Smooth Wheel Covers Well kinda convex

[Mrtony5]

So after a while of searching around I got me a set of 13" stock steel rims. My next step was to get some smooth wheel covers for them. Well I looked all over the internet for some cheap ones but couldn't find any so I tried some to make so cheap Aluminum pizza pans ( epic fail ) didn't work well. So I just made my own. My brother helped with the idea also.

What you need
cheap walmart 13" hubcaps (or your size) $15.99
Some old T-shirts ( I used cotton ones but any should work)
Zip ties or string
Paint brush $1
fiberglass resin $11 ( had alot left over from other projects)

All you have to do is stretch the T-shirt over the hubcap
Use the metal ring to hold it while you make it really tight with zip ties

Then mix and brush the fiberglass resin over the top of the T-shirt which will make it hard and bond it to the hubcap.

Once dried cut the t-shirt around the hubcap and paint it. I used flat black spray paint.

If you want you can also drill out a hole for the valve stem but I choose to keep it all covered and just pop the hubcap on and off to check air pressure.

So only about $20 since i already had some stuff.
Enjoy!

P.S. If you use this Please Post Pics To share also

[Rokeby]

Nice job.

You could make "stealth" aero-covers by masking off the original wheel cover
design and painting in the original pattern with silver paint.

I bet hardly anyone would notice the aero-mod.

[cfg83]

Mrtony5 -

Very cool. I gotta think that will hold up very well to the elements. Would it make sense to do a resin-coat on the backside or has the resin "oozed-through" the T-shirt to the other side?

PS - I also like the grainy texture of the cover.

CarloSW2

[RobertSmalls]

I like it. If I had hubcaps, I would have gone this route.

I would use fiberglass cloth instead of a tee-shirt.

I made an epoxy-reinforced blue shop towel, and it was brittle and fragile.

[skyl4rk]

Great idea, thanks

[autoteach]

Be cautious of any type of road debris. Even a small rock will shoot right through that tshirt. You need a material with a greater tensile strength. Even some lightweight fiberglass would make a big difference.

[Mrtony5]

Thanks !

I think it will hold up well but time will tell. And yes the resin went through the t-shirt and can be seen on the inside ran down a little so I would think it has a good hold!

It really doesn't seem that brittle the reason I didn't use fiberglass cloth is cause I didn't want to put layer and layer on them(which would add cost) Plus I would think that T-shirt is more tightly woven so it should be pretty strong (for one layer) but a rock will crack fiberglass cloth also. Right ?

[cfg83]

Mrtony5 -

I agree that the rock can do damage, but I think that because you are "orthogonal to the debris", you should be ok. When I had metallic tape on my wheels, the tape was *very* fragile but ended up lasting a long time :



Then one day at the car wash, the dude that was drying the car poked some holes in them :



I don't blame the dude because I failed to warn him to be careful. Lasting for 8 months is more than I would have predicted.

CarloSW2

[Mrtony5]

Wow That looks nice i didn't even notice the tape until i read it and 8 months is a pretty good time for tape to hold. I was thinking about just duct taping on my steel wheels but i didn't think it would last long at all since winter is coming or be smooth(flowing) . Thanks for sharing!

[kurtis1971]

nice ideas