wheel covers

[arkusvt]

unquestionably the most difficult I've ever encountered to install. if there is a trick to installation I certainly would be very appreciative to learn it. mine are not warped, they lay perfectly on a flat surface. what am I missing? thanks for any help.

[Barry Wolk]

Be glad they’re tight. They are tough to install.

[Mark Norris]

unquestionably the most difficult I've ever encountered to install. if there is a trick to installation I certainly would be very appreciative to learn it. mine are not warped, they lay perfectly on a flat surface. what am I missing? thanks for any help.

Yes, mine require a good hard thump with the heel of the hand to get them seated.

[Shelly Harris]

Wearing rubber sole shoes.. like a tennis shoe.....
Start the cover on the left edge so it it stays up on its own in the wheel.
Sit down on the pavement facing the wheel.
Place left foot on the left front side of the cover holding it firmly IN the wheel.
Leaning a bit back holding the disk in with your left foot....., Use your right foot .... SMACK the right side of the cover into the right front of the wheel.

[Joseph Stebbins]

OK this sounds like it was perfected after a large number of installations. Next time I install them with the car on the ground I will try it. I otherwise use a soft rubber mallet...

Biggest tip i can give is from Barry's posts on installing a tall metal air filler stem on the rim and put a short piece of rubber hose on it to keep the little ba*tard from rotating and coming off (as much.)

[arkusvt]

After reading a number of comments on the forum going back several years I decided to purchase new rims and tires. Could not determine what color to paint the rims. the ones on the car appear to be body color. Could anyone confirm that is correct? Thank you, George Perry

[jdsnoddy]

Correct. The standard was body color. Some had DSO which could have been another color such as red or black.

[Mark Norris]

After reading a number of comments on the forum going back several years I decided to purchase new rims and tires. Could not determine what color to paint the rims. the ones on the car appear to be body color. Could anyone confirm that is correct? Thank you, George Perry

Hi George, just be aware I fitted new wheels and it made no difference to the noise the wheel covers make.

[Joseph Stebbins]

It does however reduce the noise from expletives by the driver watching a wheel cover go rolling down the road when you make a hard turn. :)

[arkusvt]

I actually have only driven this car less than a mile since purchase; been paying attention addressing several 68 year old shortcomings. I decided to replace the rims having read they might be less apt to flex with radials. lessening chance of wheel cover failure.Haven't learned as yet about "the noise the wheel covers make" unless that noise was when they fail. Vacuum, or lack of it, comes next. George Perry

[Mark Norris]

It does however reduce the noise from expletives by the driver watching a wheel cover go rolling down the road when you make a hard turn. :)

Thank goodness mine have zero chance of coming off since were already secured with the double machine screw method hence no anxiety about drilling through each lovely cover ...someone else had already done that! But honestly with the screw heads painted black its almost impossible to see.

[Mark Norris]

I actually have only driven this car less than a mile since purchase; been paying attention addressing several 68 year old shortcomings. I decided to replace the rims having read they might be less apt to flex with radials. lessening chance of wheel cover failure.Haven't learned as yet about "the noise the wheel covers make" unless that noise was when they fail. Vacuum, or lack of it, comes next. George Perry

Hopefully you won't experience it but some cars (mine included) sound like a small steel band when the going slowly (above that the road noise drowns it out). We think its the sound of the stainless steel tangs on the wheel covers flexing and then the sound being magnified by the shape of the cover. So each/some wheels on the car make a series of pinging/dinging sounds as the it/they turn. Its especially obvious if you drive next to a stone wall with the drivers window down. One could of course remove the covers one at a time and find out which one is doing it and adjust the tangs to see if it helps. Anyway the recommended steel wheels from Vinteq did not change it.

[Barry Wolk]

Hopefully you won't experience it but some cars (mine included) sound like a small steel band when the going slowly (above that the road noise drowns it out). We think its the sound of the stainless steel tangs on the wheel covers flexing and then the sound being magnified by the shape of the cover. So each/some wheels on the car make a series of pinging/dinging sounds as the it/they turn. Its especially obvious if you drive next to a stone wall with the drivers window down. One could of course remove the covers one at a time and find out which one is doing it and adjust the tangs to see if it helps. Anyway the recommended steel wheels from Vinteq did not change it.

Curious, did you use rubber or all-metal valve stems isolated from the wheel cover with short pieces of fuel line as a buffer. If you did that would stop the cover from trying to rotate. That's what you're hearing. If stopped from rotation the spring steel bites into the wheel rim stopping it securely.

[Mark Norris]

Since the covers are secured from falling off or rotating by the two machine screws through each then impact with the rubber valve stems doesn't seem to be an issue. I've always meant to remove one cover at a time and see if I can which ones are make the most noise.