Low budget aero hubcaps (magnet attachment)
 

I bought four steel pizza pans from my local dollar store, and superglued neodymium magnets to them in a location that centers the cap on my wheels.

I first drilled and then reamed a hole to fit the valve stem through. The wheel rims I have have a central ridge with a diameter of about 7 inches that projects flush with the edge of the rim. The pizza pans have a nice stepped rim that stiffens them and gets the rim 'down' below the airflow.

Locating the magnets is easy. Stick them to the ridge on the rim, put a dollop of glue on each magnet, then put the pan over the whole works. You'll have a couple of seconds to center the rim before the glue grabs.

You can also measure a circle about the right diameter and glue the magnets to the pan before attaching it. I did both, to see what would work better, and saw no real difference.

Now to see if they will hold on at highway speeds and over bumps... :eek:


This first step toward aero improvement was inspired by someone's post here about using pizza pans for hubcaps. I didn't have any stock spring-friction fit caps to use, so magnets came to mind. These neodymium magnets are very strong, and I'll find out if they're strong enough.

Total cost- $4.00 US (plus 0.32 tax) and two dead hard drives scavenged for magnets. Total time= about 15 minutes each.

Post of the day! :thumbup:

My pizza pan hubcaps are held on by 3 screws going into drilled and tapped holes in the wheel. I'd be a bit worried by not having a direct physical connection between the hubcap and the wheel, then hitting a bump with that 60psi tire and the jolt sending that hubcap spinning off into traffic.

Hmm- I hadn't really thought of how they might affect other drivers if they flew off. I may have to come up with something better... (Although my tires are at 40psi, and don't thump that hard.)

jim-frank -

That's stunning inventiveness on your part. I used to have the "snap-in" racing disks. Whenever I hit a pot-hole just right, the disk on the front passenger wheel would pop off. Back in 1997 I was driving maybe 65-70 MPH on the freeway at night. I hit a bump and I noticed the lights of the cars behind me "wiggling". I instantly realized that they were avoiding my wheel cover. I went back the next day to find it mangled on the side of the road.

I still like the idea, but it may not work on cars at highway speeds.

CarloSW2

Looks like hard drive magnets! Clever. I hope it stays on for you, and if it does, I hope next time you go to remove them, the glue is stronger than the magnets. :)

Hahahahaha! I had a 1990 Buick with the huge spoked steel hubcaps and the stupid plastic center nut to hold them on. I had one fly off and watched it go across the interstate into on coming traffic and turned a motorhome front grille into shrapnel :o

He kept going and so did I :thumbup:

Has anyone done a before and after MPG gain for Aero Hubcaps of any kind? Is it really a lot?

It's very small (probably too small to notice through tank-to-tank monitoring).

It also falls into the "it depends" (TM) category: Depends on how aerodynamically dirty the previous wheel style was to begin with; also the airflow characteristics past the wheel wells of the vehicle in question.

True, but even if its a small difference like .5 mpg then over the lifetime of the car (Say 150,000 miles) the fuel savings would amount to 75 dollars or so... so for a $5 mod its not a bad idea!

Definitely. Don't get me wrong - I didn't mean to discourage the mod!

A percent here and there adds up. Which is why most hybrids, other high mileage vehicles & prototypes have smoother wheels than not, high speed record setting cars, etc. etc.

Tap Plastics carries those magnets, at least my local one does. While youre there you can get the glue E-6000, which is similar to Goop. It stays flexible for decades, and is incredibly strong.

why not just use like 6 neo magnets instead of 4? with 6 it SURE AS HELL aint going ANYWHERE.

I just stopped by two 99 cent stores nearby and they didn't have any steel pizza pans, just the crappy flimsy ones made of aluminum foil? not even sure, but they weren't like the ones you had... What brand dollar store was it? Was it a big chain or just one of those crappy 98 cent stores with no brand name?

I need to find me some pizza pans damnit! :D

I agree, I'm still doing it Iw as just wondering what the numbers were for people here doing the mod.

I don't know of anyone who has produced any numbers documenting an increase. The change, if any, is just too small to isolate in real world driving.

Cool, I still want to do the rear whel covering that a few have done on here with metal or plastic. At minimum, it will be an asthetic increase since my plastic hubcaps are butt ugly...

It was Dollar General. I think. We have three different dollar stores in town, and I forget which is which.

No, wait, it was Dollar Tree. Dollar general had the same pans for $3 each.

I decided to use screws or a snap ring, because one of my prototypes flew off in a test run at about 70mph, so there isn't quite enough sticking force with three magnets, at least in the setup that I have.

Remember that with magnets, the force falls off very quickly with distance, so when they start to pull loose, they let go completely in a heartbeat.

Thanks, I'll hit up the closest dollar tree closest store to me is 10 miles, how big are the pizza pans? my wheels are 15 inch....

