Well, I picked up a new 2012 Blizzard Pearl Pri II w/the dark grey interior on Saturday! I swung by my local tint shop today and had some good ceramic stuff laid on the windows, then went to the tire shop on my way home and ended up with some new 17's that were WAY cheaper than the one's the dealership are selling. I couldn't be happier with the results! Check out my pics and let me know what you think, as well as if I should do anything that may be obvious to you more seasoned guys. As of now, I am planning on getting the lower door moldings and maybe the painted door moldings as well. I am not fully sold on the mid-door moldings yet.
Congrats on the new wheels, literally and figuratively. Gotta be careful with those wheels though, the way the spokes curve out, they are going to be too easy to curb.
These rims actually do not protrude past the tire, so they should remain somewhat safe unless I really curb-check the car one day. I only know this now because I got all scared and ran outside to the car after reading your post! I was relieved to find that the pics were a bit of an optical illusion.
Yep, I usually have to do something to make my vehicles a little more unique. As for lowering, I hadn't given that much thought. The car seems to sit pretty well right now, but it'd be interesting to see now that you mention it. I can't see myself putting too much money into something like that, but might do it if it only cost a few hundred dollars.
Lowering Springs can be found for less than $ 200.00 at many on line vendors and the labor to install can run from $ 150.00 and up if you pay someone. The overall install is pretty easy and most owners with a little mechanical experience can do it in about 3 hrs start to finish. I went with Ebach springs and am happy with the results, car rides, handles and looks better IMO
Mod 3 complete = 6000k H11 HID kit w/slim balasts Mod 4 complete = Every bulb on inside and outside of Prius is now 6000k LED...sweet! Mod 5 pending = Lower door OEM trim to be delivered on Thursday and installed roughly 10 minutes later. Mod 6 = Not sure yet, but the product is looking good so far! Here's the latest pics after my lighting upgrade this evening.
Cool Prius and cool mods, welcome aboard . I like how on light colored 2012 models, the lower piece on the front bumper right below the radiator grill shows up more clearly. It makes the car more aggressive looking. On darker Prius, like winter gray or black, it's doesn't contrast as much! I might have to move the JDM lower front bumper chrome garnish up on my mod list .
Okay, so my new lower door moldings came in the mail today, and I immediately installed them on the passenger side of the Pri. I sat there and stared at it for a while, then looked at it from a few other angles, some close and some farther out. No matter how long I looked at them, I couldn't talk myself into liking them. They look really tacky on my car (in my opinion), and they seemed like they are the better looking and not as retarded sibling of those crappy chrome pillar covers and stick on fender vents that people put on ghetto cruisers. I ended up turning that side of the car to face the sun and then left it there for an hour. Once the hour was up, I came outside and ripped them off the car. It looks so much cleaner without them there. So much for that mod! Here's the pic of them installed, and then another later on after I took them off:
I got the LED parking lights on eBay for $2 each. They match my HID's very well, and they look really good when I have my parking lights on since both the lower LED fogs and the LED parking lights are lit at the same time. I've had a few Prius owners nearly break their neck turning to see my car as we pass in traffic. Pretty funny!