TECH: Make your own inner trim rings for spider caps

I read **** Reynolds' post with the new wheels and tires on his '56 and I just knew I'd have to find a cheap ripoff way to copy him. There have been a few good posts on making spider caps, and I've also seen some cars that looked nice with just bullet lugnuts on them without the center bullet.

But I still needed the little "inner" trim rings for the wheels. So I started by finding a dogdish hubcap that fit my rims. This Plymouth cap fit very nicely.



I figured I could make a respectable inner trim ring by cutting the center out of the cap so just the outside ring remained. I started by nailing the cap down to a sawbuck so it wouldn't move around on me. (see the nailheads in the picture?)



Then I used an electric grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut the outer ring away from the center of the cap.



This is what I got when I was done. I sanded the cut edges a little but a little more time spent there would make them nice and clean. Also, inside the ribs on the cap, you can see the factory put some black paint in there. I'm going to strip that paint out of there so it's all exposed stainless. I'll do that later, I don't have any stripper handy and I wanted to share this idea with you.



And here it is snapped on the wheels. The wheels are still on my '60 Fury but that car is getting Supremes and pinner whites on it so these wheels and tires are going to get repainted black and installed on my '55 Dodge. Of course, the wheels still need spiders, or at least bullet lugs, but you get the idea.



I've also got a big ol' ****pile of these trim rings that are just skinny little bands. I think these might look good with a set of my homemade inner trim rings and spiders. I'll have to try some on the car and take a pic.

 

The Mopar ones that I used are ribbed and they're kinda tall which doesn't look exactly like the original inner rings, but I like them. These Pontiac caps have a smooth outer piece that has good possibilities for making a ring that looks more like the store bought ones from years ago.



And these Chevy ones could be really cool and unique if you kept the little bowtie insert part and cut the raised part out



By the way, I'm looking for three more of the Mopar dogdish caps to use for my car in case anyone has any. They can be bent up, I only need the outer ring part to be nice. I'll buy singles or a whole set, PM me if you got any.

 

great idea! if it was me i probably just get some chrome lug nuts and dust cover,use both rings and call it done.

 

That's probably what I'll do. The actual spider caps do look really nice, but again, I'm cheap. A set of bullet lugs is only like $30 and my '55 Dodge isn't that nice of a car anyway.

Here's a pic I robbed of **** Reynolds' car showing the actual trim rings I'm trying to emulate. I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with the car or the photography skills, but this picture really gets me.

 

Awesome tech. Simple and cheap.
***o

 

Way to use your head! In its finished state I envistion the wagon with a look like that.

 

Man I'm glad you showed this. I was thinking the same thing. I have to admit that ever since I saw that 56 I have been scouring ebay trying to find a set. I like your idea. It seems like everyone who has the originals is complaining how hard they are to put on and keep on. Your's will just "pop" on and stay put. Awesome tech!!!

 

Great idea!!

 

I really appreciate the replies. I know there were a lot of people looking for the old ones and I can understand why, I also read a whole thread with people talking about making repops and how expensive the tooling would be. I think this worked out pretty well, and I bet some really cool ones could be made with some of the different dog dish cap designs there's been over the years.

Also, does anyone know where I can get push-through bullet center caps in sizes under 3" diameter? My wheels have about a 2 3/4 or 2 7/8 center bore hole (I'll have to doublecheck) and I haven't found any push through bullets in anything but huge 3 3/8" diameter. Would love to get some leads on those.

 

Thats cool, I had thought about making some out of baby moons, but some of those dog dish caps have a neat shape....

Cool...

 

Thats Neato...

 

Thanks for showin it !I never would have thought of that.

 

I had that same thought with the baby moons. You can buy those caps for next to nothing, then you'd have to cut about an 8" or 8 1/2" circle out of the center (***uming you're using a 10" diameter cap) and use a big bead roller to make a nice gentle curve in it. They'd be cheap to make and they'd snap onto the wheel nice and stay in place.

This was so much easier though. Took about 5 minutes. I did an eBay search for dog dish and came up with a ton of possibilities for custom rings. Cheap too.

Thanks again everyone for the responses.

 

Wow thats a great idea. After cutting out the center, I bet if you threw them on a lathe you could true the inside edge up real nice.

