Summary: Spare Tire for 2019 Prius Prime

congrats, well done!

 

Good job.

Choosing the 125/80-17 with its correct overall diameter (24.9") was the smart move.


Rob43

PS, I have a 135/80-16 (24.8") for the same reason.

 

Thanks for posting this. Looking at PANT document, I have to say! HOLY COW!!!! $1,015 to add a spare tire on those regular PRIUS that did not come with a spare! And the price does not even include the TIRE (and labor$$$)! I am kinda glad that my PRIME has no option to store the compact spare under the deck. I paid $55 for a steel wheel for my full size spare using one newish tire I had when I had to buy a pair of new tires after I got one un-repairable flat.

 

Yeah, if a car doesn't come with a spare, I'm not interested.

It's puzzling, why Toyota went to a 17" temp spare with the fourth gen, in a size that's significantly undersized. That's the third gen temp spare you have. Why would they not stick with it? Third and fourth gen regular tires are the same size.

 

Agreed, and I have no idea why Toyota would have chosen such a small undersized spare as a 125/70-17.

My brand new (Ebay) spare tire came from a wrecked Prius, I bought it for $65 shipped.


Rob43

 

The why is because of weight and cost.

 

Personally I would disagree with that:

1) Weight:
Steel weighs* more than rubber when all things are equal. Also both wheels are 4" wide, so a 16x4" piece of steel will weigh less than a 17x4" piece of steel. Both the 125/70-17 & 135/80-16 spare tires weigh about ~10 lbs, so remember...steel weighs more than rubber when all things are equal. Based on this a 125/70-17 spare will weigh the same or more when compared to their 135/80-16 spare wheel/tire counter part.

2) Cost:
It cost less to use a 16x4" steel wheel because there's less steel being used when compared to a 17x4" piece of steel.


Rob43

* Steel weighs roughly ~5 times more than rubber for the same volume of material.

 

To be honest, in my 30+ years of driving, not once I had to use a spare tire, so chances are slim that I will ever need a spare tire in my car. (finger crossing) That said, charging an exorbitant price to add a spare tire after the sale of a car to an unsuspecting car owner is just wrong.

 

Are people buying this car and not knowing it has no spare ahead of time? Never once looked in the back? If so, I think they are something other than unsuspecting.

The sale brochure for the 2018 clearly indicates it has no spare tire.

 

Yeah, there are plenty of comments I read here from people who did not know there was no spare tire in newly acquired cars (not only for PRIME but for other Prius models). Even those people who knew about the lack of spare beforehand usually do not know how useless the included repair kits are, and most have no idea what it would cost to add spare afterword. As stated in the PANT document, Toyota recommends a dealer not to offer the addition of spare as an option to be included before the sales.

 

If I were looking for a spare (perhaps for long trips), the last place I would go is the dealer. They only sell new and their markups are very high. As noted in a previous reply, I would go on eBay or to a local salvage yard and find a spare wheel/tire that will fit the car. Then just toss it in the back, strap it down and you're set for about $75 or so.

 

I wouldn't say "clearly". Nobody likes to emphasize an omission in a sales brochure. I think the levels without spare use some euphemism about a "repair kit".

 

They use exactly that term - under specifications/tires:

Spare: temporary repair kit. Standard all three Prime trim levels. And no tire size is listed for the spare.

That's pretty clear to me. And, I think anybody who opened up all the openings on the car before they bought the thing would figure this out very quickly. Waiting for somebody to complain that after they bought a Prime they figured out it only had seats for four.

 

Easier said than done. There isn't a clear way to strap the tire down on the back deck of a Prime, as it lacks the customary D-rings that other Prii have. A design flaw that Toyota has yet to remedy.

 

Then just tuck it behind the passenger seat and slide the seat back to lock it into place.

 

And that is exactly what I've been doing, sans the D-rings that were in the back of my Gen3. Luckily, my wife's CT200h included a donut spare that is the exact specs of the Prime. We put the donut behind one of the seats enclosed in plastic when on lengthy road trips.

 

Good info. I’ll add that to my list of potential sources for a spare.

 

The specs in the 2013 CT200h manual matched that of the Gen4 Prii models, which includes the Prime. Since the Prime manual does not include specs for a spare, I trusted the other Gen4's included spare - and they match. To be real sure, and prior to my first long trip in 2017 (for the eclipse!), I had the local COSTCO tire center actually mount it on my Prime. They did this for no charge, which surprised me, though I've had tire business there before on the Gen3. They told me the lug nuts on the Prime wheels weren't perfect for the spare, but they'd work with it, though it would be best to check tightness every 50 -100 miles or so if I needed to switch out the wheels if I flatted.

 

The other thing I would do if I got a front flat is to move one of the rears to the front and put the donut on a rear. It does very little work back there compared to the front which is accelerating, turning and doing much of the braking.