C1 Hubcaps...Scared To Death!!!

[John H.]

Re: C1 Hubcaps...Scared To Death!!!

I tried everything short of welding the covers to the rims to stop the rotation, and finally gave up and replaced the rubber valve stems with steel ones; they stop the rotation and don't bend to a 45-degree angle.

[Pete Ruegg]

Re:C1 Hubcaps...scared to death

I had the same problem on my '62...I tied the covers onto the wheels by using 12" long or longer, 1/4" wide nylock cable ties through the slot on the wheel where the outer rim and inner rim meet. Since that slot is long, I had to find a way to keep the nylock secured so i took a 2" piece of 3/4"hose and fed the nylock 1/2 way through it, then fed the two ends of the cable tie into the long slot so that the nylock ends came out to the outside of the wheel and the hose piece stayed in . I then put the wheel cover on while feeding the nylock ends around a slot on the outer part of the cover. I then connected the nylock together and it tied the wheel cover onto the wheel. I did the same thing on the opposite side of the cover so that if the cover did separate from the wheel, the nylocks would hold the cover on without slapping the body with the detached cover. It's been working and doesn't add any weight to the wheels. It has given me piece of mind and seems to be working well..If you need to change a flat tire, just use some dykes to cut the nylocks and the cover comes off normally. You can set up the spare rim with the nylocks easily. Just set them up before you install the spare. It works for me, Good luck...Pete Ruegg

[Pete Ruegg]

Re:C1 Hubcaps...scared to death

Hi Steve, this is Pete Ruegg again...I forgot to mention that my rims are 6"wide, not 5" or 5 1/5" like the correct ones. The nylocks that I use are thicker and wider that normal but the other folks brought up a very good point about what would happen if one of the nylocks failed and the other one stayed connected at any speed. I'm not sure that my rims can correctly hold the wheel covers. So far it's been ok but it only takes one failure to cause real problems...Pete

[Calvin M.]

Re:C1 Hubcaps...scared to death

Hi Pete -
Your fix is creative, but won't work on Steve's 56 where the covers have no slots like your 62. My take on all this is to bend out the grabbers and use the steel valve stems as suggested by John Hinckley.
Cal

[Pete Ruegg]

Re:C1 Hubcaps...scared to death

Thanks Cal, Good luck Steve...Pete