17" Wheels???

Damn - I have an '05 Tideland package 6 and I was just getting set to buy a set of those exact whells on Ebay too. Do you have any pictures? I am interested to know if the wheels fit inside the fenders w/o sticking out at all. I would love to see some pictures from the side looking at the wheel on the car and then looking from front to rear to see if there is any tire or rim extending beyone the fender. Thanks, Cairo94507

 

Alterations to wheels/tires from OEM can affect car computed MPG.

 

Harold-
Send to [email protected]
Why are you selling the rims and what are you going to put on instead?

 

yes, the larger the wheels the more energy that is required to turn them to have the right speed where the tire meets the road. You should see a drop in MPG, but I am not sure how much. Did you make sure you also changed the spedometer gears to reflect your correct speed? Or does the Prius use something different to measure speed?

 

Depending upon which tire he went with, the speedo may be fine. The Scion TC comes with 215 45 ZR 17 tires which when mounted on the wheel has a 24.6" overall diameter and has 847 Revs per mile. This is VERY close to a stock Prius which has a 24.4" diameter and 855 Revs per mile. In other words the speedo should not be affected.

I would be more concerned with the overall weight increase of the tire/wheel combination compared to stock and how much the ride quality suffered going with such a low aspect ratio tire.

On the positive side, the handling and stability of the car should be much improved but is that worth the MUCH rougher ride and associated tire noise??

I would like to see the 16" OEM version of the wheels available here as an option. This way we could use some nice tires that have more than 1mm of sidewall and a much improved ride over the 17" versions.


Brian

 

Hello Harold. I am glad to see that the ride and noise levels did not suffer too bad due to the larger wheels/tires.

The Pirelli 215 40 ZR17 have a diameter of 23.8" and aprox 883 revs per mile. Your speedo will be reading a little fast but I personally would not worry about it too much. Perhaps a 1-2 MPH difference but nothing too terrible.

Brian

 

Hello again... Anytime you have more friction, you are going to get a reduction in gas mileage. The factory size tires are 185 65 15 and going to a 215 40-17 results in a lot more rubber on the road, hence friction.

This is usually great for handling and braking but not so good for fuel economy. There were some guys that have reported as much as a 4-5 MPG hit but I would believe that it depends on what kind of driving you do that would dictate the exact fuel economy penalty.

Brian


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(harold\";p=\"89684)</div>

 

I've had 17 inch wheels since I first purchased my Prius back in Nov. 2003. Since I put them on so soon after having purchased my Prius, I had very little perspective to compare. But recently I had to rent a car for a week while the rear bumper on my Prius was repaired - I was fortunate that Toyota Renta A Car had a 2005 Prius on hand for me to drive. My experience is that the Falken tires are a little louder (not very much) than the stock tires/wheels - the bumps in the road are a little more noticeable with the 17 inch wheels - but gas mileage is hardly affected (1-2MPG). The improvement in breaking distance and emergency handling is remarkably different though. If you get use to driving with the grippier tires, the stock ones will make you feel like you are trying to stop a truck as apposed to a sedan.

 

Hello Joel and thanks for your post!! Can you comment on how your car feels at highway speeds compared to the rental you had?? Did you notice that your larger wheels/tires gave your car more straight ahead stability on the highway than your rental? Did the rental feel more easily affected by wind gusts on the highway?

Your comments are much appreciated!!


Thanks!!

Brian



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Joel\";p=\"89816)</div>

 

I thought I had replied to this but maybe not. The car is more stable at highway speeds. Has more strait line stability but the grippier Falken Ziex tires are slightly louder than the stock in terms of road noise. Gusts of wind and trucks have less affect. Breaking and emergency maneuvers are greatly improved.

 

My 2 cents-

Besides the added friction accompanying wider tires, larger rims also have the effect of added weight farther out from the center. This can dramatically increase the amount of energy needed to accelerate the car and thus also reduce gas mileage.

Also, there are side effects besides gas mileage that people should consider before upgrading their wheels/tires. The added grip of better tires as well as the lower shock absorption (lower sidewalls) can put a lot more stress on your suspensions. In other words, your cars suspensions might not last as long if you get to low of profile tires.

With that said, we plan to upgrade to 195/50-17 as soon as we can. It's been my experience that given the stock suspensions of the Prius the difference between 195 and 215 would be minimal in terms of traction.

 

I agree with all of that except it depends on the wheel design. Also, some low profile tires may weigh a lot less than the 15 inch tires of the same height. Not run-flats though - those things are heavy. Real trouble is, it's hard to find data about how much things weigh.