Sid_xBicious

those are just full moons you'll see on ebay. one problem with those, it won't flush in on the steelie lip. out stock wheel has that round curve after the lug holes that is touching the cap, so i can't recommend this caps. with this problem, i would not also recommend the flipper moons that you'll see on ebay.

George

Moon has only been selling those caps for something like 50 years and the all-metal spring clip design has been around for a lot longer than that! As long as the wheel has a cylindrical surfact for the clips to slide over (and the scion wheels do) they should work as well as they do on any other car.
Secure? You can pull them off with your hand! The stock caps are so flexible that you have to push them in all around their circumference to get them on and even then they tend to have uneven gaps between the wheel and cover. When I was running the stock caps I kept having to push the caps back in when part of the cap started to slip out. If I hadn't, I'd have lost the whole cap!
Never had any noise problems with steel caps. If they are making noise, then there is probably a clearance problem between the wheel and the cap that isn't letting the cap seat all the way. This can be a problem with the large-offset wheels on FWD cars, but as long as the cover has about a half-inch of "dish" it should be fine.

k4kas

The thing that I don't like about the snap-on disc is that they extend past the lip of the steel wheel. I know from my stock hub caps that it is very easy to get curb rash if the cap extends past the lip.







Curb rash?
The last thing you should worry about as Scion guru is curb rash!
Try to keep from curbing these!Cost just a lil more than a hubcap!

George

Dang, those things remind me of the chariot wheels in Ben-Hur!

I suppose that if you go for the bling, you have to make sacrifices, in the same way as some women insist upon wearing stiletto heels and then develop a first-name relationship with podiatrists.

I'm a bit more practical, so I want some sidewall outside the lips of my wheels!

George

Old_Punk

"I want some sidewall outside the lips of my wheels!"

Some tires have rim protector ridges on the sidewalls.

Sid_xBicious

you just got lucky you don't have the squeek. i search on the net why it squeek,
read here what other people say:
http://www.motorhomemagazine.com/cfo...g/12904025.cfm

Tstrel

Sid! nice find and I LOVE those caps!
I figured it was the load bending the steelies, and ive tried to tell people thats what i thought it was.
Good to see some other forums backing up on that!

To any one considering the caps, they are the non wire ring style and stay on WAY better than the plastic stock caps, (I have had problems taking mine off). I.E if you like the look do it!! :D
...BUT, as the do stick out over the steelie lip i have gotten a few road dents, nothing big, and no curb rash (practice parking) :oops:. If it gets bad ill go back to and pick up another whole set for $67.

They will continue to be my daily driver wheels as i will be moving to much more dangerous ground very very soon!! :twisted:

-T-

ooooh oooh BTW Sid, diggin the mirrors !! Keep up the awesome work!

George

If I "just got lucky" then several million other people also "just got lucky"! Remember that hub caps of this design came stock on most cars of the 50's, 60s, and 70s! Their wheels didn't squeak any more than those of "modern" cars. The only reason that the wheel cover design changed to plastic was to decrease cost and to spur sales of accessory alloy wheels.

A couple of squeaky aftermarket caps on motor homes is hardly corroboration of any ongoing problem. The concept of "wheel flex" on the motorhome forum shows a lack of understanding of how pneumatic wheels support their loads. If a steel wheel flexed enough to make a hub cap squeak it would crack from metal fatigue within a few miles!

George

NYGF

Off topic, can I see more pics of those rims? Me likey

k4kas

You sure can.
Just click on the link in my sig.
Lemme know what you think.
I havent curbed them yet!

bB2NER

A couple of squeaky aftermarket caps on motor homes is hardly corroboration of any ongoing problem. The concept of "wheel flex" on the motorhome forum shows a lack of understanding of how pneumatic wheels support their loads. If a steel wheel flexed enough to make a hub cap squeak it would crack from metal fatigue within a few miles!

Glad you know it all, as a matter of fact every car that had full size metal hubcaps that I've owned since the late 70's squeek it's a fact that wheels flex and the cap moves around as the wheel turns. Yes if the wheels were made of hardened steel they would crack but since wheels are made of mild steel they flex and bend rather than cracking! FACTS get them straight. :o

NYGF

Alltogether very very nice.

How much were the rims/tires?

Not to thread jack of course

George

I've never claimed to know it all, but I do know:

1. The stresses on a pneumatic rim due to the internal pressure of the tire are much greater than those due to the road load. The rim is designed to handle the inflatiion stresses which means that the load road cannot make it flex very much.

2. The road load is distributed around the circumference of the rim, which also reduces any tendancy of the rim to flex due to road load.

3. The spring fingers of the hub cap are far more flexible than any wheel, so they will easily conform to any microscopic flexing that the wheel might do.

4. All steels, mild and hardened, have a fatigue life. If the wheel had a strain sufficient to make a hub cap squeak it would have a very short fatigue life even when built from mild steel. Remember that wheels are designed for an infinite number of strain cycles, so the strain must be kept very small

5. If full metal wheel covers caused chronic sqeaking, they wouldn't have been used for 30+ years as standard equipment in most cars, including luxury American and European cars.

Before you tell others to "get their facts straight", you should get out your caliper and measure the flex of a wheel as it turns.

Hint: You had better have a _very_ accurate caliper if you want to see any flex at all!

k4kas

[quote="George"]


All this hubbub because of a few squeaks!
Just to add to the mayhem,wouldnt a dial indicator work better in this case?
Not to mention be more acurrate??

Sid_xBicious

[quote="k4kas"]thats what make an arguement really interesting. how boring would it be if theres no exchange of opinion/knowledge. he got a point? but the other got experience.

George

A dial indicator would do the trick if mounted securely to the wheel center and measuring the strain in the flange. It would be a tricky thing to set up, though.

A caliper could be used simply by measuring the diameter of the wheel horizontally, rolling the car forward, and then measuring the same diameter vertically.

Both instruments will read to about .0005 inch, and both are unlikely to show any flex at all.

If you really want to see flex, you could affix a pair of mirrors to the wheel and use a laser interferometer...

George <--proud to be a geek!