rkautz

I hope this isn't a repost or in the wrong area but I wanted to get some feedback. I want to replace the hubcaps that are coming with my xB. I don't have the money or interest in replacing the whole rims and tires combo but want to do something to make the box more unique. I want to get hubcaps that do not have any openings to the brake assembly. I think they are called racing disks or something. I like the idea of juxtaposing the round wheels with the boxiness of the xB. Has anyone used hubcaps similar to what I am describing? Also is this going to affect the brakes at all (like cause them to overheat faster or something)? When I do find some, will they pretty much be universal fits or do I have to look for xB specific hubcaps (meaning do they just snap in or screw in or something)? Thanks!

kzhorse

These are not mine but they are moons just about any 15" hubcap will fit.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=57436

Scott

xBino

have you thought of trim rings? i'll get off my ___ tomorrow and take some pics of mine

x475aws

The moons in grizzly_choppers' post, in the referenced thread, look like the "Smoothies" I tried, that didn't fit. They come into contact with the center projection of the wheel, before the grippers are able to seat completely. Some people here have used them anyway, but I doubt those people would recommend that you use them. And if you try them and don't keep them, you're left with scratches on the mounting surface of the wheels.

I just put chrome lugnuts (McGard 64002 is a package of four, so you need four packages) on my steel wheels. Just this simple change is definitely an improvement over the bare wheels. I've got trim rings coming from JC Whitney.

SciFly

Over at Tread and Butter here at Scionlife are three or four pertinent threads. But they are spread wide and ramble (we all go off topic)

I have BOTH brands in hand. I speak of the press-in full wheel cover baby moon. I'll post pictures of BOTH brands on RS2's in a few days, -here- in this thread.

The two choices:

MOONEYES brand, model name "Spacer". DO NOT FIT securely for the reason mentioned above. The only way to make these stay on is RTV glue to the annular hub ridge and to the gripper area. These -are-, however, the most beautifully formed full baby moon covers. SPUN steel, chrome plated. As true as a mirror and nearly as smooth.

this is the MoonEyes brand, model name "Spacer". beautful but not secure fitting:



JC WHITNEY vends "Jiffy Metal Products" make of stamped, stainless steel moons. These are nice but... not optically perfect. Slight dimples in a few areas and not mirror-correct; they are wavey, see?But! these pups FIT

Pictures for side by side comparison of the look will come in a few days.

no, not at all. the brakes are on the other side of the wheel. The steel wheel's portholes are merely decorative. They offer no useful ventilation at all. don't worry about brake cooling unless you're a particularly demanding high speed mountain driver.

rkautz

Unfortunately I am not familiar with cars and such so I am not sure the difference between all the mentioned hub caps. I do have some favorites and it seems the website for speedway motors covers the bases on what I like. If someone with experience or expertise could check them out for me and let me know what they know it would be cool. The site doesn't list manufacturers. The item numbers are as follows: 91139615, 91139618, 91139613, and 540113.
Also, what sites do you recommend to check out these types of hub caps?
Thanks!

SoCalMike

Cool looking forward to these pictures Guys!!!! I am down here in Whittier Ca and MoonEyes shop is in Santa Fe Springs about 10 min from here. I was thinking How about taking the aluminum disk and have them black anodized?????

pkoule

JC Whitney Salt Flat disks work fine for me!!

SciFly

I don't see that listed. what's the part number please?

SciFly

You might do the forum a big favor!
Go there in your Scion and have them show you why the Spacer Disk does not fit

The Spacer model cover is made for them in China.
Surely they could order their supplier to make a deeper dish for proper clearance so the things would fit as intended.


Show MoonEyes that they can sell Spacers to a lot of Scion/Toyota owners when MoonEyes Co. orrects this design defect. We will talk about it on this and other forums.

I'll buy Spacers again when they make them fit our cars. Best looking snap-in mirror moon cover that I've seen so far.

Tomas

Hmmmmm...

I'm not into 'chrome' on my box, and mooneyes covers generally run a bunch of bucks, so I got
the spun stainless steel 'moon discs' in my profile from 'Big B Auto' in California for about $50 plus
shipping for a set of four (eBay).

https://www.scionlife.com/gallery/sh...php?photo=7956

Decently made, fit well, I like the look.

SciFly

I've got a set of Whitney moons and do not use them.
Why?

-Although they "fit",the grippers don't really lock into, (go OVER) the ridge that is found inside the steel wheel's inside perimeter. I put them on one two three four. They seemed secure enough. They were fully seated. I drove two hundred feet and one of them fell out.

-The Whitney moons, too, -require- 1.25" or 1.5" valve stem extensions. These are a real risk to flatten a tire by leaking out the air. It would be much safer to remount the tires with extra long one piece stems. My first set of valve extentions were plastic ones. One tire went down in an hour and if I had not noticed this while washing the wheel I'd have ruined a new tire by blowout or running flat.

Mooneye's "Spacer"-named disk, (see picture way above), does not need stem extensions. They do need gluing on with clear silicone RTV to the gripping surface in order to stay put. They do NOT clear the center annulus of Toyota wheel because they are not spun quite deeply enough. (Whitney's -are-, though)

Summary: Uck

-----

On the other hand.. I went to the local auto parts store to get a change of pace set of covers. These Rally brand covers were $20 for -four-. Liking my previous scheme of yellow Fusion paint on xB wheelcovers, I painted the Rally set that way, too.

I'll take some pictures and show you why these are GOOD for what they are. They won't fall off like the two makes of metal caps I've tried out are -almost sure fall off eventually, unless you take special steps to retain them. Gluing with RTV is a mess when it comes time to R&R the covers.

Tomas, do your covers have some sort of specially deep (tall) grippers? Like OEM plastic covers or the Rally covers I'm about to photograph?

SciFly

whitney cover on front
The cover fell off rear (I should have bent outward all the gripper teeth)

SciFly

Here are the 20 buck plastic, secure-gripping Rally brand covers plus their coat of Krylon Fusion spray paint. This paint holds up very well.

Tomas

I don't know that the grippers on my stainless 'moons' are especially deep, IIRC they go into the wheel as
deeply as the OEM did. They do, at least, appear to be fairly aggressive in doing their job - I have to use a
small prybar to remove these covers, whereas with the OEM I could grab them and just pull them off the wheel with
my hand.

(I no longer have the OEM's to make a physical comparison with.)

I_dont_know

My bro has some smoothie style wheels with baby moons on his PT. Although older cars had them, the older cars also had drum brakes. With the rotors we have on the front, they do cause the brakes to stay hot. Im sure you could duct the brakes though. The only problem my brother has run into is when he got the brakes changed, the lack of airflow caused the brake pads to glaze over. Had to get the rotors ground down a little bit, and the pads scuffed again.