Converting 14" hubcaps to use on 15" wheels

[toddallen]

The trim rings have no ridge to cut the line on, you have to draw it yourself. Look at the 3rd picture in this thread (I used a cheap compass with a marker duct taped to it) use this line for your reference. Put the sharp point of the compass just hanging over the edge of the trim ring and it will draw a perfect line to cut on.

Those rings in your link look like the right kind. To be sure ask for a picture of the back side. In my opinion if you can find a used set of original old Chevy trim rings they are better since they are made of stainless steel and will never rust like new ones on ebay- since the new ones are plated steel probably made in China.

[John Haelig]

Joe -

When I performed this little miracle (seriously - this was one of the best discoveries for all of us) I felt that there was enough overlap of the wheelcovers on the trim rings that the cut did not have to be perfect. In fact - first pass did not remove enough material. Don't be greedy, though.

The outer clips of the wheelcover should self-center on the inner band of the trim ring.

To be honest, though, I have never seen them rolling since I am the only one who drives!

Don't use those little brown Dremel wheels. I made that mistake. Eats them up. The black fiber reinforced cut-off wheel does a fine job.

[joeinbcs]

Thanks, Todd and John.
John...centering was an issue that had me worried. The tutorials and pics are great, but its still kind of hard to see exactly what the hubcap attaches to...now I think I know. I guess it will become clear once I get some and cut them apart. Finding exactly the right rings is the challenge now. I was looking at Ebay today, and there are dozens of rings...just not sure which one's, if any are the right ones!
And, thanks for the tip on which blade to use. Best, Joe

[joeinbcs]

Hey Fellas,
Thanks for the help on my conversion.
I finally went to a junkyard and scrounged some trim rings from a couple of rotten old Chevy Pickups.
Got wheels from a van of some sort...I think a 2000 model Astro, had my Enduro tires mounted and proceeded to do the conversion. It was a harder to fit the rims in the trim rings than I anticipated. In fact, one of the hubs is still not securely seated. When I manage to get it flat in one area, it pops out at the opposite side. I'll try again tomorrow.
Anyway, despite the fitting issues, I'm happy with the result. The difference between the 14" wheels and little tires and the 15" wheels and the 235x75x15, 1" white stripe tires is really pretty amazing. The car seemed to swallow up the wheels and tires before, but now there is the appropriate balance between metal and ruber. To my eye, it looks stock. Before, it looked like some teenager had put those little wheels on big cars that you sometimes see.
Thanks to all for the help!

[toddallen]

Your car looks GREAT !

Sometimes you have to really bend the grippers to fit inside for a tight fit. If they are too tight they will pop out. You can increase the amount you can bend the tabs in by cutting a little slot between the tabs allowing them to bend in farther. It is still worth it to put a couple of pop rivets on a couple of flattened out tabs to make sure the cap does not come out of the trim ring.

[Bill Prince]

Joe,
Your car looks very nice. I like the look of the larger wheels. They do make the car look more balanced.

[Hvacow1]

I cant find these trim rings anywhere on Ebay! I thought I found them and purchased a set of stainless trim rings. Well I got them in the mail today and they are not the same being used in the photos above. they have about 30 black metal clips to hold the trim ring on to the wheel. Im going to see if I can make them work. Anyone have a site where I can find the correct rings on the internet?

[toddallen]

I see what you mean, it looks like the rally wheel trim rings are being reproduced in a cheaper fashion than the originals that appear to be a single layer of metal, which of what I can tell may not work. If you google 'rally wheels chevrolet 14"" there are vendors that state that the mounting tabs are different. This site below (see page 2) has pictures of the original type and the new cheaper repos. This site's prices are not that good, so I would email the various options you may find and ask them to give you pictures of the rear view.

http://www.ss396.com/catalog/chevelle/p ... wheels.pdf

[Hvacow1]

Well I guess I scored ok after all. The Trim rings I got worked out fantastic! I just had to be careful not to cut in too deep to tear into the clips that holt the trim ring on to the wheel. There is no way these wheel covers are coming off now they snap in so tight!! I got the rings from this site
http://www.hubcapzone.com/trimrings.htm
they are a bit spendy but came in 3 days, free shipping, and the stainless quality was the exact same color as my wheel covers.

[toddallen]

Are they a double layer of metal like the original type posted- with just a different type of clip? You may want to post a picture so others in the future can see other trim ring types that will work.

[autostick]

I'm looking to replace my tires. They are of unknown age and I'd rather not worry about them. I'd like to get radials that at the stock outer diameter of the original wheels. Whitewalls aren't a requirement.

I'm expecting that the wheels will also need to be replaced.

What wheels should I be looking for? The more specific, the better. Also, what tire size will fit? Thanks for the help.

Please view page one of this string.

[nblaine]

Todd...this may be a dumb question, but do the trim rings need to be compatable with the repalcement 15" steel wheels, i.e. trim rings and 15" wheels from a Chevy Astro Van, or are the trim rings generic enough to work with Ford 15" wheels?

[toddallen]

You can use those trim rings with just about any standard american 15 inch wheel, they have steel spring loaded sharp points to grab the inside of the wheel.

[Rick Crunelle]

So I'm at a point where I'm considering this upgrade. Unfortunately I had a blowout that did a little damage to my fender. Anyway, I either need to spend $1000 on a set of 14" tires, go with some aftermarket rims/tires, or do the 15" upgrade. I'm leaning towards the upgrade to 15" because I the rest of the car looks stock, and I like the look of the 1963 hubcaps.

My problem is that this post is pretty old, and the pics aren't showing up anymore. Does anyone have the pics saved or posted somewhere?

Thanks!

[autostick]

Apologies, I was unaware my server was off line. I rebooted and the pics should be back in the string. Nonetheless, I now upload the pics in question for posterity, as Putin's people continue to hack all our stuff.

I am resurrecting Todd Allen's helpful post for anyone running a Lincoln on 14 inch wheels. My fine bias ply 9.50 by 14 tires finally wore out and I carefully considered paying $200 each for this quaint obsolete technology, versus $58 for modern radials. I add my recent experience here in case you are considering a plus one conversion for your early Lincoln.

The junkyard has lots of Chevy steel wheels. I got a set from a 1983 GMC Van for $15 each. The first thing to do is mount it on the rear axle and spin it at idle to ensure it is both round and true. One of mine was not, so I ended up buying five wheels for a total cost of $75.
A set of new Chevy trim rings can be found on Ebay for about $34

I decided on the Kuhmo Solus KR21 XL whitewall tires since they are both inexpensive at $58 and come in the extra heavy duty XL 108T size rated at 2183 pounds per tire. So these are P235/75R15's from http://www.tirerack.com

The Chevy paint came off easily with stripper to expose bare metal. I powder coated and baked the wheels at 400 degrees F for ten minutes.

Here is the objective: fit each 14" Lincoln wheelcover inside a 15" Chevy trim ring.

So my total cost was
five Chevy steel wheels with 5x5 bolt pattern $75
four new chrome trim rings from Ebay $34
four Kuhmo whitewall tires from tirerack $274.64
Mount, balance and stems from NTB $56.32 (this came later)
$439.96 plus some labor... next post...