Simple Honda VX Alloy Wheel Covers (drilled acorn wheel nuts as attachment points)
 

I'd posted this inside another thread, but realized the information probably deserves its own thread.

Got these done a few weeks ago, and they have worked out quite well.

Used a melamine serving tray from KMart (fairly light weight compared to pizza pans) ($4.99 ea):
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TH.../P82201211.JPG

Drilled out the acorn nuts and epoxied in some washers plus smaller nuts inside:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P9060166.JPG

They're actually all centered... just looks off:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P9060167.JPG

Epoxy is setting now... using bolts & nuts to hold the nuts inside straight:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P9060171.JPG

Lug nuts ready to go back on the car:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P9060176.JPG

And now back on the car:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TH...0/P8220120.JPG

Drilled 4 matching holes into the serving tray:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P9060173.JPG

The design of the bottom of the tray made it exceptionally easy to mark 4 evenly spaced lines and the center point. Measuring 50mm (5cm) out from the center to get to the same spacing as the 4x100 lug nuts was a snap. All the holes have lined up with all the lug nuts perfectly twice so far (left and right covers).

Hot-glued washers and spacers to the wheel side of the tray so they don't keep falling off during the mounting (it ain't purty, but it works):
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TH...0/P8220121.JPG

Initially, the tray was a little big and rested on the edge of the rim:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TH...0/P6260090.JPG

I didn't like that, so I sanded the edges of the tray down until it fit exactly inside the edge of the rim:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TH...0/P6260097.JPG

Final look is pretty decent; plan to also sand down the ridges so the whole 'bottom' / outside of the tray is smooth, and then will likely paint them. Also plan to smooth the edges of the washers so they don't present such a sharp edge:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TH...0/P8220123.JPG

For these covers, I prefer to remove the clip-on weights on the outside of the wheel and have the tire shop re-balance with the stick-ons (or clip-ons on the inside only) so that I don't need to cut notches into the covers just for the weights. Since it's a relatively quick 4 phillips screw on / off process, and since the tires are holding air really well, I'm not too worried about having an opening for the air valve.

I dont think those could fit any better!

so the screws go into the tops of the lug nuts?

Very very nice.

Why not just drill and tap the lug nut holes?

regards
Mech

NachtRitter -

Great work! I've seen a lot of 14" plates, but that was always too small for my 15" wheels.

CarloSW2

Right; with the spacers, the bolts / screws snug up against the lug nuts. Stays nice & snug, no wobble, no noise.

That was my original plan actually. However, once I drilled the hole into the top of the lug nut, I found out there really isn't much metal there to tap... Maybe a 32nd of an inch. That's when I came up with the idea of inserting a washer plus a nut and using epoxy to hold them in... I put anti-seize on the threads of the lug nut and on the bolt for the smaller nut, threaded the nut over the bolt so that it would stay true, "poured" the epoxy in, and then let it sit for ~12 hours. The bolts unthreaded fine, and no epoxy stuck to the lug nuts either.

I was worried the epoxy wouldn't hold strong enough, but I can actually tighten the bolts down pretty well.

Good work!

I shall copy this.

Good DIY! Thanks for posting.

Carlos -

I have to thank you for the inspiration... Your serving tray thread (http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...isk-11838.html) is what gave me the idea of attaching to the lug nuts... since I didn't have any nut caps handy, I improvised. :thumbup:

NachtRitter .. excellent way to mount them on the VX rims .. I was looking at the idea many times but didn't want to drill into the rims. This solves the issues.
Are you going to do any A-B-A tests, or give educated guesses on mpg gains?
Again awesome solution.

A-B-A Testing
 

Thanks WD40... I still owe you some pics of the 'guino wiring... haven't forgotten!

Yes, I would like to do A-B-A testing, though I'm at a slight disadvantage since I do not have cruise control so I'd have to do coast-down testing. And to do coast-down testing, I need to find a good place, with minimal / no traffic where I can repeatedly coast at least a mile (no stops, no curves, etc). I'm still looking for the ideal location.

I also feel like I'm at version 0.8 of these wheel covers currently... The mounting aspect works well, but I'm not entirely happy with the look of the outside ... the fender washers plus the round head bolts just sticks out too much for my tastes. I have some ideas that I plan to try this weekend...

Carlos -

I forgot to mention... I was amazed how well these 14" trays fit, considering my wheels are considered to be 13" ... I originally thought I'd have to cut a pretty large amount off for the trays to fit!

For those interested 2 other people have already done this modification and done ABA tests, the data is in 2 different threads but a consolidated list is in the wiki here

Smooth wheel covers - EcoModder

The average is 3.88 % MPG improvement, definately worth doing for a nice quick modification.
I have also seen people paint their covers so it appears like a normal hub cap.

...I kinda like the idea of using 'clear' model-airplane polycoat to achieve a quick-n-dirty (although certainly not as durable as metal plates) full cover.

...now, where's my wife's hairdryer????

FYI... added some more pictures to the first post to better describe what I did.

Also, decided to smooth and paint one of the wheel covers to see how it would look and how it would hold up. So, spent the weekend filling, sanding, sanding, sanding, filling, sanding, sanding, sanding... you get the picture... !

Speaking of pictures, here are a few....

Getting there, but still a bit more filling, sanding to do:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P8290123.JPG

Got tired of sanding, so added some paint:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P8290125.JPG

On the car:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TI...0/P9040150.JPG

You can see that I went to flat-head bolts instead of the round headed ones I used originally. Also used washers specifically for the flat-head bolts.

It's not perfect... I can still see some unevenness on the surface, and the paint has a bit of orange peel, but overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Looks a LOT better than the unpainted tray (IMHO). We'll see how it holds up over time.

