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Has anyone ever modified steel wheel to accept hubcaps?
As the title says, looking for some insight on this. I watched a YouTube video by a guy who likes steelies with hubcaps. He had some steel wheels that he liked but they did not have any nubs, or knuckles on the outer surface to accept and grip onto the hubcaps so he fabricated some by welding on three nuts at 120 degree intervals around the inner circumference of the hubcap so that there was something to grab onto the wheel. Am I making sense? It is difficult to explain with words. Anyway, it worked for him and I want to use some old late forties era Oldsmobile hubcaps on the steel wheels that are on the Vista, partly because I think I would like the look and partly because I can't find another option that fits my budget. So there you go, let me have it suggest, criticize, laugh, whatever. I am still going to try it so hoping for some ideas from everyone. mocked up on a bench top
Did you buy new wheels for the Vista? As I recall, the Vista had aftermarket style rims on it. Also, I think you did this years ago on the 69 Delta 88. You used 3 lengths of metal fastened to the wheel with sheet metal screws. I don't remember if you lost a hubcap off of the Delta.
If you're going to try something similar with the Vista I think you should weld bolts/nubs onto the wheels for the hubcaps to grip onto. This might cause difficulty balancing the tire & wheel though. I don't know how much weight they can add for balancing. Can they add as much weight as 3 lugnuts weigh?
You should also post this on the HAMB. I know you used to post there. Those guys might have some good ideas.
No new wheels, they look slotted but that's just because the hubcap covers some of the holes which are triangular shaped, like the kind on some light weight trucks. Same wheels.
I do like the look better than the aftermarket wheels. Like the Soft 8 clones on my 98, they're too Herculean for anything but a Cutlass.
If you weld anything to the wheels get Billy do it since you and I are novice welders. I'd try with one wheel first and drive it for awhile in town with someone following you in case it throws the hubcap.
Yeah, the offset is about equal front to back. 8 inch wheels with about 4.25 inches behind the drum face and 3.75 inches in front so that makes the wheel appear fairly deep when looking at it. And I kind of like the look without trim rings on it or anything else cluttering it up. Maybe when I figure out how I am going to do this I will post more on this thread.
Here are a few more pictures. The center of the wheel is 12 inches, the lip on the back of the hubcaps are 8.5 inches. So centering three nubs as shown hopefully would lock the hubcap into place with a nice healthy "snap".
Oldsguy, after our conversation last night I did some digging. Wheels with 5x4.75" bolt pattern should still be common in the junkyard. If your idea to use "all-thread retainers" doesn't work you might want to hit up the salvage yards for used wheels.
I'd think a set of steel wheels off of an early 90s Chevy S10 wouldn't fetch the same price as wheels from a late 40s Oldsmobile. 5x4.75" wheels should be plentiful vs. wheels with 5x5" bolt pattern. Here's a good place to start.
Dan, I may have a set of wheels off an 85 S10 I used to have. It will be a week or two before I can check but am pretty sure I have them if you are not in a hurry. The price would be right. Free
Thanks for the offer Glenn, won't turn anything down and still working on this idea as well. It may not work anyway, either my small mig isn't up to the task or my skills aren't. I took a wheel to a friend's yesterday and he welded (with his stick welder) three nuts on one of the wheels but the rim of the hubcaps are quite rigid, not like sixties or seventies hubcaps that are flexible and between the rigidity of the nuts on the wheels and the rigidity of the hubcaps we couldn't get them to stick We had an idea of using 3/8 round stock instead and cutting a notch into them. I took the wheel back home and tried that but to no avail, the welds would not stick. This idea may be a bust.
If the wheels that Glenn has don't work use a more powerful welder to weld that 3/8 stock to the wheel. I'm having difficulty envisioning what you plan to do but there's alot of metal in a steel wheel to heat to get it to weld properly.
So after numerous efforts to finish this project I have shelved it, partly due to my poor welding skills and partly because the old style hub caps won't stay on well. I went scrounging today for a set of steel wheels that might have accepted the hub caps without any modification at all and found four of these
That hubcap you have pictured with the tape measure is a "innie". It snaps into a wheel with the nubs inside of the raised part. Most newer hubcaps ( yeah, right... newer.... maybe 1960's up) wheels and caps are "outies" - nubs on outer of raised part. You probably could find some original style wheels for your Vista that came off a F85 or base Chevelle or something that have outie nubs. That would be easiest by far but you would hve to use a outie wheel. Good luck. I know that Brett "Paladin" has some original style Vista wheels if your interested but they are in Michigan.
Greg, thanks for the info. I talked to Oldsguy as he was scrounging in the salvage yard and thought he might be able to find steel wheels those hubcaps could fit on. Since the older wheels were "innies" I doubt they'd fit on a newer (60s and up) wheel.
December 7th, 2022, 09:37 AM
