I Forgot About Hubcaps

Mr onetwo

Mr onetwo

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I brought my Fury home from storage today and everything went perfectly.The car ran flawlessly and it was a perfect sunny 70 degree day.Truly lovely 25 mile drive and it reignited my love for this car! :steering:When I got the car home I cleaned it up a bit, checked all the fluids and put the hubcaps on.I made sure that I put then on squarely and used a rubber mallet to fully seat them on the wheels.I hit the road for another little joy ride and about 2 miles down the road the passenger rear one flew off and disappeared into the woods.:mad: Could not find it. Checked the other 3 and they looked fine.About 15 minutes later the front driver side one flew off and hit a bush on the side of the road.I recovered that one.By this time I was starting to get a bit paranoid, but the remaining 2 looked fine.:wideyed: I drove around for another half an hour or so and headed home. About a mile from the house the passenger front flew off and went into a stream beside the road.:BangHead: I didn't bother at that point.:wtf: I didn't hit any big bumps or potholes...any hints or thoughts as to why this would happen other than "murphy".
 
Slow down???....LOL
I assume these are full covers and not hubcaps? My guess is the tabs that retain the wheel cover to the rim need to be bent out a bit to grab the wheel tighter. I had a similar problem with the Newport....I only lost one, once and luckily found it!
 
Mr onetwo said:
I brought my Fury home from storage today and everything went perfectly.The car ran flawlessly and it was a perfect sunny 70 degree day.Truly lovely 25 mile drive and it reignited my love for this car! :steering:When I got the car home I cleaned it up a bit, checked all the fluids and put the hubcaps on.I made sure that I put then on squarely and used a rubber mallet to fully seat them on the wheels.I hit the road for another little joy ride and about 2 miles down the road the passenger rear one flew off and disappeared into the woods.:mad: Could not find it. Checked the other 3 and they looked fine.About 15 minutes later the front driver side one flew off and hit a bush on the side of the road.I recovered that one.By this time I was starting to get a bit paranoid, but the remaining 2 looked fine.:wideyed: I drove around for another half an hour or so and headed home. About a mile from the house the passenger front flew off and went into a stream beside the road.:BangHead: I didn't bother at that point.:wtf: I didn't hit any big bumps or potholes...any hints or thoughts as to why this would happen other than "murphy".
Click to expand...

A lot of older mopars came with either Nylon, Rayon or belted tires. When a vehicle is upgraded to modern, more rigid radial tires, that results in a lot more wheel flex and that is what causes the hub caps to fly off. My '64 300 will not hold caps with the stock wheels.

Dave
 
Last edited:
Newport 66 said:
Slow down???....LOL
I assume these are full covers and not hubcaps? My guess is the tabs that retain the wheel cover to the rim need to be bent out a bit to grab the wheel tighter. I had a similar problem with the Newport....I only lost one, once and luckily found it!
Click to expand...
No officer, I did not exceed the speed limit:stop: Actually I was going under 40 twice and around 15 the other time.I had to beat them on hard with the mallet and you could tell by the sound that they were fully seated.I thought I dun good:(

driver side top down.jpg
 
Newport 66 said:
the tabs that retain the wheel cover to the rim need to be bent out a bit to grab the wheel tighter.
Click to expand...
Some wheelcovers fit tighter than others. I had a set of '61 Chevy covers that I could fully seat just by pushing with my hand, and remove them just as easily. A tight fit is usually a good sign; however, this may lead to scratching the paint on the rim. If the wheelcover is damaged, it could make for an uneven fit on the rim. If the rim has the wrong offset, it may be impossible to get the covers to fit properly. For the best fit, I would make certain that all four corners have the correct rims (make and vintage).
mopar-wheel.jpg
 
Sometimes the balance weights are set right to the lip where the wheelcover edge meets the rims (see my picture). It will sit tight but nut properly at that spot. That´s why I check mine every once in a while but never had issues so far.
Weird situation you had. The radial tires may be an explanation but on the picture you uploaded it seems that there´s a half inch gap between
the rubber and the wheelcovers. The tires don´t wobble that much to pry the covers off over that distance. I say it´s the wheelcovers` hooks... They have to bite into the rim. Screw the paint, no one cares about the paint of a steel wheel that covered anyways. Look at mine, you see the marks where the hooks scratch into the paint.
I usually punch them on with my fist. That way you don´t dents and you hear when they are sitting tight.

DSC_2910.JPG
 
If you need THAT much wieght on the wheel,replace it or find a better place that can balance them properly.
I have been in the tire business over 30 years and this is really unacceptable IMHO.
dsc_2910-jpg.jpg
 
I have original to the car steel wheels and covers.No contact with wheel weights at all. I had to beat the covers in place.
 
cbarge said:
If you need THAT much wieght on the wheel,replace it or find a better place that can balance them properly.
I have been in the tire business over 30 years and this is really unacceptable IMHO.
View attachment 389184
Click to expand...

found these on ebay .. they´re half a century old. the tire place told me they´re horrible but they tried their best to balance them.
still better than reproduction Chinese crap...
 
Marv said:
found these on ebay .. they´re half a century old. the tire place told me they´re horrible but they tried their best to balance them.
still better than reproduction Chinese crap...
Click to expand...
Gotchya..old tires.
They can fail without warning and can do damage to the car..just sayin..
 
cbarge said:
Gotchya..old tires.
They can fail without warning and can do damage to the car..just sayin..
Click to expand...

nah the tires are brand new, the rims are original ones. I don´t know the year 1965-1973 range.
But still I trust old American steel more than new Chinese trash. And the weights do their job,
no shaking steering wheel from 0 to 80 mph.
 
Marv said:
nah the tires are brand new, the rims are original ones. I don´t know the year 1965-1973 range.
But still I trust old American steel more than new Chinese trash. And the weights do their job,
no shaking steering wheel from 0 to 80 mph.
Click to expand...
How's the other side look, any weights?
 
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