Car Care Guy in his video shows the Prime XSE has lug bolts instead of nuts holding the wheels on. Never seen this before in 50 years of driving, but understand it does occur. Question is - does this complicate fitting aftermarket wheels? Are chrome or black available as needed? Just seems really weird, and don't know if it's just the XSE or SE also?
This was only on those pre-production cars. It seems they changed their mind after the bZ4X suffered wheel bolt problems, and the production cars have nuts. The one remaining clue in the production design is that the luggage compartment trays have little slots that seem to be intended for a guide pin and wheel bolt socket, like the bZ4X.
I think the Prius may have dodged a bullet there - launching just in exactly that bZ4X problem time-frame, so they needed an immediate fix. His recent Toyota Crown review shows bolts again. The Prius will likely stick with nuts for the whole generation - I imagine changing it would require type approval updates, and cause general confusion.
Good, I hate those German-style lug bolts. Since my son-in-law has a VW, and we do his maintenance, I got a set of these lug bolt alignment pins to help with tire rotations. You just remove a lug bolt on the top of the wheel, put one of these in, and then remove rest of the bolts without the wheel falling....and just reverse to put the wheel back on....very neat invention.
The Supra has bolts because BMW uses bolts. Looked like Toyota started switching after the experience there. When there isn't any issues, they likely mean cost savings for the manufacturer.
I’m curious if The Pre-Production Prius Prime reviewed on The Car Care Nut was intended for the European market.
No, it's US-spec - clearly visible differences are the red interior trim, Prime + XSE badges, side reflectors, front accent lights, complex passenger-side wiper armature, and no rear foglight. European cars have grey trim with blue panel light, PHEV badge, no side reflectors or front accent lights, simple passenger-side wiper, and a rear foglight in the centre of the bumper.
