Has anyone installed lowering springs and used 195/65/15 tires. I'm thinking of doing both since I do a lot of highway driving and want to improve the final drive a touch and get the aero effect of being lower. Also if you've lowerd the car and used any larger 16 or 17 in tires please let me know what size you're running without rubbing issues. Any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks
Lowered my '06 with the TRD springs/struts kit and went to the 16" touring wheels and the widest, fattest performance tires I could get on the rims. Only a teensy bit of rubbing on the plastic fenderwell liners when the car would bottom over a severe bump in the freeway at high speeds. No problem at full lock doing a u-turn or like that. I suspect you'd have no trouble whatsoever with the smaller wheels, don't know about the 17s though. The car still won't be a canyon carver—the spongy HSD and numb electrically boosted steering will see to that—but it'll be better than before.
I had a bit of rubbing in the front when I ran Kumho ecsta ASX 215/45/17s. When I switched to the Michelin MXM4 s in the same size the rubbing went away. The Michelin s are a bit taller than my 185/65/15s so should be similar to the 195/65/15s. I disagree with the idea that the Prius cannot be a canyon carver. With 17s or larger plus lowering springs the car can hit corners hard and fast. Add a rear sway bar upgrade and it gets even better. Taking corners at well over double the recommended speed is easy. I think Pintogirl's problem was the tall sidewall on those 16s. When I put my 15s back on the cornering ability drops significantly.
Just to give you an idea of the handling difference lowering springs and larger wheels can make. I could have gone much faster but I was holding my cellphone and trying to watch the screen and road at the same time. I don't have the upgraded sway bar yet so I, still have a tiny bit of body roll.
