I agree, speed intensifies everything to do with wind shear, but my point is some things are too negligible to worry about. I have yet to see a veteran Prius driver claim they can detect a difference in mileage. I just don't want folks to strain at a Knat and swallow a camel. There are many many other things that have much more impact for those of us that need something to worry about!
My left front wheel cover fell off at approx. 9000 miles. No idea why, I know I didn't hit anything, and was mainly driving on an interstate highway just prior to noticing it.
I'm not at all surprised that they occasionally come off for unknown reasons. I took all 4 off the first week I had the car. They are easy to pull off by hand with no tools. I just grabbed the plastic cap spokes and pulled. As far as air resistance goes, if the stock caps were full Moon (tm) style covers, I could understand some small hard to measure reduction in mpg when you took them off. When you are basically going from wheels that look like 5 spoke wheels because of the hubcaps to 10 spoke wheels, the the difference, if any, has got to be very small. My conspiracy theory is that Toyota put the plastic 5 spoke hubcaps on the II thru IV models because they didn't want the low end models to have better looking wheels than the top end V models. My real question is what car were the 10 spoke wheels originally designed for? People in the design process and the project sign off stage wanted the 10 spoke wheels to look good, which doesn't make sense if their only use was to be hidden behind some plastic wheel covers.
I have lost front wheel covers 3 times, in the first few months I owned the car and again at about 9 months, always without noticing it. Once I had just filled the tires... Does anyone know why these seem to fly off so easily?? Any upgrade available that will stay on?? Thanks cressmanmusic
Bingo. I see no difference with them off...and I have been getting over 60 MPG, using the PWR setting, for the last 4 fillups. If there's a decrease with them off, it's gotta be some small fraction of 1 MPG difference.
I can guess..... almost every time I get a tire balanced, flat fixed etc, they try to put the old style lead weights on my wheels "and I don't even use the hub caps". Those type of weights used to balance the wheel cause the hub caps to not have a tight complete seal and hold on the wheel. Also, its concievable that while spinning at 70mph, they are even off balance a tad since they have to "bend" around the weights. Whether using hub caps or not, I insist on the stickon weights that are hidden inside the wheel well. they try to tell you they don't work as good, but they work fine. They cost more is why they don't want to use them! They look ugly... I told my tire guy the other day that they its like wearing a suit with tennis shoes... what good is a nice looking wheel with nasty raw lead weights visible?
When I recently had the oil changed at the Toyota Dealer, I asked the rep about taking off all the wheel covers and whether they were necessary, he said something about "protecting the brakes"??? Is there really any reason to keep wheel covers on for avoiding rust or anything? Is he just trying to sell me a new expensive wheel cover? I will look up the thread about where to buy the caps. cressmanmusic.
The wheel covers "protect the brakes"??? That's an out-and-out pile of BS! I'd never go back to that dealer for any type of service.
What wheel cover do accomplish however, is to totally cake that whole side of the wheel "and brakes" with nasty dirty and debris that never gets cleaned when you wash the car... whether manually or in an automatic car wash..... take one off after 6 months and see how nasty it is in there. That guy was pulling rabbits out of his hind end to make up that story!
Looks sportier too..... we ain't gettin any younger.. why give in? Where is your middle age crazy when you need it? LOL!
The center caps from the 17" Prius V fit the 15" wheels perfectly. I just bought a set off 15" wheels for my snow tires. I think the wheels look far better w/o the plastic covers. On a side note, has anyone had their 17" wheels chromed? I do think it would look good.
The left rear wheel cover fell off after having the car about three weeks. Happily, the dealership replaced it under warranty. No problems since, over one year later.
Does anyone have a part # for the center caps or a direct link to the website that sells them? I can't seem to find them.
Let us know when you find out how much it cost. I wouldn't mind doing that to my 15" wheels. I used to work at a metal fab shop.. I actually did that... glass peened the paint off and then did chroming, anodizing etc. I did that to my Olympic weight set except I did cadmium plating... they still look good 30 years later... of course that wouldn't be good for wheels.
