PO2 wheel cover question

[Mark A.]

I have 6 PO2 wheel covers which were included with the 69 coupe I purchased recently. They are in average to poor condition. My question is, has anyone out there restored these wheel covers? I would like to restore them, but it looks like quite the task. They have various dents in the face, but you can not get at the back side, so tapping them out would be difficult. Also the center portion will need rechroming, but how would you repaint the black portion of the piece after it has been chromed? If anyone can tell me how to do this if its possible, I would appreciate it. Thanks for the help. Mark

[Edward M.]

Re: PO2 wheel cover question

I did this a few years ago. It was a lot of work. Tap out the dings, polish out the scratches, get new center emblems, and then the real work begins. Masking off the cover so that you can paint it is a real pain in the butt. I suspect that the manufacturer has some sort of paint mask that they put over the cover before painting. Perhaps someone should create something like this. Sounds like another business opportunity.

I used 1/4 inch masking tape, and trimmed the tape to "sort of" a point near the center of the cap. They came out real nice, but it took forever.

[Mark A.]

Re: PO2 wheel cover question

Thanks for the reply. How do you go about tapping out the dings, when you can't get a dolly behind it due to the inner part of the cap? Mark

[Edward M.]

Re: PO2 wheel cover question

Fortunately, the covers I was restoring had few dings, and they were in accessible areas. The ones you can't get to are tough. Almost makes you want to start with another cover.