DIY, Free Aero Hubs

[2003protege]

Ok, maybe not ENTIRELY FREE, but definitely with materials I had lying around....

So, first things first. I chose to go with cardboard, because 1. I had plenty of boxes to cannibalize, 2. I wanted a temporary aerodynamic hubcap, 3. I didn't want to spend any money!!!

I started by measuring my desired diameter of hub, 16-5/8". Then, I did a poor man's compass type of deal by making marks 8-5/16" from a center point. I cut the cardboard connecting the dots. Using the original, I traced 3 more. and cut the remaining ones out.

[2003protege]

Next, i spray painted the hubs FLAT BLACK! murder those hubs out, son!!

*ahem* I've always wanted black wheels anyway, so this is probably the closest i'll get =\ I poked holes through the hubs and with some black wire, i wound each one to the five spokes of my alloy wheels in five separate places, and there you have it. some completed pics of my ride car. at some point in the future, i'm going to do the aerodynamic cover of the rear wheels and actually make permanent black wheel covers. let me know what you think!

[kevlar]

excellent idea! Now go to Home Depot and get some FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) sheets for about 25 bucks and make four sturdy, weatherproof covers from your templates! Also, if you have stock rims, you can find a lot of old eighties style hubcaps that are solid for cheap in the local boneyard.

[COMP]

i want to see them at 60mph

[Johnny Mullet]

I would use something better than cardboard, but for testing, how do they work for you? Any notable changes?

[cfg83]

2003protege -

(Elcome to EM!)

Me like, but me scared that the mounting "holes" will fray and rip at high speeds. I have been thinking along similar lines with coroplast, but cleanly cutting the edge of that stuff is a PITA. I would go white-out instead of black, but the idea of black-out is stunning. Looks great!

What kevlar said makes mucho sensico. Maybe switch from wire to zipties.

CarloSW2

[2003protege]

Well, I'm worried about them coming off at high speeds too, but so far it hasn't happened. I've travelled about 10 miles at speeds around 60 mph so far, and nothing has changed.

I do have them attached at each spoke of the wheel as far out as i can get to, so hopefully that doesn't leave enough room for them to flex a lot.

either way, it does work fine for testing, but i'm not intending for them to last more than one week. gotta get some permanent ones on there =D

[Johnny Mullet]

Would it be easier to take a regular hubcap and then make the actual hubcap aerodynamic? You can simply attach to a hubcap any way you want to and forget about it. Unless you have wheels that don't allow hubcaps of course.

[2003protege]

yeah, that's the thing, I have 5 spoke alloy wheels. I'll figure something out someday. For right now, I think these look pretty cool haha.

[SVOboy]

I was actually just day dreaming something similar in class today,