What did you do to your Prime today?

Not today, but I made a spare tire back in April, drawing on information from this forum. I posted about it in the Prius OffRoad group since off-roaders are more likely to need a spare.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1228344827537052/user/1424594879

 

Great place! So they're done with the reconstruction then? How does their remodel look? Did they re-do the restaurant and ice cream shop inside as well?

 

My daughter used an app on her iPad called procreate to edit the picture and blur the background. I thought it looked pretty cool.

 

Got our 2021 prime inApril and have put a few minor up grades (just received some of the little stuff today).put on upgraded pedals,covered the locking bar on the doors ,covered the screw heads on the doors.We have also debadged the car and put some chrome welting on the front doors to add some interest and contrast to the black on black door interior.Going to try to attach some pictures (hope it works).

 

Well it looks like the pictures worked on the previous post.We are trying to decide if we should remove the plastic wheel covers and show the alloy wheels with center caps(which we already have). Any comments would be appreciated.Also the prime has the first ceramic coat.

 

My covers were never on the wheels. I had asked that the prep skip that step and to just keep them in the back in the plastic bags. Four years later, I haven't even cup the tape on the bags, which are stored away for when I sell it. The way I figured it, the plastic covers are more for highway speeds if that's what the car is used for most of the time. Isn't the way my Prime gets used, except for the week or two travel to get to and from a vacation - so the efficiency advantage, if there is one, isn't there for me. Also, way easier to check the tire pressures without them on, and no pebbles can find their way into the wheel to chatter around. And they won't fall off -- and losing one costs quite a bit of cash. Not the best look for a wheel, but not all that bad either. The center cap is OEM Toyota 42603-52170.

 

Thanks for the reply .We have the center caps for the wheels and they look good without the plastic covers.We are just trying to make up our minds .We had a 2017 Prius 4 with the tech package and took off the caps .The 2017 had black alloys and looked really good with just the center caps.Thanks for the reply hope everything goes well for you and your family.

 

I’ve whitened her up. Plasti Dip on the center caps and rear emblem. Debadging. Tint in a few weeks.

I did it because I liked it - but I also took into consideration making catalytic converter thieves driving around just a bit less likely to recognize the Prime is a Prius.

 

I got a cat shield on mine, even though I've yet to see a report of a thief snatching one from a Prime. Come to think of it, I don't think I've read about a theft from a Gen 4, period. Not sure if it's because the design itself mostly covers the front cat already?

 

Decided to add some window visors. I like driving with the windows open vs ac on, so when it’s raining, this should help

 

7.6 miles/kWh on the round trip is great. That would be over 40 miles of EV range.

 

Not as high as my best...

 

Today, I rotated the tires. I get free rotations but wanted to do this one myself so I could look things over with my own eyes.

Checked tread depth 8/32-9/32 left after 28,000+ miles. Checked brake pads. Still about 8 mm left after 52,970 on the odometer.

 

Just curious, as someone who usually gets my tires rotated for free at the tire retailer (as you mentioned) , what methodology did you use to rotate your tires? Jack up front or back then place that one side on a jack stand while you manually jack up the same side for the front/rear tire swap? Also, do you have a recommended tire depth gauge? Sorry for the noob questions here. Thanks!

 

I know @jerrymildred is going to answer your questions. And I know he has the way to raise the front end of his PP. But if you don't have a very low profile jack or very low homemade ramp that Jerry uses, you are going to have a hell of the time jacking up the front end of PP.. Besides, even if you do get the front raised, the rotating tire would require to get the rear wheels up at the same time to do the front to back rotation recommended by Toyota.

When I do mine, I only raise one side of the car at a time. And do front to back a swap of the tires. But, most of the time, I do the tire rotation at the time of winter tire changes, so one wheel at a time is all I need to do. I just have to make sure to mark the tire with the location on the car very clearly at the time it comes off so that I know where it should go back to comes next winter change over time.

As for the tire depth gauge, any cheap gauge is better than the penny method, but if you want very easy and accurate reading,
Accutire MS-48B Digital Combination Tire Thread Depth Gauge and Tire Pressure Gauge is what I recommend. It has both tire tread depth gauge and tire pressure gauge in one unit. Mine has a backlight that works even in dark.