doesn't have a real LSD? It uses differential braking to achieve the limited-slip effect? Nice job on the car.
Nicely done! Now we need smoked headlight housing (if possible.. I know the easy way out is to smoke the lens but given that the low beams are in a projector housing, I think we can do a smoked-effect on most of the headlight housing).
If you think it needs it, you can go to your local hardware store and get the 1.5" electrical knock out disks, expand the tabs used to hold them in the junction box, and slap them on those rims to cover the hub. I have those on my white IV with unpainted rims. I was going to paint them silver, but the galvanized tin effect matches too well.
I got my knockout covers from Menards, "The Box" brand or something. I have to tell ya, I had to expand the tines quite a bit, and I'm pretty sure the edges ended up gouging part of the rim in the center of the hole. Probably not enough to matter, but you have to splay them quite far, well beyond the "normal bend" that's meant to hold them in place. If it hadn't been so cold, or if I hadn't disliked the stock covers so much, I think I would have opted for spending the $40-ish and gotten proper caps. Not sure saving $36 on caps will be worth it if the rims need replacing because of corrosion in the center holes. though, with extra paint on the rims and painted knockouts, it probably won't be near as sketchy as what I have.
Awesome! Good for you! I kinda felt the same way about my car when I first got it, but now I LOVE the look of my car!! I love it! I too am surprised that people don't find it 'sporty' looking. I think so. Awesome job
Came across this site the other day, and your post. Our rides look the same, but I just painted the hubcaps(don't want to loose that .01 mpg). I'll post a pic soon. My buddy from Europe gave me one of his old Swiss plates, so I have that on as well. I've been rocking Euro plates forever on all my past VW GTi's. For some reason with black on black on black, with the plate, people (at least in Cincinnati) always as what kind of car is that? So funny. I just started trying the hypermiler technique, and I'm already averaging 65mpg!!! I love this car! Cheers on the great styling! :rockon: -David
where is everyone getting these center caps? and whats the best price ur finding? I can definitely seeing it approving the appearance