 

Not as good as this idea, but I had an idea for a smaller, thinner chrome inner ring... chrome stove burner pans. The dished part of it would need to be cut off just like you did with the dog dishes, but instead of a nice easy snap on, you could silicone the thin ring to the top of the hump, it's not like they need to come off.

 

Aww, all those old dog dish caps going away makes me sad! It took me forever to find the dog dish caps for my car. Still, this is a very creative idea, and I have to compliment you on that.

 

Also, does anyone know where I can get push-through bullet center caps in sizes under 3" diameter? My wheels have about a 2 3/4 or 2 7/8 center bore hole (I'll have to doublecheck) and I haven't found any push through bullets in anything but huge 3 3/8" diameter. Would love to get some leads on those.[/quote]

I know dealing with Moon Equipment kinda ****s but don't they have a couple different sizes of the push through bullets? Or maybe Wirth. I know I've seen em'

 

i know night prowlers has some bullets but i dont recall what they have for push thrus

 

first off ,that is a AWESOME IDEA!!!! that rules,,i will have to try that,,great thinking!!,,very KOOL!
secondly,thanks for the props on the photography skills coment,,i just use a cheap kodak digital 2.0pixel camera that only works when it wants too,,i love photography,i wish i had actual training in it,,..but its always been self taught ,,i love the way you can take something that people wouldnt look twice at and make it interesting,,

 

Glad you like it. Those pics of your car made me rethink what I am doing with my '55 Dodge. The amount of money that those original rings bring would be about what I paid for my car to begin with, so I had to come up with a way to make some.

Your pictures are particularly good, clean background and good lighting. I'm sure it doesn't hurt to be taking pictures of a particularly nice paintjob either.

BTW, the oven pans is a pretty cool idea too. That one is really out there, and I bet it would work too. If the cutout ring had an edge on both sides, you could attatch them to the wheel with a trim clip. I like that.

 

Bad ***..

 

I know dealing with Moon Equipment kinda ****s but don't they have a couple different sizes of the push through bullets? Or maybe Wirth. I know I've seen em'[/quote]

I'd definitely appreciate it too if someone could post a source for push-through bullets. I've been looking for a set for my F-100 for a long time but haven't seen them anywhere except Coker. Coker's bullets only fit their repro wheels with oversized holes. I have the stock early Ford wheels.

 

This might seem obvious to most of you, but I won't know unless I ask the question.

I have a 49 chevy with P205/75R15 tires. On Ebay I find caps listed for Ford, Chevy, Dhrysler, etc. Do I need to get specific GM/Chevy caps to make these inner trim rings?

Also, do I need to look for caps that have a deep roll in that first ring?

Thanks, Bill

 

Your tire size has nothing to do with it. You need to find caps that fit on your wheels. Some wheels have three outer tabs stamped into them, like mine, and some have clips in the center, like a stock '49 Chevy wheel.

The key is finding a cap that fits your wheels first (you'll need 4 matching wheels) and also has a shape that will look nice with the centers cut out. The ones with a deep roll in the first lip of the design look the best because they look the most like the original Cal Custom rings. If you cut the center out of a plain baby moon hubcap, it wouldn't look like a ring at all.

 

My rims have 4 tabs in the center, Here's my rim:



Is there a way to measure these to figuree out what to look for or do I just need to drag the rim around until I find something?

Thanks, Bill

 

Yeah, measure the outside diameter of the circle with the tabs on it. Probably 9 or 10 inches. Then shop for a hubcap with that same diameter that has the shape you're looking for. Your rim is the more common style so you'll have more choices in hubcaps. If you find one cap that fits, you can use it as a reference at the junkyard or swapmeet. If you find some on eBay, ask them to measure the opening in the backside for you to see if they fit.

 

the dog dish caps from a 55-56 chevy make the best candidate.

 

There is a Mexican guy that goes to Swapmeets out of Texas that sells lug nuts. He has the bullet lugnuts and the bullet centers for wheels. I'm not sure of the size he carries. I see him a Chickasha OK swapmeet. I think I also see him at the Fort Worth swapmeet. I'll look in a couple weeks when I go.

 

You're talking about Raul the lugnut king.
http://www.lugnutking.com/

 

That's the guy!!! He has the center caps. I don't see the caps on his web page.. I'd call him. I know he has them