Opinions on wheel selection?

How about the:

Advanti Racing V3
Enkei EDR9
Focal F09
Kazera KZ-P

I kinda like the Kazera the best from those 4, but it's not my decision. If I recall correctly earlier, you like the black with spokes more, so I tried to locate some that were along those lines but also simple.

 

I just looked at the V812 wheel, and it looks nice. I'm not a big fan with chrome (even on my Harley), but if I see anything else online that follows the look you're looking for, I'll let ya know.

There's a Moda MD12 that looks neat, but is machined w/ black accent. Sort of the opposite of what you're looking at. A nice wheel, but would probably look better on a lighter colored car. There's also a black version of the Montegi, but not with chrome or polished lips and is only 17lbs.

 

I saw you didn't get the rims, but in case you get some others I'll answer here anyway. The 215/45/17 at 844 RPM is more desirable than 225/45/17 at 833 RPM in my estimation.

Looked up offset and found a whole thread about it but hadn't ever read about it before today. For any other uninitiated there is this quote

"Lower numbers ... causes the tire to be farther from the center of the vehicle. This can not only cause rubbing on the upper fender well but also in the inside "splash guard" area, so rolling will not help all the problems.

Higher numbers will result in it being closer to the struts, which most often will cause rubbing on the spring perch and possibly the inner fender wheels on the front wheels."

There is a happy middle ground between the two assuming the wheels/tires will work OK with the car. That is way more in depth than I go with tires.

I have no professional tire experience. I'm a computer guy. I'm just crunching numbers and comparing tires by the manufacturers data and the knowledge of which OEM tires came on each Prius.

Though I am aware that there are ground clearance differences between touring Gen II, non touring Gen II, and Gen III and if you got a big enough tire you'd have to check wheel well clearances. I don't know the exact tire dimensions for getting into a bind on each of the three possible cases.

I just don't seriously consider tires on my own car at the edge of limitations. I like to run above stock PSI and it'd kill me to get a tire that would only clear if I ran it at stock PSI.

I consider the valid RPM range to be 830 to 860 with 845 being the target in the middle and I'm hesitant to get too close to either end of that band because one end (the 830 end) is near the will it clear limits and the other end is considered worse from the speedometer/odometer standpoint (higher RPMs run the clock quicker so warranty and resale value are lessened).

And I'm saying until I hear otherwise that the RPM target of 845 works for the Gen II and Gen III Prius no matter if you have 15", 16", or 17" wheels.

If somebody knows better I'd love to hear details from an authoritative source. Until then I'll consider my numbers right until I learn something new.

 

Yes, offset will be more critical as the wheels get wider. My car is lowered so I have slight rubbing issues when cornering very hard or when the car is loaded down. The rubbing only occurs in the front and only on a small section of the plastic liner in front of the outside section of tire. Keep in mind that the wider wheels will be heavier and may require a wider tire to keep it from looking goofy if the tire doesn't fit flush.

MyCenterline 17x7" wheels have a +42 offset. The MXM4 tires have a revs per mile of 844 which makes them a tad taller than my 15" dB Super E-Spec tires with a revs per mile rating of 848. I have a picture floating around here that shows the MXM4 next to the dB and it appears almost an inch taller.

 

Because the MXM4 has a very agressive rim protector on them. The Kumho Ecsta ASX I used to run were very flush. These new tires are shapped funny. I kinda like it though.

This is how they should look if you don't have the crazy large rim protector.

 

I agree. The pictures on tirerack and such didn't look like the ones I have but maybe they are showing the higher speed rated version as there are two different models of this tire. I was a bit surprised when I received them but the look has grown on me.

FWIW, when I meant tire wrap (stretched) I meant this:

 

FO9 in 17"

 

Yeah, stretched tires are plain retarded.

So far your wheel choices look good.

 

Only you can answer that.

Personally I couldn't bear spending any money on new 15" wheels unless the factory ones were really terrible. For 17s I think it is ok if you really want the improved looks and handling. It's a tough pill to swallow considering you will also spend $600+ for new tires too.

 

Don't forget tax, mounting and balancing, and disposal fees etc. that crap adds up.