[TJandGENESIS]

I was reading this thread by arizona charlie, and it lists 34 very cool things that I did not know about the Prius. And this one got my attention:

19. WHEEL COVERS:

Standard on the Prius are some very good looking Alloy Wheels. For reasons unknown, Toyota decided to cover each wheel with a plastic cover which actually looks like the Alloy. I removed all four of mine by prying them off with a thin bladed screwdriver and put them in storage. I could understand the use of alloy looking plastic covers if the car came with inexpensive ugly steel wheels but it doesn't ??? Very Strange.

I would have NEVER known that. After reading that, I simply pulled them off with my bare hands. I kept them...

When I was at HOLLYWOOD SCION tonight, for a SCION meet (still have an xA), I was telling one of the TOYOTA dudes about that. And he said, to not remove them, because it would affect the gas mielage...

How? And if so, by how much?

Anyone know? Here is the thread...

http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=4761

 

[Sprocket]

I have not noiced any milage reduction. I have had compliments on the wheels now though.
Leave them off!

 

[Ray Moore]

Hmmm I took mine off over a year ago and I average 58-59 MPG on tank after tank. My highest is 818 miles at 65.1 MPG. Methinks the guy was speaking out of the side of his neck.

 

[hyperion]

There were some pictures published by Toyota of their wind tunnel tests when styling the Prius. Because of "burbles" the rear spoiler and scalloped roof line design was changed over thirty times in order to develop a vacuum at the rear of the car and because of drag forming burbles around the wheels the plastic covers were designed and installed.
These are some of the reasons the Prius has the lowest drag co-efficent of any car made today.
Probably isn't much but anything that changes the design will have some effect on milage, from roof racks to mudguards, to side mirror extensions, oversized wheels ect:
It took Toyota years to design the present car we are driving.

 

[TJandGENESIS]

I have not noiced any milage reduction. I have had compliments on the wheels now though.
Leave them off!

Yeah, I like them better this way...

I'll keep them off.

Hmmm I took mine off over a year ago and I average 58-59 MPG on tank after tank. My highest is 818 miles at 65.1 MPG. Methinks the guy was speaking out of the side of his neck.

Yeah, that is what it seems to be...Funny. He just got bumped up to the TOYOTA force from the SCION force...now he has to wear a tie and all...

Maybe that has strangled his thinking???

There were some pictures published by Toyota of their wind tunnel tests when styling the Prius. Because of "burbles" the rear spoiler and scalloped roof line design was changed over thirty times in order to develop a vacuum at the rear of the car and because of drag forming burbles around the wheels the plastic covers were designed and installed.
These are some of the reasons the Prius has the lowest drag co-efficent of any car made today.
Probably isn't much but anything that changes the design will have some effect on milage, from roof racks to mudguards, to side mirror extensions, oversized wheels ect:
It took Toyota years to design the present car we are driving.

I know that has to be true. But, I have to say, I somehow think that those little plastic rings do not have too much an impact on the MPG. And, like you said, mudgaurds would affeect the mileage...

What I wear could as well. Let's say I live up north, and have to put on a heavy winter coat...the extra weight would affect the mileage!

Speaking of weight, I better not gain any...or there goes my mileage...

8)

You know, I'm just playing...but I really do think that these rings should not matter too much.

 

[Eisenson]

I removed mine and discarded them, but another Prius owner lost one on the road and would like to replace it. I'll pay shipping if someone here kept his and is willing to help.

Thanks!

 

[An04Prius]

I took my wheel covers off and gave them to my brother who put them on his Giant SUV. I'll be damned if his usually 10mpg SUV didnt start getting like 38-39mpg in the city, and 40-42 on the highway.

We both said that was preposterous, so we took them off again, and sure enough the SUV went back to 9-11mpg. But we were puzzled, so we put them back on and left them on for several SUV tank- fulls (we took a 2nd mortgage on the house to pay gas, but we had to find out for sure).

SURE ENOUGH, you could have knocked me over with a mud guard. The SUV again started getting between 38-42 mpg. What the HELL is going on.

So we devised one last test. We put the Giant SUV wheels on my Prius...and I have not been as dumb founded since my canary left. My Prius started getting around 12-15mpg. Nothing would improve it, not pulse and drag, not drag & drop, not higher psi in the tires, not topping off the gas tank, not turning off the A/C...

