Clear Aero Wheel Covers; MBenz Does It First

[Peter7307]

Roekby ,
yes the 2CV did have only three wheel nuts and there were a number of other French cars too.
Renault used three on the 16 and 12 series and I think on the 10 series too.

Pete.

[Rokeby]

Originally Posted by cfg83

I say there are six plastic arms attached to a center cap. The clear plastic
cover is attached to two screws in each spider arm.

CarloSW2,

Thanks for the enhanced photo.

It looks like there is a metal center cap in the wheel itself. The arms
themselves appear to be black in color and I suspect that they are metal
with a light blue transparent overlay piece near the outboard ends.
It looks like the the arms are set in molded pockets in the light blue
transparent piece with the fluted edges that covers the metal center cap and
secured to it with a screw.

So far, so good. But it's not clear how the connection of the cover/arms
is made to the wheel. Looking closely at the arms themselves, the cover
pieces are very deep near the hub. It looks like they snap back over the
wheel, near the hub.

FWIW, I see no hole in the cover for access to the tire's inflation valve.
Heck, I don't even see the valve itself! What's up with that?

I wonder if these covers have ever been run at speed out in the real world,
or if they are simply another example of auto show smoke and mirrors.

[MadisonMPG]

I was reading the comments on one of those links, and I stumbled across this.

It would be even better to not take a trip with it. The main point of these cars are to not burn gas. (I don't say have NO carbon emissions because more than likely you'd be using a coal plant to charge it up. (Hopefully gasification works well). It seems a bit silly to use a fully electric car by hooking up a combustion generator. (Maybe that's just me but it's a bit comical). Just a couple thoughts above, not attacks.

Found it ironic that a random (probably non eco-modder) knew that the Chevy Volt is a failure.

[JasonG]

Other than the paint and wheel covers, the outside is the same as a stock Prius ????
All they did was paint it and redo the interior ?
Sorry to hijack the thread from the benz.

[Rokeby]

Originally Posted by JasonG

Other than the paint and wheel covers, the outside is the same
as a stock Prius ????
All they did was paint it and redo the interior ?

No, many mods. Lots more info on the Aerius conversion here:

Toyota Vehicles : Toyota Prius Aerius and Aemulus / Toyota

Sorry to hijack the thread from the benz.

Not to worry. This thread isn't about any particular car/make. It's about
aero wheel covers that happen to be clear/transparent.

[Rokeby]

The big rigs have a clear wheel cover option:

aero_clear.jpg

Diameters of 22.5 and 24.5 inches, sold in pairs. Can't tell what the price is
though; more info and price quote available on request from:

RealWheels Truck Parts and Accessories

[Christ]

Yeah, but big rigs have large drum brakes, and the dust vents from the inside of the axle, so they don't have issues that require cleaning the clear covers very often.

[mcrews]

Ok, I'm missing the clear wheelcovers on the MB.....

[Rokeby]

To quote from the article:

"The car's features include aerodynamic wheels with clear plexiglass
covers, and wide side skirts and wheel arches."

To be honest, I can't see them in the pictures either.
Maybe the covers are so optically perfect that they virtually disappear.
More likely, they would have been difficult to photograph due reflections from
their presumably curved surface hiding of distorting the wheel spokes.

Earlier, Frank Lee said they probably weren't mounted for the pix, and he's
probably right.

[mcrews]

RealWheels Truck Parts and Accessories

prices start at $77

I am soooo ready to diy a set of these.

Question:
I know from the Infiniti forum that some of the guys had problems with warpped rotors. But I know these were the hotrodders.
If I ran a clear disc I can assume that there will be greater heat buildup.
I remember back in the late 60s Carol Shelby had a air duct installed in the rear body panel to force air onto the rear pads.
I have a full under belly pan with little angled factory mini dams infront of the tires. Could I run a small duct to point air toward the disc brake to over come the heat from the clear shield?