Honda Clarity: No Wheel Covers

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Viking79

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If you want to see what the Clarity looks like without wheel covers I wrote up a brief piece:
https://carswithplugs.wordpress.com/2018/03/04/honda-clarity-uncovered-wheel/

Here is a picture:
20180303_115604.jpg


Not pretty.
 
ab13 said:
At least no one will want to steal them like the Accord sport wheels.

I wonder if the model 3 range rating is based on using the wheel covers.

This didn't have any diagrams yet, but here is the manufacturer's parts catalog.

http://estore.honda.com/honda/parts...lugin-4-plugin-clarity-phev-cvt&year=2018&dl=
Click to expand...
And I doubt that thieves would be interested in the OEM Energy Saver green tires either. Only the most dedicated hypermilers could love those and I doubt you'll find a single wheel thief among them. On top of that, given the rarity (best selling Honda Accord is usually #1 for parts) and (undeserved) perceived "ugliness" of the Clarity, there will be little interest from car thieves too. The benefits of owning one keep piling up!
 
PHEV Newbie said:
And I doubt that thieves would be interested in the OEM Energy Saver green tires either. Only the most dedicated hypermilers could love those and I doubt you'll find a single wheel thief among them. On top of that, given the rarity (best selling Honda Accord is usually #1 for parts) and (undeserved) perceived "ugliness" of the Clarity, there will be little interest from car thieves too. The benefits of owning one keep piling up!
Click to expand...

True. When I bought new tires for my Plug-in Prius a few years ago, I did not even look at the "energy savers" out there. For me was all about tire performance (not necessarily speed, lofl) - and energy savers are really not very good in that respect. What they save in gas costs is easily eaten up by performance losses. I ended up dropping about 8% in MPGe after the tire change - and that was after a year (it was greater than that at first). So that was a somewhat significant 'feature'. Still, I suspect I won't be looking for energy savers when this car needs new tires (but at the rate I'm driving these days, those 30K miles might take a long, long time!)
 
I like the black colored plastic covers on the fuel cell version. They are exactly the same but the color. They look a lot better to me.

BTW, thanks for posting the photo. I was really curious myself.
 
Well that answers the question if I should remove the covers. Yuck... I do wonder how long those plastic pieces will hold up before just breaking off though. It is plastic afterall...
 
aapitten said:
Well that answers the question if I should remove the covers. Yuck... I do wonder how long those plastic pieces will hold up before just breaking off though. It is plastic afterall...
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I'm looking forward to when that happens so I have my excuse to buy those custom wheels I have my eye on ;)!
 
Plastic can hold up better than you suspect. Sun/UV does tend to be brutal on it, but I would give it at least 10 years barring any physical damage. The plastic will brittle with age and physical damage might get more likely to crack or break the plastic.
 
Hobbesgsr said:
Wow..so fugly.

I was hoping they would end up like Tesla model 3 base wheels.
I'll just make these my Winter rims.

Check out this report on the Aero wheel covers from the model 3: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-aero-vs-non-aero-wheels-real-world-efficiency-test/
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The covers on my Clarity must have broken clips as they rattle over road imperfections. Very annoying with the windows down or when people look to see where the noise is coming from. I like the idea of making them my winter wheels. These are my current winter wheels.
 

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Ragman said:
The covers on my Clarity must have broken clips as they rattle over road imperfections. Very annoying with the windows down or when people look to see where the noise is coming from. I like the idea of making them my winter wheels. These are my current winter wheels.
Click to expand...
A November, 2017, snow-storm prompted me to have my dealer put winter tires on my OEM wheels before I first drove my new Clarity PHEV home. They've always been my winter wheels. When Spring arrived, I purchased a set of Clarity Accessory Wheels and put the OEM tires on them. They don't have the noise-reduction fins inside, but the road noise is less than with the OEM noise-reduction wheels with Nokian Hakkapeliitta winter tires.

When the wheels are off the car and you can see their backsides, it's easy to check the tabs that hold the plastic pieces onto those aluminum wheels.
 
Winter tires installation is schedule for November 6. I can feel the tabs whit the wheel on the car and I can feel both of the prongs. They might have broken off the plastic cap though while still being tight on the wheel.
 
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