Any recommendations anyone can give on restoring these wheels corroded from either ten years of driving in the snow (or someone screwing them up trying to remove salt/road stuff from ten years in the snow). I'm a newbie- didnt know if it was okay to replace them with a cheap aftermarket wheel at a tire warehouse?
I don't think they are worth restoring because nice wheels can be purchased fairly cheap ($200-$600). The cost of trying to restore them could be greater. Look for used Prius wheels as replacements. Wheels from an GenII or GenIII (2004-2012) will fit. The 2012 black wheels sell for around $200-$500 with tires! Check eBay as well. The GenII 15" wheels are cheap.
I figured when I saw the 4 lugs. So disregard my earlier advice about used 2004-2012 wheels as they will not fit your car. If you can find a nice set from a wheel store you can use those. Just make sure the width and offset are as close as possible to the factory numbers.
If you keep the specs the same then you'll be fine. Get rid of those Cooper tires too. They are not very fuel efficient. A good replacement tire would be the Michelin Defender. Get them when they are on sale with a $70 rebate. They are semi-fuel efficient and they should last a really long time.
You can get wheels for as low as $72 each at discounttiredirect, with free shipping, or tirerack from $73, but you'd need to pay for shipping....
C Clay, Just to let you know, I have attempted to restore those wheels on 2 separate occasions. On both occasions, I finished one wheel and gave up. It is a lot of work and it is so hard to get to all the areas. Only the small wire brush for a Dremel tool can get to some of the places and they disentigrate very quickly. My advice is, just deal with what you got. You'll be a lot happier.
Professional restoration places can blast the wheels with walnut shells and clean em up but it takes tire removal and remount and it isn't cheap. On another car 4 years ago $100 a wheel for an aluminum wheel and repaint. And yours would have to be sealed.
I agree. Used to live not too far from you, (I think,) in Seven Hills. One winter and my '04 Sienna wheels looked pretty bad. I didn't try but maybe wheel wax would help. (I did try those rust proofing places like Ziebart...)
Ah seven hills- not far from my place of work at the big card company. Where you a Prius driver here? If so, where's a reputable place to for service? This car was a two owner car originally purchased in Mentor Ohio- always lived its life in Mentor or a brief stint in Alaska- I'm surprised its not a rust bucket!
Wow, cool. I remember seeing the greeting card building, but I forgot the name. (I had to search it up.) I forget why I would go over to Tiedeman. I think there was a Sam's Club there. A couple of other things too, (I think I remember a Cracker Barrel. And maybe an h.h.Gregg warehouse where we picked up a TV. ) My family was supposed to be there for 2 yrs as my wife was training at Metro Health, but I left with our son one year early because we were having issues. That was back in 2008. I wish I could tell you a good place for service. I didn't have a Prius then. I remember taking the Sienna to a dealer somewhere off Brookpark. It was Metro Toyota now that I looked it up. (I remember them because they had good prices on Navigation DVDs. I even ordered one while I was here in CA from them.) I try to do as much as I can on my own. Service manuals are available from Toyota if you are so inclined. I am glad to hear that it is not a rust bucket! I remember seeing rusty holes in some cars'/trucks' rear quarter panels!!!
