OK - that's a hub cap to regular folks like you and me. The alloy wheels on the Prius are not bad looking. Do the wheel ornaments serve a real purpose? I just did the seasonal "snow swap" and currently find myself in a quandary as to whether to put the wheel ornaments back on.
You can find them everywhere. Your dealer can get them, you can find them on ebay and there are several people on the forum that have discovered some creative ways to use items found at the hardware store.
If you swapped snow tires on the OEM rims, I would put the covers back on. It will help protect the alloy wheels from damage. Summer would be a good time to expose the wheels w/ center caps.
I have a 2012 model five on order. On the website it lists models 2-4 as having "15-inch 5-spoke alloy wheels w/ full wheel covers" and the model five gets "17-inch 5-spoke alloy wheels." Does this mean that the two, three and four have plastic hubcaps and the five has sexy alloy wheels without hubcaps? Say yes.
I was wondering the same thing? Does the covers actually do anything? I bought my Prius used, and it had no wheel covers. I don't know if my milage would be better with them on. I looks more aerodynamic. Does the covers improve MPG?
I was never able to get confirmation that I was getting better mpg with them on. In fact, all of my highest mileage tanks were with them off. I took them off after about 6 months and have kept them in storage ever since. I will put them back on when I sell the car and let the new owner decide what they want to do.
I dropped by a local Toyota dealer yesterday. Center caps were $15.72 apiece plus tax. They had to be ordered, and the parts man seem genuinely surprised that these were not included with the vehicle.
My local Toyota dealer called today indicating that they were cancelling my order for the center caps because they were convinced that these would not fit my wheels. This was after they had already collected payment for this "special order" item. Is it just me, or are Toyota dealers normally this inflexible and unwilling to satisfy their customer's needs?
