Simple Honda VX Alloy Wheel Covers (drilled acorn wheel nuts as attachment points) - Page 3 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Weather Spotter · 12-25-2010, 10:42 AM

No skirts help too. They help less then if you do not have wheel covers but if I had to pick go with the smooth wheel covers.

Tango Charlie · 01-15-2011, 11:32 PM

What size nuts and bolts did you use? I can't fit 1/4-20 nuts into my lug nuts, and I'm a little hesitant to go smaller. How many miles have you got on your discs now?

Cd · 01-15-2011, 11:43 PM

I've got a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways to get the answer from those of you with more intelligence.
How does drilling the lug nuts affect the strength of the nut ?
I would worry that it may split over time.

I'm very impressed with the simplicity of it all, but just had to ask.

UFO · 01-16-2011, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cd

I've got a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways to get the answer from those of you with more intelligence.
How does drilling the lug nuts affect the strength of the nut ?
I would worry that it may split over time.

I'm very impressed with the simplicity of it all, but just had to ask.

Acorn nuts are two pieces, the steel lug itself and a chrome-plated sheet metal casing. These modifications are only to the casing of the nut.

Cd · 01-16-2011, 10:17 AM

Thanks for mentioning that UFO. I was not aware of that.

I'm really impressed with the cleverness of this project. It's so simple that it is one of those " Why didn't I think of that ?! " sort of ideas.

alohaspirit · 01-16-2011, 12:54 PM

i really like this

but i dont have many tools

(no drill stand or vise/live in apt)

how should i proceed?

Tango Charlie · 01-16-2011, 07:34 PM

You don't need a drill press and vise. The chromed shell on the lugs are quite thin; you're just punching a hole through. You could hold the lug nut with a pair of pliers and use a hand held electric drill.

Weather Spotter · 01-17-2011, 07:47 AM

You could also leave the nuts on the car and drill them their.

Niner · 01-17-2011, 10:56 AM

I tried following this method and ran into some problems...

1) Don't skip the anti-seize on the smaller bolt you use to hold the nut straight. The epoxy may bond better to the threads than the bolt did to the head, and then you end up with an impossible-to-remove bolt.

2) Don't skip putting the lug nuts back onto anti-seized bolts - otherwise if you get epoxy on the threads, you now have to scrape that away.

3) The metal caps can actually be popped off the lug nuts, which makes positioning and epoxying the nuts far, far easier. Just put a smaller bolt into the lug nut, put the nut on your vice, and tap it out.

4) If using Walmart pizza pans, give them a good coat of paint - after two weeks of snow and salt, my covers are showing an odd pattern of rust.

However! Between some epoxy and some poor welding attempts, I did get all 4 wheels of my xA covered with 16" pizza pans (on 15" wheels). The bolts give them a big advantage - you can use the exact same setup between two sets of rims (if they're the same size).

Cd · 01-17-2011, 04:47 PM

This could certainly be in the running for ' project of the month '.
What a clever way to cover wheels while keeping the original wheels intact !

I have a question regarding using oversized pizza pans.
My wheels are the pimpin' 13 " variety. It's hard to find that size. If I go with a 15" pan, it would make contact with the sides of the tires.
How much space should there be for tire flex ?