DAMMIT FOLKS, its all in the WHEELS COVERS. All the stuff about hybrid engine design, synergy drive, electric motors on the wheels, regenerative braking, saving wasted ICE energy in the battery, is a bunch of misleading CRAPOLA.

They dont want us to know the truth. But why ?? Probably because we would all be out getting a set of them cheap plastic wheel covers, putting them on our SUVs, trucks & large cars, etc.

OHHHH MAANN, I wonder if these are the guys who took my Canary when he found out. :wink:





Above is a work of fiction & satire. It is for amusement only. It is not to be taken literally. Although real product names and features are used, any relationship to the real products & companies is purely coincidental.

 

[TJandGENESIS]

I took my wheel covers off and gave them to my brother who put them on his Giant SUV. I'll be damned if his usually 10mpg SUV didnt start getting like 38-39mpg in the city, and 40-42 on the highway.

We both said that was preposterous, so we took them off again, and sure enough the SUV went back to 9-11mpg. But we were puzzled, so we put them back on and left them on for several SUV tank- fulls (we took a 2nd mortgage on the house to pay gas, but we had to find out for sure).

SURE ENOUGH, you could have knocked me over with a mud guard. The SUV again started getting between 38-42 mpg. What the HELL is going on.

So we devised one last test. We put the Giant SUV wheels on my Prius...and I have not been as dumb founded since my canary left. My Prius started getting around 12-15mpg. Nothing would improve it, not pulse and drag, not drag & drop, not higher psi in the tires, not topping off the gas tank, not turning off the A/C...

DAMMIT FOLKS, its all in the WHEELS COVERS. All the stuff about hybrid engine design, synergy drive, electric motors on the wheels, regenerative braking, saving wasted ICE energy in the battery, is a bunch of misleading CRAPOLA.

They dont want us to know the truth. But why ?? Probably because we would all be out getting a set of them cheap plastic wheel covers, putting them on our SUVs, trucks & large cars, etc.

OHHHH MAANN, I wonder if these are the guys who took my Canary when he found out.

*ahem. The gentlemen are here to take you to the nice place...










j/k.

That was Funny. I'm glad you posted that.

 

[An04Prius]

*ahem. The gentlemen are here to take you to the nice place...

**ahem... I AM at the nice place.

 

[priusenvy]

On a related note, I also heard that "spinner" rims are actually not purely cosmetic, but actually a device to capture and store kinetic energy of a moving vehicle, much like the regenerative braking system of the Prius, but at a much lower cost and far less complexity.

Apparently, the spinning part of the wheel captures the kinetic energy of the slowing car, and when the car begins to move again, automatic clutches sense the movement, and begin to engage with the wheels, helping to accelerate the vehicle (like Honda's IMA in their hybrids).

I heard this is worth up to a 25% improvement in gas mileage. If you combine spinners with that vortex thingee sold on late nite informercials, you can improve your fuel economy so much that your car will start to produce gasoline (negative fuel mileage), and you have to empty the tank of excess gasoline every so often.

 

[JDavies]

Prius Wheels Uncovered

Does anyone have a pic of the bare wheels.. Description..?

 

[lwood]

I took my wheel covers off and gave them to my brother who put them on his Giant SUV. I'll be damned if his usually 10mpg SUV didnt start getting like 38-39mpg in the city, and 40-42 on the highway.

We both said that was preposterous, so we took them off again, and sure enough the SUV went back to 9-11mpg. But we were puzzled, so we put them back on and left them on for several SUV tank- fulls (we took a 2nd mortgage on the house to pay gas, but we had to find out for sure).

SURE ENOUGH, you could have knocked me over with a mud guard. The SUV again started getting between 38-42 mpg. What the HELL is going on.

So we devised one last test. We put the Giant SUV wheels on my Prius...and I have not been as dumb founded since my canary left. My Prius started getting around 12-15mpg. Nothing would improve it, not pulse and drag, not drag & drop, not higher psi in the tires, not topping off the gas tank, not turning off the A/C...

DAMMIT FOLKS, its all in the WHEELS COVERS. All the stuff about hybrid engine design, synergy drive, electric motors on the wheels, regenerative braking, saving wasted ICE energy in the battery, is a bunch of misleading CRAPOLA.

