Technical Why do hub caps fly off my wheels ?

I was out driving toning in my Buick 54 and both hubcaps flew off. Luckily not on the freeway in 60 mph. But i think both incidents happened when I made a turn into a new residential area. I had both hub caps off earlier today but I am 100% sure I but then on flush with the rims again. To mention it was both front hub caps and front wheels are new steel wheels from a cooker.
Any idea how to avoid this embarrassment walk of shame to pick up my hub caps again ?


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Better wheels.
Steel wheels are much more flexible than aluminum wheels. Aftermarket wheels as many other things, are most probably not as good a material and possibly the thickness is also less than the original wheels.
In any case, steel wheels ARE flexible.
You have a big heavy car...this exacerbates the problem of the wheels flexing in corners,

The design of the wheel covers, actually flex LESS than the wheel does, hence, stiff member (wheel cover) not flexing, flexy member (wheel) flexing...stiff member removing itself from flexy member.

What is a "cooker "? You say - To mention it was both front hub caps and front wheels are new steel wheels from a cooker.

IF...the rear wheels are original, stock wheels...first thing that I would try is to swap wheels, rear wheels to the front. Install the wheel covers and take it around some corners...see what happens.
I'd bet that IF the your rear wheels are stock, "original" wheels, the covers will stay in place.
If that happens, toss the current (non-original) front wheels and look for some "original" wheels.
Or at least a better quality of wheel than what you have on the front now.

Mike

 

I hear some silicone caulk helps really well.
If these are repros, they're not quite like they used to be and need some help.

Then again it was guaranteed that at least one hub cap would come off of Mr. McGarret's Mercury every week on Hawaii 5-0.

 

I imagine you the wheels are from Coker . Check the hub cap tabs are outwards to catch better. Physics is what Mike is stating , so that’s always a good starting point . Back in the day if a cap popped off it could be the retaining clips/tangs that needed to adjusted to keep tension .

 

Another point to add to the mix:
Radials put more flex into a steel wheel than bias.

 

^^^All good suggestions above^^.........Sometimes just a fresh coat of paint on the wheels helps. It gives those tangs (teeth) something to bite. If those are in fact reproduction wheel covers, the tangs on them are usually shit, nothing like the heavier originals.

 

Thread on here last week about this, - some suggested insulation tape in the appropriate place.

 

I've used electrical tape.

 

Silicone works for me.

 

I agree with Mike. The wheels, not the covers, are the problem. Spread the tangs a little.

Ben

 

I could not keep stock covers on my stock wheels (Caddy), when I put radials on instead of bias ply. Tried all the tricks. No go. Gave up trying.


Cool car. Love it.



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Because Steve McQueen is chasing you

 

Same problem keeping trim rings on the Chevy Truck rally wheels I put on my car trailer.

The rim flexes a lot turning the trailer and trim ring says see ya.

 

........Re-paint the wheels, even just with a spray bomb. Once the trim rings (or wheel-covers) scratch the paint, as they all will do, they won't stay on.

 

This used to happen a lot back in the old days. I have a garage wall of old hub caps I have collected on the roadside over the years. They used to make a "lock" that you screwed on over your valve stem that would keep the wheel cover on if it started coming loose. I used to have those on my spinner wheel covers. Probably impossible to find now unless maybe ebay.

 

Look at the center of the wheel. The area around the spindle. Looking to see if the wheel material is turned up to fit the hub are the wheel is flush with the drum at that location.
If it's flush with the drum you will have trouble keeping the cap on. Had a pair of repop wheels I ordered. To fit the F 1 hub the maker removed the turned up part of the wheel. The wheel was flexing.

 

................I remember those. I bet they got "outlawed" because the wheel cover when coming loose could possibly cut the valve stem and cause a catastrophic blow-out. NHTSA looking out for our best interest.

 

Yeah, I always wondered if they would sever the valve stem. I never had a problem with them though. I would think it would be a slower deflation rather than a blow out.

 

............Yeah, I agree, but you know how the Feds are.

 

Did they even have silicon when the original 5-O was being filmed? Reminds me of my youth when we had to tow an air compressor behind our pick up for work. We always found lost hubcaps laying beside the road where we were working. Found some great looking wire wheel covers and put them on the towed air compressor. That thing looked like a million bucks behind the old beat up chebbie 3/4 ton pick up work truck with it's poverty caps. Heading back to the shop that late afternoon at about 45 MPH we noticed a familiar looking wire wheel cover passing us on the right. At almost the same time yet another passed in front of us from the left. Yep. They were our million dollar air compressor wire wheel covers. That ended that beautification of construction equipment experiment. The boss never found out or we could have been in trouble for "liability issues". He was like that, watching out for the "company". We were all union workers,

 

My stock wheels flexed enough to crack paint when I installed radials. Went to an aftermarket wheel and the mounting surface was twice as thick as the OE wheels.

 

I used to have to do that a lot when I was working in tire stores and doing front end work in dealerships.
I don't know if those Coker wheels were intended to run full caps with or not though. Some rims just don't have the right surface for caps to grip.

Originally they were sold as anti hubcap theft items rather than to keep the cap with the car if they came loose. A good sharp knife took care of that if someone really wanted to steal the caps though. The tire store I worked in had a guy bring in 4 wheels that had the valve stems cut off because someone had stolen his fake wire wheel hubcaps that he had uses a set of those on back in the 70's. Said he had had the caps on for less than a week.

 

I had a set of Moon disk were held on with screws.

 

Spread the tangs a little.
Ah, to be a young man again.

 

had a friend that used to lead a bunch of us on a annual cruise with his '51 Ford Pu - was one corner that we would go around and every time a front hub cap flew off -so, became "The Flying Hub Cap Cruise"

 

Bend the tabs a little more and try to wrap the area where the tabs make contact with the wheel with some duct tape. HRP

 

That is correct. I had the same problem even with stock factory steel wheels and running radial tires, ruined two cherry 56 Olds Starfire spinner wheel covers before I wised up

 

Your stock Buick wheels probably have some raised bumps around the outside of the bead area to aid in the retention of full size hub caps. The aftermarket wheels do not. I ran into this in the 70’s when I wanted to run wider rims(rally wheels) on my ‘62 Vette along with full size hub caps. I ended up tapping 4 10-32 holes around the rim and using short machine screws hooking over the cap lip. Problem solved.

 

This subject was discussed on the Studebaker Driver's Club, Radial tires on original bias ply wheels cause the wheels to flex with the attendant wheel cover loss. Maybe your wheels need a little Viagra??

 

I've only had wheel covers fly off.Never a hub cap.