Full wheel hubcap creeping

[CCruz]

I have a set of full wheel hubcaps for my '53 Ford and have always had problems with creeping.  One cap, in particular, will eventually fly off and it usually happens at a speed of 40 or higher or on a turn.  The advice I keep getting is to bend back the rim keepers, more.  Done that every time, sometimes to the point it will barely snap on, and it still flies off.  I moved the cap to another tire and it will do the same thing.  I cannot see any difference in this cap.  Decided to put the dogdish style back on and no problems.  However, the places where the full wheel covers grabbed the rim have taken off the paint and now that is exposed.

 

I like the look of the full wheel covers but I tire of wondering if one will fly off and then chasing it after it does.  Would appreciate hearing from those who have such wheel covers and what you do to keep them on and to prevent or minimize the creeping.  

Edited June 10, 2016 by CCruz (see edit history)

[DonMicheletti]

Probably caused by the wheel flexing at the rim. They arent that rigid -- The fact that the dog dish caps stay on is a clue

[michel88]

If you have radial tires on the stock rims this will cause the rims to flex more than they would with the stock bias ply tires.  When I put radials on my 63 Riviera the hubcaps started to creep on the rims and bent the valve stems crooked.  It does it mostly on the front wheels.  I haven't found a cure except to pull them off and straighten them periodically, and to go slower around turns.  The car handles better with the radials but now I go slower around turns.

[John348]

I would also suggest using steel valve stems, there was a problem with this with Chevrolets with the accy wire wheel covers in 1962 and that was a factory suggestion. Far from any kind of cure but can keep a bad thing from really getting bad

[CCruz]

Yes, I have bias ply tires on this car.  The dog dish style hub caps snap on in the center section whereas the full wheel covers grab around the outside along the valve stem areas.  The creeping has pushed on all of the valve stems and sometimes I wonder if enough pressure had creeped onto the stem, that might be a possibility as to why the cap flies off.  Never thought of the steel valve stems as a limiting factor.

[John348]

I remember reading it in a 1962 TSB I found or in a copy of the Chevrolet Service News, like I said hardly a cure but.....

[Guest]

Some wheels have a welded tab that sticks out and prevents the wheel cover from rotating and sometimes decapitating the wheel valve stem. Tabs are easy to weld on a wheel if your wheel didn't have one.

12 hours ago, DonMicheletti said:

Probably caused by the wheel flexing at the rim. They arent that rigid -- The fact that the dog dish caps stay on is a clue

Isn't the two styles different? seems to me CCruz said one type is a wheel cover and the other is a hub cap.

[Guest]

Some manufacturers have a steel tab welded to the wheel. This little arm prevents the wheel cover from rotating on the wheel and also prevents the wheel cover from decapitating the valve stem.

[CarlLaFong]

How about a few short beads of clear silicone where the cap meets the rim? Shouldn't be noticeable and the cap will still be easy to remove, if needed

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Yeah, Carl, that's what I was going to suggest. I would think that should provide enough "tack" to keep the cover from migrating, but not make it difficult to remove with a standard jack handle.

[CCruz]

The dog dish style caps fit a center rim area whereas the full wheel cover extends beyond that and does not attach in the same location.  By the way, both wheel covers and hubcaps are original Ford era products.  Not reproduction.  

 

I have noticed all of the wheel covers creep and push against the valve stems.  Sometimes, after driving, I have had to secure the wheel covers, again, because they were starting to lift from the rims.  Generally this is more common with the front tires.  

 

Had not thought of using silicone to aid in the tack adhesion.  What I would like to avoid is using the dog dish caps for most travel and then replacing them with the full wheel covers for show.  Generally easy enough to do except I also have to remove the fender skirts.

[Hudsy Wudsy]

I guess that I'd try something like the silicone first, but the idea of a properly placed bead of weld certainly has merits, too.

[John348]

I would still install the metal stems, just for a secondary precaution

[nzcarnerd]

One memory I have of driving on freeways when I was in the US in 1978 was the number of wheel covers on the side of the turns on the cloverleafs where it wasn't possible to retrieve them.  Due I guess to the rim flexing on the turn.

[Matt Harwood]

A client of mine has a collection of '50s Lincolns that are apparently notorious for throwing hubcaps, particularly the Continental Mark IIs, which are better than college kids at throwing disc-shaped objects. He notes that he jacks up the car to take the weight off the wheel, then installs the hubcap. No issues since he started doing it that way. Now, it seems tough to believe that the wheel is changing shape just sitting still, especially with an air-filled tire around it, but he swears by this technique and he's been playing with these cars for decades. Anecdotal evidence is a kind of evidence, albeit not worth much, but it might be worth trying since it costs exactly $0.

[John348]

20 minutes ago, nzcarnerd said:

One memory I have of driving on freeways when I was in the US in 1978 was the number of wheel covers on the side of the turns on the cloverleafs where it wasn't possible to retrieve them.  Due I guess to the rim flexing on the turn.

 

I always thought that was due to the potholes on the NYC roadways, go figure?

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, nzcarnerd said:

One memory I have of driving on freeways when I was in the US in 1978 was the number of wheel covers on the side of the turns on the cloverleafs where it wasn't possible to retrieve them.  Due I guess to the rim flexing on the turn.

There is a whole thread on ( not hub caps ) wheel covers and full wheel covers on the Hamb. It seems the wheel covers and the full wheel covers have a hard time staying on stock wheels once radial tires are used.

[nzcarnerd]

17 minutes ago, John348 said:

 

I always thought that was due to the potholes on the NYC roadways, go figure?

It was in LA that I first saw them but they became so common I took no further notice.  I drove 12,000 miles in the ten weeks I was there but most of it was on country roads and interstate freeways.

[intimeold]

Hubcaps creeping:

 

When I first read this posting; I thought maybe you were talking about the "creeping noise", sometimes heard when going very, very slowly. Typical of the wheel flexing ever so much.

 

This used to be a problem, on some fords, with full hubcaps;  I worked at a dealership in the 70's, It would sound like a dry door hinge, creeping.  We would run a full strip or two of black electrical tape, the whole way around , on the sharp teeth that hold the hub-cap on. The gripping teeth would go through the tape; and still grip the wheel.  But, mysteriously, the creeping noise was gone.

 

But after I read all the posts, it sounds like the hub-caps try to move them selves, off the wheel.  Maybe the tape would help with that; But I am not authorizing this action; only as a test, under controlled conditions.

 

Of course, we didn't have silicone, back in those days.  Maybe that is the modern "fix".

 

intimeold 

Edited June 12, 2016 by intimeold (see edit history)

[hchris]

Silicone bead has worked for me over many years on a number of different vehicles.

[CCruz]

I took the car to a cruise night, last night, and had the regular hub caps on it.  Another car guy came by and noticed the paint missing where the full wheel covers had been.  Yes, it is very obvious the full wheel covers have removed the paint where they grab and now the contact is metal to metal.  

 

Yes, I remember those tabs on some of the wheels.  None on mine.  Sounds like the silicone will be the best alternative for now.  We'll see what happens.