Operation Spare Tire

With a full-size spare in the left side rear seat foot-well, the driver's seat can still be adjusted fore and aft, although I have not checked the full range. Due to its size, it will restrict the full recline, but that should not be a problem for the driver's seat. Noone drives the driver's seat fully reclined. The cover was purchased at Amazon. Although the tire was an OEM 195/65R15" tire, the 14" tire cover fits perfectly. I am not sure if they have a small enough cover for the compact tire size. The weight of the tire and rim is about 36lbs. (18lbs rim+18lbs tire).

 

Just editorial: should read 65, not 60?

 

Yap, you are correct. I edited my original comment.

 

Some years back we had a picture posted of a Prius where the owner had died in a wreck I wondered at the time what all the big white splotches inside the car were. Turns out it wasn't the wreck that killed him, it was the one gallon cans of white paint in the back.

 

When driving, there are a lot of things that I worry about. Having a blowout with no spare is one of them. But being struck with my compact spare sitting upright behind the passenger seat with the rear seats down is not one of them.

 

How do you know what junkyard wheel will fit? Does any basic prius wheel work?

 

I do the same, largely because of the drivers you mentioned. AFAIK, they don't teach driving anymore. It's because of those idiots (I see several every day) that I want every advantage I can get. Oh, the stories my dashcam could tell.

 

Any full-size wheel or compact spare that came with Gen3 or Gen4 will work. Wheels from Prius V or Prius C will NOT work. I have read that the Gen2 wheels also work, but the Gen2 OEM tire is a different size. Some Corolla and Matrix wheels are also reported to be compatible, but there are so many different sizes depending on the year model, so you may have to make sure that the bolt pattern and center bore and offset are compatible with PP.

Read this thread for more info on full-size wheels.
Aftermarket Wheel Fitment Guidelines | PriusChat

If you are looking for a compact spare, then stick with Gen3 or Gen4, you should be fine. Bus as I commented, a generic full size steel wheel with an old tire will be most likely cheaper than any used full size OEM wheels or maybe used compact tire.

Here is a photo of my full-size spare on my PP.

 

Worth noting: 3rd and 4th gen temp spares are 16” and 17” dia rims, respectively. The tire widths and profiles are adjusted to achieve roughly the same OD as (stock) 195/65R15 tire. The 16” OD is quite close to stock, while the 17” is a bit smaller. Not sure how significant the diff is.

 

I didn't know the Gen3 and Gen4 had the different size temp spare dia rims. I thought they are the same size because the OEM regular stock wheels are the same size.

 

Yeah it’s specd in the Owner’s Manuals, the tire spec pages. Not sure why they would revise.

 

I use a compact spare from a Lexus CT200H that I bought online. Put it on and drove around the block to see if the fit was OK.

 

That institutional-creme colour makes you want to deal with the flat ASAP.

 

I went with a tougher tire route. The michelin defender tires looked like they could handle a nail or two pretty easily and they feel much much more confident on the road than the stock tires ever did. Even though I got roughly 60k out of the stock tires and could have made it 80k a hook from a bungee strap made that a not gonna happen scenario.

 

The Defenders will relax after a few thousand miles and MPG improves. They also will do much better in warm weather than cold.

 

You can just call your wife to drive out & use the spare from her Gen 4 Prius.


If you poor Prime people had bought a Trim 2 or 3 Prius you would not have had that issue