Serving Tray Racing Disk ...

[orange4boy]

What you need are sex nuts.

I kid you not.

[cfg83]

orange4boy -

Originally Posted by orange4boy

What you need are sex nuts.

I kid you not.

Verl cool. I have used the "low grade for expanding folders" stationaries kind, but nothing heavy duty. The Bolt Depot looks like a place where I'll be getting stuff.

CarloSW2

[cosmic_kid]

How much do the wheel covers improve your mileage? How much did the four trays and hardware cost? I'm trying to get an idea of how long it would take to recoup the cost in gas savings if I tried this on my Saturn SL

[cfg83]

cosmic_kid -

Originally Posted by cosmic_kid

How much do the wheel covers improve your mileage? How much did the four trays and hardware cost? I'm trying to get an idea of how long it would take to recoup the cost in gas savings if I tried this on my Saturn SL

Good question. I haven't done the aero tests. Instead I cite this :



I am also simplifying/cheapening the connections down to 3 parts and some glue. I will publish the details in another post. The result gets you much closer to a flush mount :



If you have steelies, then you don't have to trim the pans. This cuts down the labor by maybe 75%. I would say that each wheel would cost :

$3 for the serving tray
$1 for truss-head bolts
$1 for some plumbing washers
$1 for special mounting nuts

It's actually less than this, but I am cheating high, so it's less than $6 per wheel.

CarloSW2

[sl2eggplant]

I can try to answer the mpg improvement. My baseline is 31-32mpg for my 99 Saturn SL2 automatic.

After installing the coroplast hubcaps, my mpg jumped to 34-35. I don't have any hard data, but I bet the hubcaps added 1.5 to 3 mpgs (or 5 - 10%). My drive is 56 highway, 8 city. I drive 65 - 75 mph to keep up with the flow of traffic.

I cannot remember, there's a thread on this site referring to an article that stated.

Air drag comes from:
40% shape and proportions of the body,
30% wheelwells,
20% under the car,
10% airflow through the engine bay.


I will say that I agree b/c I installed a full belly pan and I know that the hub caps added more mpg and were 100x easier to work on.

[cfg83]

Hello -

(Christ, here are the T-Nuts)

This is the v2.0 attachment system used in post #44. I've gone from 10 parts per lug nut (not including the tray itself) down to 3 :



The only problem is that the plumbing washer doesn't have anything to "hang" off of when I am attaching the serving tray. I tried to glue it on, but it still falls off. I am in the process of replacing the plumbing washer with a rubber "furniture foot". It has the benefit of being able to tightly wrap over the faux plastic lug-nut while "filling the gap" and providing cushioning equal to the plumbing washer.

Keep in mind that the bolt has a "truss head" similar to this :



This is the widest/flattest bolt I could find. Without this, I would lean towards a big flat washer. It's 3/4" length is critical for my application because any longer would push into contact with the real lug nut and no longer be flush.

In the above picture I use a 2" truss head bolt to mount the T-Nut. This is because I am using no glue (except for the plumbing washer, which is being phased out). I use the bolt to hold the T-nut in place and "true" to the hole in the plastic lug nut as I screw it onto the real lug nut.

CarloSW2

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

Okay, so I'm just jumping in here and have mostly just skimmed this thread, so I apologize if this has already been brought up or I'm missing some major points.

It seems to me the easiest way to attach these would be to cheesy hubcaps, and with maybe 20 screws with spacers... or sex nuts. This would make the smooth cap less apt to flap and crack. And you could make a rather permanent attachment, as when you needed to get to your lugs, you could just yank it off like a hubcap.

For spacers I would use small bits of nylon hose (about 59cents a foot). You couldn't put too much torque on them, but some lock-tight would make up for that.

[cfg83]

Dr. Jerryrigger -

All those are great ideas. My conundrum has always been that I have alloy wheels, not steelies. I could invest in steelies, but the alloys are so scratched up (came that way) that I don't think I'd get anything for them. These covers wouldn't crack if they weren't polystyrene.

CarloSW2

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Dr. Jerryrigger -

All those are great ideas. My conundrum has always been that I have alloy wheels, not steelies. I could invest in steelies, but the alloys are so scratched up (came that way) that I don't think I'd get anything for them. These covers wouldn't crack if they weren't polystyrene.

CarloSW2

Do you know how easy it is to drill into aluminum.....

[cfg83]

Dr. Jerryrigger -

Originally Posted by Dr. Jerryrigger

Do you know how easy it is to drill into aluminum.....

Yes, we've had that discussion in other threads. From what I remember the consensus was that it could weaken the integrity of the wheel.

This is just *one* of many ways to do the same thing.

CarloSW2