A spritz of Fluid Film will keep it rust free for years. You don't want the rust to grow. Do it before covering it with that small cap.
A makeshift cap might work on the inside of that flange as well. Do keep in mind though, on the fronts the end of the axle is what it is. A caliper helps immensely, to measure the inside and outside diameter. Too, google something like: black rubber end caps round
The original 17” wheels only come with hubcaps, and no center caps, right? Does Toyota consider that protection enough?
Apparently, but my picture shows the result of one Ottawa winter wearing those stock wheels under the hubcaps. Salt gets in.
The gen5 lower trims(LE/SE) have wheel covers and no caps over the hubs. Toyota must think the wheel cover protects the hub enough. And they're probably correct. You're going to get some light surface rust, but nothing serious. I think I'm going to spray some Fluid Film on my hubs when I swap to winter tires in a week or so, and that might even be enough if I was running steelies with exposed hubs. If I was running steels with my winter tires in a region that uses salt, I'd definitely do a Fluid Film spray at the very least. If you run a stock 17" wheel without the wheel cover, you might be able to use a standard Toyota hub cover. I thought the wheel hub size for the 17" wheel was the same as the 19" wheel that comes with hub covers, but I seem to remember an owner having problems in that area, so I might be incorrect. Maybe take an inside diameter measurement after you get your LE and one of us can do a comparison with our XLE/XSE/LTD. But I'm pretty sure those OEM caps won't work on a steelie wheel like the one that was shown on the previous page.
I recall last time I had snows on steelies I went to Autozone and bought some hubcaps. Cheap and they gave the car some more pizazz. I wasn't thinking rust at the time though.
If the wheel comes with a full cover, there’ll be no centre cap (aka hub cap). The latter is inherently more effective at keeping the hub zone rust-free. For snow tires I used Corolla steel rims with neither wheel covers or centre caps for several years, and the hub zone got quite rusty. Resorted to the makeshift ABS caps, coupled with anti-seize coating the hub. I’ve mothballed those rims now, using 2012~2015 Prius Plug-In rims, with proper centre caps.
Sans hub caps, steelies are quite ugly compared to 'mags'. And depending on where you live, you might have them on for 6 months.
I don't know.... To me, all black wheels look the same from across the street, alloys or steel. Regardless, If you want to protect bare steel and axle nuts, a quick spritz of Fluid Film and there will be no rust under that waxy coating.
Depends on the beholder. Silver painted steel wheels with a hub cap (a hub cap, not a wheel cover) look great.
Exactly. We don' use salt on roads here in CO. I've had no problems thru 2 winters with my alloys and the car looks good all year round. The weight factor is better with alloys as well
I was partial to these. The hub cap was easy to get on and off for changes, but never came off the wheel during driving.
Steel rims, typically silver painted, with suitable center caps, used to be the norm. Also, I think there’s little difference between steel and alloy rim weights, at least on average. Our son’s Mazda CX-5 winter tires are on Mazda steel rims, centre cap equipped:
