Hello, After reading through all of the spare and doughnut treads I was unable to find if anyone has looked in to the Mercedes tires and if there is a way to get them on a wheel that works with the PIP. In case you did not know the Mercedes spare is deflated, and expands when inflated, it is quite impressive. Here is a link to a vid (NSFW due to language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj5mTCUWJO8 If we could get a tire like this on a wheel that fits the PIP that we may have a much smaller option for a spare.
I did a bit more research and there is a tire that is 145/70R17 that is only .1 of an inch different in diameter. However I have yet to find 1, this tire alone for sale and 2 a rim the the needed Prius bolt pattern that fits this tire.
I had one of these on my 1977 Chevy Monza V8. I can't say how it performed, because luckily, I never had to sue it. It had a CO2 cylinder that inflated it to the size of a full sized tire.
I had one of these expandable jobs in my Audi allroad. Used it several times over my ownership, and it worked very well. The one that I had was made to fit a standard 7" rim, as thickness wasn't an issue for spare storage, rather diameter. I think that Is the case for most of these, so it may not be a suitable spare for a Prius... FYI.
