Hello -
I swapped out the furniture rubber feet for faucet washers. The washers are about 1/8" shorter, but that made the bolt stick out more (as seen in the Before insert) :
Sooooo, I just added a nut to the original bolt on the *inside* of the plastic lug nuts. This shortened the bolt. This got me back to my original situation, where the bolts stick out about 3/8" from the cover :
(You are seeing a washer with rubber backing, a lock washer, and the nut. The number of lines you see on this plate are 40 total. That is divisible by 4 and 5, so the lines can be used as guides for 4 and 5 lug wheels)
I am ok with the 3/8" protrusion because I reduced my total protrusion by 1/8". Now my wheel covers are pretty much flush to the tire :
Here is a front view of same :
I think I can get the mounting bolts a little more flush, maybe 1/8" more. For the next wheel I think I will try a "reverse bolt" version where I put the nut *inside* the plastic lug nut. I just need to find the parts to keep the nut centered. I also need to make sure it doesn't spin around when I am attaching the bolt. Maybe all I need to do is blob some sillycone onto it. We'll see.
I did just realize that the plastic tray can't be UV resistant. That implies I should paint it with a UV protective spray paint. In that case I would probably paint it white so that it doesn't suffer the sun's harmful rays.
CarloSW2