Serving Tray Racing Disk ...
 

Hello -

I think I finally cracked the problem of my alloy wheels not being amenable to racing disk mods. Here is my normal OEM alloy wheel:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...lloy-wheel.jpg

I found this serving tray at Smart & Final for a couple of bucks :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...rving-tray.jpg

It was almost perfect in size, but it needed to be trimmed, so I dremelled off the edge. This was time consuming but accurate because there was a groove in the plate for me to follow :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...ay-trimmed.jpg
(the leftover circle-piece makes a great hoola-hoop for your cat, :p)

I took off the center cap and removed the faux plastic lug nuts that are used to attach the center cap to the *real* lug nuts (which are double threaded for this purpose) :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...center-cap.jpg

I toyed with the idea of using T-Nuts on the *inside* of the plastic lug nuts, but abandoned it (they are really intended for soft wood, not plastic) :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...42-4-t-nut.jpg

I measured the diameter between the lug nut holes and found it to be 3.92". Then I hand-drilled 4 perfectly aligned holes in the serving tray (the pattern on the tray made it very easy to be accurate). Here is a picture before mounting. You can see where everything will attach :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...tray-bolts.jpg

The plastic lug nuts are recessed into the alloy wheel, so I used rubber furniture feet as spacers. The center cap is gone because it's "little dome" center pushes out the serving tray. It's better to have the serving tray rest on the now-present "circular inner disk" of the alloy wheel that you see here :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...ts-spacers.jpg

And here it is installed :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...-installed.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...nstalled-2.jpg

Benefits :
- Cheap. The disk is less than $3. The nuts and bolts do add up because I need 16 sets for all 4 wheels. But that's ok if it's robust.
- 100% reversible. Only "mod" to the car is a hole in each plastic lug nut. Car is otherwise untouched.
- Blackout look makes it easy to ignore brake dust and matches other black window/pillar elements in the S-Series design. I can more than live with that. It also helps to hide a valve stem hole if/when I dremel one.
- Adaptable mod. You can apply this to cars with alloys or steelies. The steelies would require lug nuts that have double threads.
- Disk material independent. You can use metal pizza pans if you want to. I chose the plastic serving tray because it matched the diameter of my wheel. I could even adapt *real* racing disks to attach with this method (not the ones with grabby scratchy teeth).
- Serving tray is very light. I am not worried about wheel balancing or it flying off and hurting anything.
- The additional nuts and bolts are symmetric, so I am not worried about wheel balancing.
- I think it will be very robust (pending testing, :o). It attaches in 4 places, so I have a high level of confidence that it will not fly off.
- Even my wife thinks it looks good!

Problems :
- The plastic serving tray is that cheap brittle plastic. It's the right shape but not the right kind of plastic. I expect that it will fail in due time. However, my main goal is to prove the mod, so I don't mind.
- The rubber furniture feet are too big, so the tray is not actually touching the alloy wheel. I need to trim the feet so that the tray can be more recessed. However, I don't want the rubber feet to be *too* shallow. Otherwise, I may crack the tray. It also needs to be more flush in order to get through car washes that grab the tire and pull the car along.
- No hole for valve stem. I can dremel a hole or take it off every time. Right now I am testing, so I am not in a rush to dremel the hole. Again, it's brittle plastic, so I am going to leave it be for now.
- I think the better solution is to have a threaded nut *inside* the plastic lug nut. This was what the T-Nut was for. In another iteration I plan to try a K-Lock nut like this :

Nuts, K-Lock nuts at Bolt Depot
http://www.boltdepot.com/images/catalog/k-nut.gif

This should allow for a "flusher" mount. Currently the 4 attaching bolts stick out about 1/4".


(I'm going to revise the pros and cons you see above, but these are the biggies. I'm hungry so it's off to dinner ... revisions made)

CarloSW2

Very creative installation. Looks clean, and simple. Maybe once the plastic goes try a metal or aluminum pizza pan to replace it. Gotta love the simple setup!

best EVER!.. almost as good as caulk. lol. maybe.

um here's an idea i just thought of for aerodynamics the other day when i was in walmart I saw it and though Caching gas saver

Duck Tape brand HD Clear tape Couldn't you cover up gaps, like the ones in your wheels or recessed light areas and use that instead of pans like this? just an idea

Domman56 -

It's a good idea. There are many who have tried tape. I tried metallic tape, but it was a bad idea because it was flimsy, crinkly, and didn't look good :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...disk-3657.html

I think clear tape would lead to "nice dark gaps" because the tape (on at least the front disk brakes) would collect the brake dust. It would be cool because it would be uniform.

CarloSW2

Heck...why not just use some expanding foam and foam yerself an aeroshape right on the rims? Just cut out access holes fer the valve and the lug nuts and yer in business! :D

You wouldn't have to worry too much about a disk flying off and crashing into cars or about how to attach it to the rims. ;)

Brilliant!

working the same concept. gotta seal the gap. just lost my clear shield at 56mph after 70 miles.

Big box home improvement stores have 1" plastic snap in caps for sealing holes drilled for blown in insulation. Perhaps they would be something to try for valve stem access.

mcrews -

You are the reason I was motivated to get it done. I was enthused by the progress you are making on your clear cover, and I wanted to "join in", so to speak.

CarloSW2

Hello -

Quick update. So far so good, nothing wrong, solid as a rock, but 45 miles is too early to tell.

What I do like is where the "blackout look" is going (thanks Christ) :

(not my car, used the picture for a mock-up)
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...out-wheelz.jpg

As I was saying, the window pillar trim has black accents, so the blackout look complements that. It's kind of police-car no-frills in your face look. Me likey

CarloSW2