They dont want us to know the truth. But why ?? Probably because we would all be out getting a set of them cheap plastic wheel covers, putting them on our SUVs, trucks & large cars, etc.

OHHHH MAANN, I wonder if these are the guys who took my Canary when he found out. :wink:





Above is a work of fiction & satire. It is for amusement only. It is not to be taken literally. Although real product names and features are used, any relationship to the real products & companies is purely coincidental.

Thanks for the amusement. We all need to have a break and a smile.
Hope you find that Canary soon.

 

[ryecatcher]

I'll buy a couple of trim rings from anyone here. PM me. The way my wife hits curbs, I'll be needing some in the future (she's already lost one).
Thanks,
Luis

 

[finman]

spinners...

Spinners, yeah I KNEW they were the bomb! Cool to look like yer miving when yer not aND they generate juice for takeoff. Can't ask for much more.

Love the sarcasm in this thread. Too funny.

And on a fact point: drove 400 miles from Denver to Rapid City, did 56 MPG at 65 MPH. Ideal conditions help MPG more than any add-on (or removal) of items. There was nary a wind, maybe even a slight tail wind, temps in the 70s, no A/C needed, my iPod2car going thru it's 3,000 songs, and fairly rolling hills/flat country. I've no wheel covers AND I've installed mudflaps and the Coastaletech hitch PLUS golf clubs, a friend, and 2 luggage bags.

All in all...this car is Awesome.

Counterpoint: similar trip with a 20 MPH headwind with significant other drivng 75 MPH, lots of passing, etc. equals 46 MPG.

 

[hyperion]

If they hadn't made an important salution to a drag problem in the wind tunnel tests I'm sure Toyota wouldn't even have considered them for covering an already attractive wheel. Especially when operating on a cost budget.
Like the spoiler, I wouldn't even think of removing them.

 

[priusenvy]

I thought the purpose of the wheel trim rings was for sacrificial protection. You could scrape your wheel hard against a curb, and instead of having to repair or replace your wheel, you could just replace the trim ring.

The question I have isn't why they have the trim rings, but why are they plastic add-ons rather than cast as part of the wheel. The explanation above is the best I could come up with.

 

[rpm]

seat covers, dash covers, hood bras, now wheel scratch protectors?
(all for a product with a useful life of 10-15 years!) I don't think Toyota would have added the (albeit slight) unsprung weight to this car in particular if it wasn't for something like aerodynamics, brake ventilation, etc. Protect from scratches, hmm...methinks Toyota would be happy to have us buy replacement wheels from them. Plus, isn't this the only model car they're on?

 

[An04Prius]

I heard this is worth up to a 25% improvement in gas mileage. If you combine spinners with that vortex thingee sold on late nite informercials, you can improve your fuel economy so much that your car will start to produce gasoline (negative fuel mileage), and you have to empty the tank of excess gasoline every so often.

YOU are MY kinda thinker. We have lots of space here at the Nice Place for Creative Thinking (NPCT).

If you take out more than you should would that be "topping on" ?? And in the case of the Prius could we get the bladder to kind of squish it out, sort of semi-automatically, maybe into a holding tank, for those mpg addicts who want to get like a 1,000+ miles to the tank. NOW we finally got a REAL use for the bladder.

 

[priusenvy]

Oddly enough, when your Prius becomes so efficient that it begins producing fuel, higher efficiency actually results in decreased range. When Prius begins producing gasoline at a higher rate, you actually run out of space to store the generated gasoline sooner, resulting in decreased range.

Top scientists at the NPCT have been working around the clock to find a solution to this problem. A prototype device, called the Highly Unnecessary Mobile Monstrosity and Earth Ruiner" , aka "HUMMER", runs in parallel with the Prius, guzzling down the fuel produced by the modified Prius.

 

[TJandGENESIS]

Oddly enough, I was half serious when I wrote this post. I think.

But truth be told, I am not all that worried about weight, or how they affect MPG.

I was mostly amused by the Toyota salesman telling me that to take them off (in a serious tone, no less), would affect the MPG in a ill way.

Now, frankly I think that they MAY help the aerodynamics of the car, but in such a small amount, that it's not worth keeping them on.

I think the wheels look better with them off, and as a sort of Hot Rod/Tuner kind of guy, I like my car to look, well, cool.

So, if I lose 1 MPG, I can live with that.
:lol: