I just upgraded the front brakes to disc on the 59. had to change the rims to work with the disc. now I have one hub cap that I cant seem to be able to keep on the rim! it flew off going down the street. so I took the lips and pryed them up hoping to make them grab better. they where real tight going on. so go down the road again and sure as **** the thing goes flying again! so what if any tricks do you guys have to keep these things on the rim? Im sure im not the first to have a hub cap fly off.
There was a guy that had a 65' Malibu 4 dr. It was a sleeper with hubcaps. He welded studs to the rim (very tiny) and used nuts to hold the caps on. He wanted to maintain the sleeper look. One of the car mags ran an article on that car. I believe moon discs are held on with sheet metal screws.
It may be just that one rim has a slightly different rim lip configuration which is the problem> Have you tried swapping one of the other caps to that wheel OR is one dinged up cap enough?
I have a friend that puts his on right after a fresh paintjob on the rim so the paint helps keep the cap on. I have also heard of running a strip of masking tape apoud the edge so the teeth can grab.....but I have always lost one or two myself. You could make some floaters for the front...spindle mount them. In the rear if you have caps you can drill and tap the axle so you can put a length of allthread into it and use a bullet in the center....I have done this and never lost one this way!!!!
Bend the tabs back a little or tape on the inside of the mounting area of the rim. I had 1 wheel on my surburban that always threw off the moon cap, that fixed it......... S****s
ill try the tapesince that seems like a quick fix with out drying time involved. instant gratification! I have already bent the tabs back to make the cap tighter on the rim. it just flew off. Masking tape or would duct tape be better? its a little thicker. if this dosent work maybe the silicone trick will
Sometimes the problem is caused by rim flex. Anything you have done hasn't worked because the rim is flexing,and opening up as you go thru the turn. We had this problem years ago (especially the way we drove as teens). You may have to do the fastener trick or buy stronger wheels.
I tried some '55 Pontiac caps on my Suburban just for fun, since no one would even go a dollar on them at a flea market. Promptly lost one because of rim flex. My solution? Run dog dish caps. Radial tires put more stress into the rim, if you're running those, which is what makes caps spin and come loose. I figured if even my truck, with rims meant for radials, and big 235/75 tires with a lot of flex in them, will pop caps, then nothing's going to stay on there without bolts. Personally, I would try and adapt the holders and wide nuts from an '80s GM car with those wire-wheel hubcaps to use as bolt-on adapters. They use one center bolt - chuck the anti-theft one and use a real one if you prefer - but they have a pretty univeral shape and pattern and should fit most any 5-lug car. The right shaped lugs may be another story.
4 10-32 stainless ****on head screws evenly placed around the cir***ference of the cap - drill and tap the rim and then thread the screws in with edge over the hubcap. Holds my Vette caps on the '40 Chevy. Charlie
Here's how I cured mine--- I posted this in a previous thread about the same thing. Re: help! these hubcaps just wont stay on! <HR style="COLOR: #999999" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and ***le --><!-- message -->Here's what I did on mine- I turned the arc welder way up, and scratched an arc to make heavy spatter all around the wheel where the hubcap clips would s****e the wheel. That gave the caps something to grab on to. You can do that with the tires in place. The wheel will not get the tire hot because you will not be slowly running a weld bead, just a fast travelling spatter. Not too fast tho, so you get a hot spatter that stays put on the wheel. If you are running old wheels made before the "radial tire era", and have radials on them, the older thinner wheels may be flexing too much. If your wheels are from the 70's and later, they will usually be made of a thicker metal than the older wheels. I read a manufacturers' warning posted in a tire store long ago about putting radials on older wheels that were thin- made for bias ply tires. It said that radials let the wheels flex more than the bias ply tires did, and that tire stores should not install radials on standard steel wheels that were thinner than "**x". <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________
Are your rims a little on the rusty side from the constant putting on, and taking off of the cap? It happened in my stepfathers 55' olds. The Fiesta Spinner wasn't staying on, and thats not an easy hubcap,or cost effective hubcap to replace. We switched the wheel with the spare, and it worked. The old wheel was almost stripped of paint entirely. Try getting it sandblasted, then repainted. Snap it on, and you should be good. -Rick
I just picked up these rims over the weekend. to fit the new disc brake set up I just installed. the rims where clean and painted black when I got them. I in turn have painted them red. they are clean and not rusty. what causes rim flex and why would one rim flex more then the other?
I had trouble keeping one hubcap on one wheel. This went on over a whole summer. Someone (stranger at a GG show) saw that I had one hubcap REALLY beaten up and placed TWO exact same hubcaps inside my car the next day. I placed one of those on Big Olds and never had an issue again. Sometimes it's just the hubcap. I'd try to find a single one somewhere and try it. I now make sure if I remove my hubcaps to make sure the exact cap goes back on the exact wheel.
I used the duct tape... I switched rims on the offending side and lost a moon cap on the next run up the highway. Might be rim flex as described, now trying 55 pontiac caps on my 76' burban and will find out how that work after coming back from Louisville. Probably the Cheap moon caps is the probable cause S****s
Weld or Tap a stud onto your spindle/axle, than bolt the hub cap to the center. Its the non-spinner and it won't fly off. TP
correct me if im wrong, but when doing this the hub cap will now have a bolt in the center protruding out correct? I really dont want to see anything but the hub cap. am I missing somthing here?
no, that is something to figure out! they are not going to rotate either!! saw it on a custom up in san jose. tp
I am chasing this with some Chrysler caps on my Model A. My one escaping cap appears to have rounded teeth. On the last round of bending the hooks out I noticed the teeth were not sharp. I am going to try and sharpen them with a file so they can dig in better. I have no desire to drill and tap my wheel or hub, and don't wan't to poke holes in the hubcaps since I can't find any more.
I feel the same way, I dont want to dril holes in my caps, and drilling into the rim makes me unconfortable as well.
I've had success with supervisor tape (two sided - sticky on both sides). With the small center caps (like baby moons) you can spin the cap when installed and find the tightest fitting location.
"You could make some floaters for the front...spindle mount them" I would like to get more info on this!?!?!? Sounds cool I overheard some guys talking about this the other day....How "Traditional" is this?? What is the best way of doing it???? Sorry for jacking your thread -COS
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