Proper positioning of hub cap / valve stem / tire brand

I have always been anal in everything I do and perfectionist this maybe good or bad for some of us. My question for those who are like me what is the proper positioning of the hub cap with the name ( Ford ) or any other make in relation to the valve stem and the tire brand. Is the tire name brand should be at the top and the hub cap name should read the same as you are facing the wheel and the valve stem should be down. How do you have these items shown on your car. Or which is the proper way to have it. If you could post to show .

Thanks
Frenchy

 

I put the cap on the rim, name facing out, stem in the rim, facing out and the tire around the outside of the rim with the brand name on the outside, not the inside, of the tire!!!!
Sorry I know what you mean, I just couldn't resist!

 

I index my lug nuts to a north/south orientation .... yeah, I also knoiw what you mean.

 

believe it or not new tires have a colored dot on them and that is there to be lined up with the valve stem. who knew ?

 

It drive me nuts seeing tires just mounted any old way on a rim. Sure, the factory didn't care but we are building proper vehicles aren't we? Valve stem centered in tire name, hub cap logo leveled to the stem at 12 o:clock. What used to REALLY drive me nuts was a customer at the restoration shop that would ask for rubber stemed inner tubes in a 1920's early 1930's restoration, because they were less expensive. After all five, sometimes six tires were wounted on freshly painted wheels they would deside that the points lost at a show ment they now wantes metal stems. Do things correctly the first time.

 

I remember seeing a video years ago about Jimmy Shine building a car for the GNRS. He must have mounted and unmounted the tire 20 times just to get the lettering lined up in accordance with the wheel and the knockoff. Too anal... Nah. Those that get it get it. Those that don't never will.

 

At the shop I used to work at I tried to center the valve stem on the name of the tire, little stuff that no customers ever noticed but I did and pride in workmanship starts with the little things.

 

and balance the tires statically not dynamically. keep the wheel weight off the outside lip of the rim.
big ugly lead wheel weights bug me, and technically statically balanced tires are fine to 100 mph.

 

Its nice to know that there are some people out there even crazier than I am.

 

I never noticed any of this before, but THANKS A LOT now Im going to notice it on every single car I look at.

 

Really? You think this is important? It has always bugged me when I see the names or graphics on hub caps all turned the same way in photo shoots. I mean crap, who knows how much time is wasted jacking the car and rotating tires to achieve this in the duration of a photo shoot! But this is totally insane. The next thing ya know youz guys will be alligning rows of nuts and bolts like the Ridler builders now have to, just to be in the club. Hell, my drill sargents in poopie-ville were never THAT anal. Gary

 

Hear, hear. There's perfection and then there's just being obsessive-compulsive. I mean, if that floats your boat then more power to you, but to me it's a waste of time.

I do agree with Zach that I don't like wheel weights on the outside of my rims. Not so much because of the way they look (I can dig a little bit of function over form and it's not like they didn't run them back in the day), but I don't want my rims all scratched up from years of adding and removing weights.

 

It depends on the tire and the writing but I like to put it centered with the
valve stem. I put the lettering to the top in the 12:00 and the stem at the
6:00. When I do it that way I put the cap on with the lettering at 3:00/9:00. Somtimes I like the lettering on the cap pointing to the valve stem but if I do
that the tire has to be orientated a 1/4 turn.


Us anal/detail guys dont choose to be this way. It drives us nuts to see this
stuff not lined up. I am the kind of guy that likes to have all the screw heads
going the same way too! + + + + + Just feel like if your going to do it, you
got to go all the way. Pride in workmanship.

 

Sad, but true!!-MIKE

 

Wow. I feel so in the dark on this one! I'm pretty meticulous but never paid attention to this. I'll sure be looking now!

 

I mount all my tires with the lettering on the top where I can read it better. After going for a cruise I park it back in the shop and damnit if some of them, if not all, have the lettering in a different position now. So I have to dissmount them and do it again. Next time they have moved again. Its driving me crazy! Oh and by the way I cant have OCD, the letters aren't in alphabetical order.

 

If you buff the sidewall clean of everything it don't matter or is that a step to far ???

 

You guys are nuts. I do worry about the type of valve stem to match the era of the car that I'm building but tire orientation is too far out there for me. I've had to move the tire location too many times to get them balanced without huge weights. I admire your dedication but it's just not me.

I have 2 buddies that talk about this. Where did this idea come from? I've never heard of it until last year.

 

I might line the hubcap up in accordance with the valve stem, but never gave a damn about how the tire was rotated on the wheel.

 

Jeez, and I thought I was anal.

 

The aluminum slots on my 55 are painted black inside the slot holes, so the black rubber valve stems just seem to disappear inside the hole.

the guys who are serious about this stuff buff the sidewall and weld and redrill the rim to put the stem on the back

 

Ford mounted the hub cap so it would read Ford with the valve stem at 12 o;clock for the model A, and for a while after. The reason was so the Ford name would be readable on the spare tire, because the spare tire mount on the rear of the car had the mounting studs indexed so the valve stem could be indexed at 12 o'clock, probably to keep water from migrating into the rim, but more likely just for advertising purposes.

 

I make sure all the screws on my household switches and outlets have the slots laying horizontally. ------
Tires? Never cared except for a few things: At work on our fleet, DOT numbers facing out so we can read them easily.
The spot of paint DOES line up with the valve stem as it's supposed to balance better.

 

Thank you, I thought so but didn't mention it earlier. I'm sure some photos will get posted to show how out of line (and careless) non alighned tire logos, and stems look. As bad as Phillips head screws on pre 1936 vehicles, but that can be another thread.

 

I'm just glad mine hold air. Cars are best viewed on the highway, cruising, not at pebble beach.

 

i still have to buy tires for Lil Beast..i've been eyeing the newer radir cheater slicks...the 12.00 series...haven't decided on the fronts yet....and have wondered if they have balancing dots of them or not.....this is placed oppisite the belt overlapp with the thought process being that the valve stem is supposed to offset the weight of the the belt at the overlap........i do know that at the truck stop shop, balancing tires without aliginment of the stem and the dot rarely comes out propperly...and if the rim is decent condition still , the dots lined with 2"s of the stem ussally don't require weights...as i said, if the rim is still in good condition........

and yes, we do balance alot of the drive tires that are bought,,,,makes a difference in how well the semi rides....

 

I appreciate everyone input on this subject.

Thanks
Frenchy

 

That's just great, if you drive your car 24 hours-a-day...
Attention to detail is (unfortunately) very underrated these days.

 

i love attention to detail.but tire, hubcap position is going alittle to far.now about keepin the engine and car clean i am ocd.i drop of crud in the engine bay can send me over the top.i got good lookin engine bays but im not happy.lol

 

you anal guys are nuts...I'll bet you iron your underwear...