Hubcaps must be securely mounted to your rims, with full contact around the perimeter of the steel wheel. He should be able to remove them with his bare hands with great difficulty, or not be able to remove them at all. This is the case with over 99% of standard wheels. However, there is a small variation in diameter between wheels made by different manufacturers. If your wheels are ‘tight’ you may have difficulty mounting the hubcaps all the way. If the wheels are “loose”, they may make noises or come off when hitting potholes.
If your wheels are loose or slightly oversized, your hubcaps may not mount firmly enough to stay over potholes at highway speeds. Here are some tips to remedy this situation. These tips apply to standard modern push-on type hubcaps.
1. Make sure you haven’t applied any “lubricant” products to the surface of the steel wheel where the hubcaps mount, especially in the gap around the tire bead.
Products like ArmorAll or Tire Shine contain silicone and other lubricants that can increase the smoothness of the surfaces they are applied to. If this is the case, thoroughly clean any residue from the mounting surface where the hubcap struts contact the wheel with alcohol or paint thinner. Also clean any debris from the hubcap mounting studs. Reassemble and try.
2. If your hubcaps have a second notch for the spring retaining ring, to position it closer to the outer face of the hubcap, you can try moving the ring into that slot.
Note: The normal position for the snap ring is at the END of the mounting strut, moving its position closer to the outer face of the hubcap will increase the mounting pressure on a normal wheel MUCH, to the point that the Hub cap can be broken before it breaks. ride all the way. But if your wheel is too big, it will increase the setting to ‘tight’.
3. If your hubcaps have spring-loaded metal mounting clips on the ends of the struts, you can try bending one a half out 1/4 inch, remount and test. If that’s still not enough to hold the pressure, fold the rest of them out. That usually does.
4. If the above didn’t work for you, you can try this: Wrap the outer contact point of every other strut with black electrical tape. The goal is to get 3-4 turns of extra thickness on the mounting strut or clip, which will increase its holding power. Reassemble and try. If this still isn’t enough, go ahead and wrap the rest of them.
5. In some rare cases, the paint on steel wheels is shiny and slippery, especially when they are painted to match the car. This can result in loss of hubcaps, even when the hubcaps appear to fit tight. In this case, you can use coarse 80-grit sandpaper to scuff up the paint in the area where the hubcap struts make contact with the wheel. Make the scratches parallel to the circumference of the wheel. This can give the mounting struts enough extra grip to hold them in place. Don’t sand enough to remove all the paint, the hubcap mounting struts will grab the paint better than bare steel.
6. If your wheels have been deformed from impact with curbs or road hazards, you may never be able to fit the hubcaps. This condition will also cause the tire wear pattern to be uneven and can cause wobbling while driving. One way to diagnose this problem is to have a friend follow you in another car to see if any of your wheels are wobbling. This would also appear on a spin balancing machine. The only real solution to the problem is to replace the wheel.
7. If all else fails, you can try this trick, often used by police departments to reduce hubcap loss in high-speed chases. Get a dozen nylon twist ties, the kind with one flat end that goes through the square hole at the other end, and tighten. They should be 6-8 inches long, at least 2 per hubcap, 3 is better. Go through a couple of holes in the wheel and the corresponding holes in the hubcap, and tighten them down firmly. It’s not that pretty, but it works.
