Smooth wheel covers for the Prius
 

Its been a couple months, so the Prius was due some attention. I'm also the one driving the Prius on a daily basis now that me and my wife got new jobs (she wanted to go back to a more 'fun' manual trans car, the Paseo). So, this time around it got smooth wheel covers.

I went the route of pizza pan covers bolted to the trim rings on the Prius wheels. However, I didn't want fasteners sticking out of the smooth covers (dunno why, just wanted it that way), so I did something a little different.

First, I took the trim rings and drilled some holes in them for the attachment points.
http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius069.jpg


Next, I screwed some rivet nuts to the back side of the trim ring. I then put a blob of JB weld on the backs of them and then set it down on the pizza pan while centering it.
http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius067.jpg

http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius068.jpg


After that cured, I put another layer of JB weld on top of it to secure things better.
http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius070.jpg


The last thing I had to do was kind of a querky thing. I had washers that I put under the heads of the screws on the trim rings. To get everything to fit up nice, I had to grind pretty big flats on the washers to get them to clear the wheel when they are installed.

http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius073.jpg


Overall, it worked out quite nice though.

http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius071.jpg

http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius072.jpg

nice write up

NOW I get what you were trying to tell me about those washers being a problem.

Nice writeup & pics!

I dub thee "Pizza Pan Prius"!

Seriously though, it looks really nice.

I wish I still had my smooth caps for my S10, I really liked the look. Too bad all those dirt roads took their toll. I will have to attach them with something better than trim rings next time...

The Citicar would look really cool with these too.

Tim, what size rims on your Prius? I thought you mentioned that you changed the size a while back.

Daox -

Extremely well executed. I agree with the no-fastener look. Even though JB Weld is fantastic I would be wringing my hands that it would come undone. My "basis for worry" would be that the stress on the JB Weld would be a "shearing force" against the JB Weld.

On the other hand, you have 6 fastening points, so you are extra strong.

CarloSW2

We use JB Weld on things at work, and any flexing or vibration will allow it to unstick.

I would try *ensuring* that the JB Weld do it's job by drilling some very small holes from the outside for #4 flat-head screws that would be drilled and tapped into the some custom standoffs on the inside.

The combination of screws and JB Weld will give me the peace of mind that those covers are staying put no matter what.

Jim.

You know...you could put some sort prismatic tape on the cover so it has some "flash"... ;)

IDENTI-TAPE - Colored Prismatic Tape

That is my worry as well. We'll see how it holds up though. The pizza pans cost a whopping $3.50 each or something like that. If I loose one (and don't notice it) its not the end of the world.

It is too bad I don't have a way to weld aluminum... :) Hmm, I wonder about perhaps brazing them?

I have the stock alloy wheels which are 15". Two winters ago I had my Matrix's 16" wheels with snow tires on it. This past year I picked up a set of 15" steelies and got new winter tires. I'm hoping to find a way to attach the smooth covers to those wheel covers as well.

Very nice clean, smooth look, Daox!
I would seriously investigate brazing those rivnuts. :thumbup:

I will do that. I'll call up the local welding supply place and see what they suggest today.

I also wanted to add a shot of the washer grinding that needed to be done. Apparently the wheel comes very close to the inner edge of the trim ring, so they needed to be cut back.

http://tercelreference.com/downloads/prius073.jpg

I think 'T' nuts would work well? Would flat bars in place of the inside washers be made from something in the hardware store?

T nuts would be another good choice. I chose the rivet nuts because they're aluminum and if I wanted to bond the two metals together I figured aluminum to aluminum would be easier than steel to aluminum. They also stuck up a bit further which gives you a bit more room to play with fastener length.

Really nice! I mocked up some smoothies for my S10, and said to myself they would look really nice with no bolt holes. You did a good job executing. I will probably be lazy and still drill a hole in mine, but next time I'm in the garage I'll see how feasable your set up would be. Thanks for the write up.

My question is why can we not buy a cheap set of plastic smooth hub caps? They sell and make hub caps all day long and I have yet to find a smooth one.

Good question, that.

There is a product called "Alumaloy" which lets you braze aluminum parts together. Used it once to make a questionable plenum for a kart. It held up for quite a while.

I swear I saw a set of wheels on a Prius in the parking lot here at work where there was a trim ring that would rotate to block off airflow through the wheel. Anyone ever seen them?

Don

Well, I just got back from the welding supply store and came back with another glue. The stuff is called Lab Metal and he said that it is stronger than JB weld and that it would probably work good for this application. Seeing as I have never actually brazed anything before and this would be my first shot at it, I'm going to try the super glue first.

I am not looking forward to chipping off all that JB weld though!

http://blog.jdindustrialsupply.com/w...2010/04/lm.gif

Very nice looking!
How about calling it the "Pizzrius" now, lol?

If your traveling 65 mph down the Interstate and one comes off from a big bump in the road, it's going to have quite a bit of kinetic energy.

If it hit someone's car or hurts someone along side the road changing their flat tire, that might make for a bad day. That disk would be going almost 100 feet per second.

One can easily make sure they stay on with a slight modification.

Welding on fasteners without distorting the thin disk could be tricky. I have welded thin sheet metal before and ended up distorting door panels. It's easy to do.

If you heat up the whole pan in an oven to 500 degrees first, then weld the stand off's you'll have a much better chance not warping the disk. But that seems to be a lot more work than simply adding a flush mounted fastener from the outside.

Jim.

...anybody remember the oriental bad-guy called 'Odd-Job' in the James Bond movie Gold Finger who throws his metal-rimmed bowler hat as a ninja-frizbee thingee?

Old Tele man -

Oh yeah, I remember that guy (talk about a chop-top!).

I agree that we should do the best fastening job we can. On the other hand, hubcaps have always been falling off wheels.

CarloSW2

for the sake of safety i would deal with some round headed fasteners protruding slightly from the disk

I understand the concern of them falling off. They of course will be tested on a desolate country road before put into full time use. I don't want to cause damage to anyone else's property of any kind. Considering the condition of Wisconsin roads right after winter, if they hold on now I'm pretty sure they'll hold for forever.

Hi All,

Cannot understand the resistance to just using 10 mil thick (.010") aluminum flashing and wrapping around the trim ring - like I did. Sure, it needs some work for the Gen III installation, but for Gen II these things look like pie plates, are lite weight, can take a hit from road debri (kinda like a drum top reaction to the impact), are cheap and have proven themselves that they wont come off. I had mine on my car from Dec '07 to the totalling September '10. No problem, other than I did not paint them and they have some corrosion (easily 600 grit wet sanded off and painted over).

In fact, I have 4 for sale off my 2006 (the one that was totalled) if anybody is interested?

Aluminum Moon Wheels ?
 

Why, with all the after market wheel builders, can't one of them be convinced to produce a line of light weight, aerodynamic, aluminum, moon type wheels.
I wonder just how many sets would be snapped up in the first month. Does any one know any body in that business to posit the idea? Should we all start doing e-mails. I wrote HRE in California ( who claim to be a custom wheel builder) and got no response.
Bill :confused:

I know this is old.But...
 

Couldn't you just use construction adhesive around the entire perimeter?
Or use epoxy resin? Obviously you would scuff the bejeezus out of both surfaces using the roughest sandpaper available

I suggest:
cut out the center of the hubcap,
scuff both surfaces really really well and drill several holes in the cap to let the adhesive ooze through.
then lay a thick bead of construction adhesive (press together remove for two minutes and then replace)
Let it dry really well. Apply another bead of adhesive

Has anyone tried this?