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Hideous Plastic Chrome Covers on XSE AWD wheels

167K views 415 replies 117 participants last post by  UTChE96 
#1 ·
48184


Got an XSE AWD built for us (haven't taken possession yet). Anyone else see these hideous plastic chrome caps? Tough to pay $45k+ on a vehicle and see these.

The XLE AWD next to it had these:

48185


Still don't love em, but they didn't feel plastic and don't look quite as ridiculous.

Anyone have a solution? Wondering if they make non-plastic, nicer looking covers?
 
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#2 ·
All 17" rims on the 2021 Siennas are non-polished alloys without plastic covers. If you opt for trims with 18-20" rims, you will be "upgraded" to plastic covers which are glued to alloy rims which appear to be painted black (you can look closely at the rim around the lug nuts) on some if not all trims. You could remove the plastic covers and keep the underlying alloy rims as is, pay to have them powder coated to a finish you prefer, or opt for aftermarket rims. Not sure why Toyota did this, but it might change on future model years. The probably wanted to keep costs as low as possible with this new model redesign introduction to compete with Honda and Pacifica.
 
#3 · (Edited)
View attachment 48184

Got an XSE AWD built for us (haven't taken possession yet). Anyone else see these hideous plastic chrome caps? Tough to pay $45k+ on a vehicle and see these.

The XLE AWD next to it had these:

View attachment 48185

Still don't love em, but they didn't feel plastic and don't look quite as ridiculous.

Anyone have a solution? Wondering if they make non-plastic, nicer looking covers?
I'm pretty sure the XLE and XSE have wheels and not hub caps if that's what you meant by "caps". You'd probably have to swap out those wheels for ones from one of the other trims or find other wheels in the same size and offset.

Edit: I found out I was wrong about the wheels. They do have plastic covers. 😮

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#7 ·
The "Black" plastic covers are reserved for the 20" XSE FWD rims, with a silver finished otherwise identical cover on the Platinum 20" rims. So they saved money by using the same 20" rims just with different covers. Not sure why they switched to a chrome looking cover on the smaller XSE AWD version rather than sticking with the dark theme for the sportier XSE design
 
#8 ·
Dealer told me it would cost about $100 per wheel to remove the plastic covers and refinish the underlying alloy rim with a similar polished black powder coat. You could probably find a wheel shop that would do it cheaper without going through a dealer. That is assuming you like the look of the underlying rims of course.
 
#15 ·
View attachment 48184

Got an XSE AWD built for us (haven't taken possession yet). Anyone else see these hideous plastic chrome caps? Tough to pay $45k+ on a vehicle and see these.
nothing can be more ugly than this: a small rotor in a big wheel...there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

View attachment 48188
To make it worse, use a plastic chrome cover... LOL!!!
For sure I will take the 17inch.

The XLE AWD next to it had these:

View attachment 48185

Still don't love em, but they didn't feel plastic and don't look quite as ridiculous.

Anyone have a solution? Wondering if they make non-plastic, nicer looking covers?
 
#24 ·
I found the specs of that Camry wheel at the following link. They're 18x8 inches wide vs 18x7.5 inches in the 2021 Sienna. First you'll have to find out if you can go 0.5 inches wider in the Sienna with no rubbing in the wheel well. Second, if the Camry wheels have a higher offset than the Sienna then you'll need spacers to reduce the offset. The offset of those Camry wheels is 50mm. I couldn't find the offset of the 2021 Sienna wheels. Does anyone what it is?


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#20 ·
so much is wrong with how the Sienna is heading toward...


to name a few;
..CVT
..Chrome bits
..Wierd Styling updates..
..Confusing and restrictive trims and option packages
..Plastic Wheels Covers?
..Outdated infotainment systems


I just hope it's reliability is still on par at least.
 
#38 ·
so much is wrong with how the Sienna is heading toward...

to name a few: ..CVT
If you're thinking of the not-so-reliable band CVT, the Toyota hybrid CVT is a completely different animal, and an integral part of its hybrid system. IIRC Ford's hybrid is so similar that they and Toyota ended up cross-licensing patents.

Technical document here: https://www.engr.uvic.ca/~mech459/Pub_References/890029.pdf
 
#27 · (Edited)
Any chance the 3G SE wheels have the same specs and will fit? FWD got 19", AWD arrived near the end of the run w/ 18".

Trolling a few wheel web sites, seems the SE 18" had 114.3mm bolt, 35mm offset. Another idea might be the latter-year Limited wheels, 18" with charcoal accents. Same specs.

The older wheels might look stale on the new design, or maybe not?

Another idea is current-gen Highlander, XLE seems to have 18" w/out plastic. Might be a plausible swap request? 20" might be plastic though. And Venza LE has 18" that might be a match.
 
#40 ·
^^ how do you mean?

from what Toyota gives out, all 2021 models from the LE up toward the Platinum trim have the ECVT

Toyota's version of the CVT is quite more reliable than their competitors, ie- Nissan's, especially with the "launch" gear variant. But you can't currently compare the reliability of CVTs with the traditional style gear box, whether manual or automatic. Maybe in the future. But not yet.
 
#41 ·
Everyone.....calm down. Let's give the world 6 months to catch up with the new models and offer us some killer wheels to put on our new XSE AWD. I've got an XSE in Blueprint coming in Feb. so I'm definitely looking for a wheel upgrade. We'll know everything we need to to customize this new monster. I'm keeping my 2017 sienna SE and trading my wife's 2017 camry xle. I'll actually have two minivans. a 2017 SE and a 2021 XSE. too much love in the house.
 
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