Ok: So i took of my hubcaps and i found the rims that look like mag wheels. Why the ugly plastic hubcaps, do they serve a purpose? Com'on, how much better gas mileage can you get from an ugly hubcap?
Supposedly with them removed your MPG's will decrease. I recon they are aerodynamic somehow? Why they did not just make the wheel that way the I don't know. I have the factory 17's on mine, but I like the look of the stock 15's without the covers. Can't figure why an okay looking wheel would get covered by that somewhat ugly cover?
I removed mine and I cannot notice any drop in FE. I think they install them to protect against parking rash? Hal
Whatever they are called, they look best in the spare tire well! I took mine off 2 weeks after I got the car. It would have been sooner, I had other things to do!
From the recommendations here, I took them off my newly acquired 2007, for aesthetic reasons, and from a gut feeling that reduction of weight of running gear (things not moving on the same vector as the rest of the car) was likely to exceed any aerodynamic benefit. When I did, I found the area behind them had already (10 days) accumulated quite a bit of gunk, mostly salty sand. I am therefore very glad I did. They stay off.
Well, the OP was referring to the 16" wheels I think. If you want to remove the wheel covers from the 16" wheels, I recommend you go to your friendly neighborhood Toyota dealer and purchase the "hubcaps" (they are really hubcaps because that's all they cap) for the 15" wheels. They will snap into the hole in the centre of the 16" wheel covering the unfinished bits under it with a nice chromed Toyota logo. Or you can search on-line and find all kinds of hupcaps that will fit. Just measure the hole diameter. Anyone for smiley face caps? Most here refer to the wheel covers for the 15" wheels as "wheel spats", though they are "wheel covers".
