Your opinion on these rims - function/style

One of the criteria I would consider is the wheels weight. Try to find something as light as the factory wheel or even lighter. You really do not want a heavy wheel (unknown what the wheel weighs you posted). That is a good looking wheel by the way.

 

That is a very heavy wheel, especially for only a 16".

They look great but I would reconsider the purchase. You will end up with around 40lbs of wheel/tire at each corner which is around 8lbs (per wheel) more than the stock setup. Milage will drop by 4+mpg at least IMO.

I saw a drop of between 4-6mpg when I swapped to my Centerline wheels/Kumho tires. My wheels are only 14-15lbs each yet the entire combo ended up weighing 37-38lbs/ea. Needless to say I have the stock wheels/tires on right now. lol

 

I couldn't give a red rat's nice person about looks. Give me a durable wheel which promotes good mileage and I am happy.

Tom

 

as many has said here, it's all about the WEIGHT of the rim/tire combo. i would suggest you weight the stock rims and tires together and compare the difference. you also want to get a low rolling resistant tire.

even with some stock TOURING edition owners, the mpg is slightly lower than the regular one. with that said and done, "IMMA GONNA GET ME SOME OF THEM TOURING RIMS AND TIRES!"

 

Agreed. However, there will be some compromising along the way. Either way, I wouldn't buy a wheel that is heavier than the stock wheel. That is a compromise I'm not willing to make.

Light ... Inexpensive ... Durable: choose any 2!

.... Brad

 

20 lbs for 16's?! is that thing made of lead?

personally, i would go with motegi traklite's (15x6.5 = 10 lbs), or ssr type c's (16x7.5 = 11 lbs). they may not suit your taste but they're 2 of the lightest wheels around.

 

chris spalding - sorry man, no pics. but...............powder coating the stock rims are the way to go, now, NOT knowing a thing about powder coating, here is my question.............does it add weight to the rim????

is it durable? would something as simple as R&Ring the tires cause the coating to come off?

as i said, i know nothing about this process. i did see a black prius on the road with black stock rims and it does look cool. the "anodized blue" looks cool too, but maybe not........

 

I have three questions for you all.....................

#1) what is the weight of the stock 15" rim?
#2) what is the weight of the stock 16" touring rim?
#3) what is the weight of the stock goodyear integry's?

THANKS.

 

powder coating is very durable - much more so than paint. it can withstand a tire change, but only with some careful prep. your tire guy needs to tape the lip with either painters tape (preferable - easier to remove) or duct tape after breaking the bead. this way, the lip is protected with the old tire is removed and new tire is installed. the paint won't come off, but if the tire is very stiff (not likely since these are 55-60 series tires), it can leave fine scratches on the clearcoat of the paint. this is most noticeable on darker colors (i know from personal experience). so if u find a qualified installer who's careful, there shouldn't be any problems.

i believe the stock 15's weigh 14lbs. dont know about the 16's. u can probably find the weight of the tire by going to tirerack.com

 

I'm not completely convinced that going to a new rim makes any difference whatsoever in your MPG. In your performance, yes. In your fuel efficiency ... I doubt it'll be noticeable.

What really makes a difference is changing away from the stock tires. They have no traction. At all. For safety and performance purposes you're better off with just about any new tires. But more traction by definition means more drag, which means lower MPG. Personally, in my '06 I've already had so many traction problems that I've contemplated mailing the stock tires - filled with manure - back to Toyota with a "love" note. I've been looking at Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds for a long time now. The only reason I haven't upgraded yet is because 17x7 Motegi Tracklites are expensive and I've had other priorities.