Bought a 08 touring model in nov 07, with the #6 package,yesterday went to air my tires after reading a lot of posts about better mileage with the 42/40 and thought i had alloy wheels, i have the 16inch tires, but what about the ugly little plastic covers over the wheels, is that their alloy wheels? Just wondering, by the way I love the car, very happy. TBRAD
Brad, Congratulations on your purchase! You are going to love your Prius more and more every day. You do have alloy wheels - they are under the little plastic 'rings'. You can easily pop the rings off with a bit of effort, to see what the alloys look like without them. They are fairly easy to get back on the wheel as well. See previous posts & photos here to see the results. In addition to improving the aerodynamics of the Prius, the little plastic rings also greatly protect the alloy wheels themselves from 'curb rash'. That is the main reason I leave mine on - it's easier and a lot cheaper to replace the plastic rings from too many close calls with the curb or other objects than to replace the alloy wheel itself. I personally like the way the non-touring Prius looks without the plastic rings, and prefer the plastic rings on the touring Prius. It's an individual preference, I suppose.
Hi tbrad, The 42/40 recommendation is for the 15 inch wheels. Its been shown that the 42/40 results in better tire wear on these tires. Which implies the tire patch is proper at this pressure with the 15 inch times. So, its more than a pure fuel economy thing. I do not think any conclusions about higher pressures has been proved with the 16 inch tires. The door jam posted pressure may be just right, or may also be low. Overinflating the tires might result in less traction if it goes too far. So, carefully search by going up in pressure a little at a time. If the handling changes for the worse then you have gone too far.
yes the wheels are alloy, there are plastic cover over it but underneath it's all alloy, magnesium to be precise... like in very high end sports car.
Conrad do you run it like that, I think it looks better, I wouldn"t think it would affect your mileage that much. Just thinking i like the look. tbrad
I actually like both looks, with and without the wheel covers. The beauty of the Touring wheels is that I can switch back and forth. What I do is switch everytime I wash my car. Right now, I am liking the without look. In a week or so, I'll switch back. I even considered running wheel covers on one side only. Then I can have both looks at once.
To complete the covers off look you need a set of 4 centre chrome caps from the non touring version otherwise it doesn't look as smooth.
You can go with the OEM Toyota center dust caps for $13.00/each. Or you can do what I did. I went to PepBoys and got Mr. Gasket's Chrome Dust Caps for $6.99/pair. I had to do a little modifying to get them to fit snugly but I think the match the chrome of the lug nuts perfectly.
I think you should pull your wheel covers from the front and leave the back ones on. Just think of all the stories you can make up to tell your buddies that ask why. Example: "It protects the special rear-wheel drive." "It cools the heavy duty braking system by blocking sunlight." Etc.....etc......etc.....
