Experiment: smooth wheel discs tested A-B-A - 4.6% mpg improvement @ 65 mph

[ccrider]

plastic, stainless, or aluminum is probably the better route to go. i used the cheap pizza pans from wal-mart and its been about a month since i installed them and they are rusting pretty bad already.

[NeilBlanchard]

There are aluminum pizza pans -- you want the "coupe" style which have the smooth radius on the edge.

[brucey]

I've gone the tape route after giving up with pizza pans. My wheels just dont want to accept anything not permanent and I dont want to give up having exposed lug nuts/valve stems.

Used waterproof, paint-able tape so we'll see how it goes. Had to leave one spoke open though for the valve stem. Painted them with plasti-dip so its reversible if it completely goes to crap. But I really like the black wheels with the car now anyway.

Here's a pic of how she looks after a week. Also, snarf says hi.

[NeilBlanchard]

Bruce,

How had you attached the pizza pans? The tape looks fine. Did you try the upper grill blocked and a partial lower block?

[brucey]

I can't do a lower grill block, I dont have a lower grill. The car got hit in the parking lot and they wanted too much to fix it, so I just amputated the bumper. Theres not much behind that coroplast really.

As for attachment methods, I tried the center bolt and I tried zip ties. Neither of which really worked well. And both of which I would have had to drill out 6 holes, 1 for the valve stems and 1 each for the lug nuts. It would have been too much work for something that I think would have looked worse. The only question now is how long the tape holds up.

[ECONORAM]

Originally Posted by brucey

Used waterproof, paint-able tape so we'll see how it goes. Had to leave one spoke open though for the valve stem. Painted them with plasti-dip so its reversible if it completely goes to crap. But I really like the black wheels with the car now anyway.

I like that! Tape would be pretty easy to install. I might have to try that, if I can find some down here in OKC before we roll out.

[Oval_Overload]

Brucey, the Lesbaru looks hawt. Mad Max style... efficient and bad ass!

~Jimbo

P.S. Is it just me or are those mirrors HUGE?

[jime57]

I also tried the Wal Mart pizza pans on an Echo. The OEM Echo plastic weel covers make a great mount. The pans just touch the wheel covers at about 3" off center, so a 6" rivet circle of 6 rivets each wheel made a strong mount. The installation was pretty slick. The new wheel covers could be gently pried off, just like the OEM covers. If the Scion covers don't work, you might find a cheap set of covers at Wal Mart which do.

I also shared the rust problem. If you go that route, then paint the outsides, possibly inside also, of the pans before you ever use them.

I like the look of your covers brucey!

[RobertSmalls]

You've murdered out your whip, son! (as they say on fashion-oriented automotive customization sites)

The front bumper and wheels provide many of the cues that help people identify that car at a glance as a Subaru. With those gone, I had to look twice.

[brucey]

Thanks for the compliments guys, the tape seems to be holding up well enough.

I know the tape will eventually fail, but the question is how long is eventually (:

And yes, my mirrors are huge. They look like they belong on a truck. It's nice cause there is no blind spots, its bad because of the obvious gas mileage hit I take with them. When I'm on the interstate I tend to fold the passenger side in, it helps a small bit.