The ones I used are for 12 inch pizzas, and are just under 13" diameter. City Market (Kroger, Smiths etc) has a 14 inch pan that might do the trick, but it's $3 or $4.

Despite the ultimate "Ghetto" look, I was even considering using the aluminum roofing tape for my wheels. Straight strips across the wheel until it is fully covered and if I felt the need, smaller strips wrapped over the lip in order to hold the ends in place. The tape is strong and chrome, anything wrong with doing that?

If you need to service a wheel then poke a hole in it and re do it when you get home ...

I just realized something...

these are STELL... they are gona rust up on you something aweful :(

The ones bought have a non-stick coating of some kind on them. If they start to rust, I can spray on some primer.

You can get stuff like that powder coated pretty chaeply if you choose a common color (white, black, etc) and sometimes a 12 pack will do wonders...

If you want to paint them yourself, use Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy. $5.00 a can (give or take) at Orchard Supply.

Spray them with PAM to keep food from sticking and keep them rust free ;)

I was at our local "Christmas Tree Shoppes" which is a (small) step-up from a dollar store. There they had some type of an aluminum tray (with flimsy plastic lid) they referred to as a 'dessert tray.' It was lighter than steel. The reduction in weight is always welcome ... but the lighter weight may also mean they will be easier to keep on. They were also larger than 12" or 13" ... for those of us with larger rims (My Civic has 16" wheels).

Maybe these dessert trays are aluminum clad cardboard? They had a design molded into them that was hideous. That was the worst part, I think.

I think I'd rather have plastic ... then I can spray paint it black, silver or body color.

Still, I'm dubious of having anything permanently attached with magnets (that I'd have to source). :rolleyes:

i check tire pressure every other week so i need something that is removeable

COMP: you could drill a small hole and use a valve stem extension.

not on the truck,,,i have short stems in so they can't be torn off

The only problem I have is on some cars they do not look nice so I came up with a solution. I have no tried it yet but I will give it a shot. I am going to Heat up a piece of plastic and make it into a "bowl" the shape of my hubcap. Attach once inside and outside. This will do several things. One make them smooth like these pans you guys are using. (awesome novel idea BTW!! I do not think it ever would have dawned on me to use them like that) Second its clear so they are invisible and third they are clear so you can still have nice hubcaps and aerodynamics and putting BLACK on the inside will keep the caps clean and brakedust and dirt off :-)

My problem is I only have 2 of 4 caps. Some smucks stole two of them while we were in philly moving my mother out. $5 a pop and they just had to steal them. Alas I can not find them again and all the "current" hubcaps I would not be caught dead putting on my car they are so butt ugly :-(

really if you want cheap and easy and dont care what they look like, some cheap hub caps covered as stated above in duct tape would be very simple and cheap..or use expanding foam and fill any holes, the sand down the excess in exsisting hub caps and then coat them with fiberglass resin to harden the surface..

Sorry, I found more used for this expanding foam than I know what to do worth.. it's super light, shapes well, and strong too.. and cheap as hell one little can has a huge amount of "space" of finished foam in it.. i was even debating doing some of my under body in it... would make for a super quiet ride..

Bumping a thread from the distant past...

jim-frank - looks like you haven't signed into the forum since late last year, but I'm interested to know if the magnetic fastening approach for your wheel covers stood the test of time.

Hopefully you get an e-mail alret if you're subscribed to this thread.

The gripping force of magnets drops off too fast with separation distance. Every time I passed a semi, the blast of wind would suck my hubcaps off. Perhaps if I were to glue magnets to both wheel and hubcap, they would resist being pulled apart.

I've not been on in a while, since I gave the old Nissan to my grandson. My newer one is automatic transmission, and is much harder to hypermile successfully than the five speed tranny was...

A note to ebacherville on expanding foam- I did exactly that to repair a trumpet case. Fill holes with foam. (Actually I made my own heavy duty foam by stirring water into Gorilla Glue- it foams up nicely and ends up stronger and denser than canned foams) Just used Bondo to surface fill the expanding foam, and it gives a really easy to paint surface.

Thanks for the update, even if it didn't work out.

I'm going to give it a try. I've already made up a coro disc with 8 magnets around the outside edge -- closer to the edge is better -- less potential leverage.

Also, the disc sits flush inside the rim's bead/lip so it's not easy for a blast of wind to pry them off (though can't predict the effect of a simple sudden pressure difference)

magnets are the strongest when pulled axially, but linearly the strength falls. any vibration will cause separation, and flying discs.

LOL. I'm sure this wheel would balance nicely.

Well, my magnetically attached wheel covers went on their first trial by fire (ice) today, and returned, still on the vehicle! Snow storm, many pot holes, 100 km/h max. (62 mph).

Maybe it's only a fluke. But I'll post a new thread soon.