Aero hubcaps

[thebrad]

I know most of you are more DIY oriented, but I found some prefabbed pizza pan wheel covers.

Mooneyes manufactures racing wheel covers for 12-15" rims.

Hubcap Mike carries them in 12-16" sizes.

I am ordering from Mr. Mike later today, I'll let you all know how it goes.

[thebrad]

Forgot to mention, there are two styles - clip on or screw/bolt in.
Application pictures if you are curious

[Otto]

"Fluid Dynamic Drag" by Dr. S. Hoerner, page 13-14 shows drag coefficients of various aircraft wheels. The ones most like those shown above have the lowest drag, as you would expect.

[Ryland]

I would go with the lightest weight hubcaps you can get, not sure if the stainless steel is thin enough to be lighter then aluminum or not.

[thebrad]

Well, some bad news, I didn't pick them up Monday as planned because I forgot I had an appointment before class. Anyway, called Hubcap Mike up today with some technical questions and to check stock before I headed out to pick them up. So the "pop-on" style (hubcaps) only work on steelies, I had figured as much but thought I would be able to come up with some clever way to mount them. So the wheel covers (screw-in) are made to order by Mooneyes, and take about 5 business days to complete so there goes my plan to test out simple aero mods on my upcoming trip.

As far as weight is concerned they are listed at 1 lb. each, easy enough to compensate for that addition of weight.

Mounting the screw-in type requires dismounting the tires and drilling into your rims...

[Otto]

BE sure the drilling does not compromise the strength of the wheels, or allow corrosion.