To Fit, or Not to Fit – Rudy’s Prius

Rudy brought me his refreshed set of Work wheels from Sensei 6, the wheel repair place around the corner. I was chosen to get the tires mounted while taking care to keep the wheels’ new paint job and polished lips safe from harm. Luckily, being careful would be easy, since these particular wheels could be attached to the tire-mounting machine face-down. Another term for this is to say that the wheels have “reverse lips.” This means that the clamps of the tire mounter would hold the wheels by their face-side, and the tires would slip onto the wheels on their bottoms.

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Originally, Rudy used 215-width tires on these wheels, but he wanted a more fender-filling appearance. Normally, I would have drawn some technical diagrams for him, and he’d know exactly what the tires would look like mounted to the wheels before purchasing them.

Unfortunately, it was too late for that as Rudy had already bought a set of 225-width Delinte tires. It was time to roll the dice, and hopefully things would work out.

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One thing was certain though — the tires went on without a hitch; not a scuff on these super clean wheels. Here’s what that modest stretch looked like with the tires mounted to one of the wheels. I thought it looked good, but would it fit?

Well, that depends on how you define “fit.” Technically, one might say the answer to that question is YES. But… Also NO.

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When the car’s air suspension is set to its low ride height, the tires do clear the fenders, but just barely. And as long as Rudy never hits a bump or makes any turns, then everything would be fine.

But to drive the car anywhere without rubbing, the Prius’ height would need to be adjusted to a setting that low-car guys would say is “offensively tall.” So for now, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board. There are a couple options, and riding tall isn’t one of them. Rudy could add a little camber, he could pull the fenders slightly, or he could get smaller tires. Unfortunately, none of these options are cheap, but hey… that’s how the game goes.