Initially I was worried about the weight of the filler, but I don't think it's all that bad, actually:
- 15oz for serving tray alone
- 16oz for serving tray with washers (4 fender washers and 4 flat head washers)
- 19.5oz for serving tray with washers and filler

So the filler added 3.5oz. Huge looking at it from % perspective (~22% added), but not much 'real' weight.

Sweet. I Gave me some ideas for mine!

Testing data please! I would like more data for the Wiki :)

i like your idea of using nuts in the lugs, very clever!

great idea

besides the data, i wouldnt mind seeing a full shot of the car with plates attached

Pic of wheel cover attached... have only done the fronts so far (the rears still have the balancing weights on the outside, plus I've got the skirt back there).

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e1PWzsTgbJw/TP...0/PA140124.JPG

A-B-A testing and data collection is looking less likely now... I purchased a 2000 Jetta TDI back in October (and seem to be getting some amazing numbers even without any aero mods! ... though I haven't had a chance to calibrate the ScanGauge since I haven't gone through a full tank yet)... so the Jetta will be my focus in the upcoming months.

This gave me another mounting idea. I don't think I'll find any 20" melamine trays, but I did find some lexan and pizza pans I could try out.

Do skirts over the rear wheels pretty much negate putting a cover on the wheels?

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.

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?

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.

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.

i really like this


but i dont have many tools

(no drill stand or vise/live in apt)



how should i proceed?

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.

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

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).

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 ?

Hi TC -

I'm using #8-32 nuts, which just fit inside the lug nuts.

I have over 4,500 miles on my first cover (I attached one to my left front wheel first and drove around with it for a while just to make sure it'd actually stay on). I was initially worried about the robustness as well, but after 4+ months and 4,500+ miles (on freeways as well as back roads with potholes), even the first I attached is still solid. I think it helps that the disc itself is plastic (relatively lightweight) and that the edges of the disc fit just inside the edge of the wheel (so that any vertical impact is absorbed both by by the edge of the wheel as well as the nuts & bolts). The pix in my first post show how the disc fits inside the wheel edge.

Mine are 13" as well... the 14" serving tray I got works almost perfectly. I just sanded the edge (since I got a plastic tray, I can do that) a little to have the tray fit just inside the edge of the wheel rim. As well, with the plastic tray, you won't get rust.

Absolutely true!! :D

Ya, I wasn't quite as careful with this either... fortunately I was able to use a breaker bar to crank the lug nut on & off the wheel studs of the car until the epoxy was cleared.
Cool! Hadn't tried that. Did you epoxy the caps back on then?
One of the reasons I went with a plastic tray instead...
Awesome! Post a link to some pix; I'd love to see the final result!

No, I just tapped them back into place with a ball peen hammer. It's a pretty tight fit and I can't imagine them being pulled out by the bolts.

I am planning on pulling off the covers and getting them primed and painted this weekend, so I'll try to get some pics of the work. You'll have to excuse the weld quality, though... I really should have gotten some lighter wire.

Cd, I'll try a reply, as my truck has lug bolts, not caps. As I recall, when you drill a bolt, it still retains about 90% of its strength...with less weight?! This is part of my thoughts for my wheels. My truck has 20" alloys, and I have only found 20" pizza pans. I've tried some 20.5" corroplast, but only used adhesive backed velcro to hold them on my wheels. I keep losing the left front wheel cover. They (2 so far) are somewhere between here and Oklahoma City. :rolleyes:

Love the way you did this! good job.

Suggestion please. I'm doing this for my HX rims.

I have the holes drilled in the lug nut caps. The flat wheel covers are ready for drilling for the 8x32 screws.

I'm considering skipping the washer that would go between the 8x32 nut and the back side of the lug nut cap. I figure that way I can load epoxy onto the nut where it will meet the lug nut cap; the nut should end up embedded in a glob of epoxy. Any stress load of the nut against the cap would be spread across the surface of the cap by the hardened epoxy - correct? And plenty epoxy should end up surrounding the small nut's hex.

If I put a washer in between the small nut and the lug nut cap I'm not sure where the epoxy will set up a good grip on the small nut. What do you think?

The flat wheel covers are ready for mounting. Made from perforated sheet aluminum with coroplast backing glued on. The coroplast stiffener backing is cut out to leave "spokes" so some air can get through the aluminum perforations.

Bruce, I think you could skip the washers if there is enough surface area from the nut to spread the load across the inside of the cap. However, if they are plastic then I think you'd want to use the washers to increase the surface area. This will reduce the pressure peak(s) from torque on the bolt/nut.
For using the epoxy, if you use the washers and are worried about grip, I suggest you use a little bit of toilet paper on the epoxy and surfaces--as a composite type glue job. Get the pieces into position, spread the epoxy where you want it, then dab the tp into place. Make sure it gets wet w/epoxy. I have used this to repair a few things...such as my cellphone body.

brucepick -

I think it depends on the back side of the lug nut cap. If the nut can lie flat and flush on the back side of the lug nut cap, then I think you are ok.

I used a no-epoxy design in mine where the T-Nut spikes just "grab" the inside of the plastic lug nut :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...wn-4-parts.jpg

Here is a cross-section view :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...ss-section.jpg

However, this requires that I screw the bolt onto the plastic lug nut *before* I take the lug nut off. Otherwise the T-Nut will fall out when I take off the plastic lug nut.

CarloSW2

Nice drawing, cfg83!

What are those black plastic lug nut things? A Saturn brand item, or GM, or ?? I likely will stay with my (already) drilled out HX lug nuts but I think the plastic ones might be useful for some EcoModders.