oldfolks

Thank you, bbf. After I posted above, I had to leave for the day and all day I've been thinking, "You moron. They TOLD you at the onset that you can't get hubcaps for the alloy wheels and there you go asking the same stupid question!" You folks must think I'm the stupidest person in the state...today I'm running a close second. You've all helped me to make a final decision. I'll either accept the alloy ones and live with them or ... maybe get an SE, instead. I appreciate the patience you've all shown w/this old_art.

Thanks for the added information,bbf and xmech. I think (merely an opinion here)the reason the old Prizm still looks good is because it has full hubcaps...as opposed to these "modern" wheels that have fancy designs that only serve as catchalls for snow, slush, salt and other road grime. You wouldn't believe how even a short trip to the local store in winter makes a mess of things. You've all helped solve another mystery, too. All winter long, the bay in the garage where we park the Prius ends up looking like a skating rink (nice safety feature for older folks-not) because the snow that's accumulated in the wheels melts off. The side where we park the Prizm barely has any ice. Soooooo-my question for the day is: Can we get full hubcaps for the alloy wheels? I notice they use the term "hubcaps" and "wheel covers" interchangeably on different sites, but I mean the full ones. Thanks.

Wow! The things one learns after one gets old and "knows it all." Thank God for computers and for helpful people like all of you. Had no idea that "brake dust could get baked on." Mystery solved I think-maybe the Prius had alloy wheels and by not getting a car wash very regularly, we probably caused the problem ourselves. Not to excuse ourselves for being basically lazy, which we enjoy being in our retirement, we also have Maine winters to deal with. We can spray and rinse off the wheels here at home, except for winter, when we have to put the hoses away due to freezing. And we rarely (like most Mainers) use the carwash in the winter because nobody likes to discover their doors frozen shut the next day. Looks like the solution is to bite the bullet and pay for steel wheels and hubs;even w/a mileage decrease,it's well worth it to us not to have to deal w/black wheels;my old '99 Prizm still looks great, and now I think you've all helped us figure out WHY. Deo-funny idea about the swap, and here's a thought re. the shipping: we could use our junky Prius to get the wheels back and forth-I hear Priuses go "full speed ahead." Now if we can just unload ours before we become the next victims.

Well, you see, therein lies the problem...we like to keep things simple and life's too short to spend much time cleaning and polishing, etc. (priorities, you know). So my next dumb question (is there a limit to how many I can ask in a given day?) is-do they make hubcaps for the 2010 Fusion S?

Thanks, bbf & DJE. Didn't realize the alloy ones were painted;even w/a clear coating, I wonder how long they'd stay looking good here in Maine, where we love to pound the salt to our roads during our 9 months of winter. JK

We're getting ready to buy a 2010 Fusion S, which will probably (given our ages)be our last new car. Don't need any of the bells + whistles, but one thing we want is wheels that don't corrode or look awful. Our present car (a piece of junk Prius) hadn't even got to 2 years old when the wheels blackened. It's looked terrible ever since. What type of wheels should we get? Thanks for your help.