[hubbard]

I'm thinking about taking the plastic hubcaps off my stock 15 in. wheels until I decide what kind of wheels that I want. Someone on here suggested putting on trim rings for a good inexpensive effect in the meantime.

However, the ones I looked at Autozone and Pepboys were cheap plastic pieces of junk (in my opinion). Anyone know where I could get some actual metal ones with real chrome at a reasonable price to fit on my stock steelies?

Thanks!

 

[DTRAIN619]

You might want to check out any speed shops in your area. Or better yet, pm Resolve and see where he got his.

 

[hubbard]

I don't even know what a speed shop IS.......is it where all those street racer guys get their stuff?

I'm new at this, obviously.

 

[grizzly_choppers]

Only ones I have seen came from an O'Reilly's (auto parts store) here in town. They are metal, but the chrome is crap and has pitted out REALLY bad in only a month or so.

Some people like Tomas here on the site have gone with Bonneville caps or baby moons on their steel wheels and it produces a great effect. Maybe try something like that.

Others (like me) have painted their stock hubcaps (I run mine in the winter and kinda like them).

Mine:

-Alex

 

[Padanky]

I payed $60 for the stainless steel ones at a hub-cap shop close to my house (hubcap depot)

 

[Resolve]

I got mine for like $60 online and they are Stainless steel.. dont go with the chrome plated ABS plastic ones they suck... do a serch online for trim rings 15 inch.. and make sure you get standard size not deep dish.. and may take a minute to find but you can get them for about 50 to 60.. some places try to sell them for $80 or more no need to pay that much..

 

[hubbard]

Resolve, funny you say that, because I found a place called "Hubcap Annie" here in Dallas and they have the metal ones for $80. I'll just keep looking.

And Grizzly, I finally realized that you painted the actual hubcap, and not the wheel. It looks real good. What kind of paint? Spray paint? and how did you get the red line on? Looks like you did a good job. I can't believe that I didn't think to paint them....I'm always painting stuff.

 

[squirrel]

Doesn't Kragen have the metal trim rings?

 

[Resolve]

http://hubcapkingdom.com/pages/trim.htm
here they are 49.95 for the 2" stainless steel.. which is what you want.. center of page. and would be $10 shipping and they use pay pal

so total 59.95

 

[squirrel]

http://hubcapkingdom.com/pages/trim.htm
here they are 49.95 for the 2" stainless steel.. which is what you want.. center of page. and would be $10 shipping and they use pay pal

so total 59.95

THANKS for the link! I bookmarked it.

 

[hubbard]

You guys rock!

Now, if I can just figure out how to keep my dachshund from standing on the passenger door handle electric window switch and making the window go down every five minutes, I'll be set!

 

[squirrel]

You guys rock!

Now, if I can just figure out how to keep my dachshund from standing on the passenger door handle electric window switch and making the window go down every five minutes, I'll be set!

My Rott figured out how to do that in the Matrix. Luckily there's a disable button for the windows in the Matrix.

 

[grizzly_choppers]

And Grizzly, I finally realized that you painted the actual hubcap, and not the wheel. It looks real good. What kind of paint? Spray paint? and how did you get the red line on? Looks like you did a good job. I can't believe that I didn't think to paint them....I'm always painting stuff.

HAHA! Thanks. They look worse the closer you get and the longer they stay on the car! It was a quickie job before last winter and I did ZERO prep work to the cap aside from washing them before I painted. So, it's lasting pretty well when you consider that.

I had a spray can of Hot Lava made up by my local NAPA store and bought/had lying around a can of Krylon/Rustoleum (can't remember which and probably doesn't matter) gloss black. Also bought/had lying around a can of clearcoat (no idea what brand, but it was probably cheap). I masked off the center Scion emblem and sprayed the appropriate places on the cap with the Lava. Then I taped off the center "gear" indentation and the stripes and hit it with the black. Everything was lined up by eye and hand. I then unmasked everything and hit it with the clear.

I would never show with the caps on, but they're better than the silver on my car for the winter here in Iowa. If you took a ruler to them they'd probably be horribly off, but to the naked eye they look pretty good and that's all I really cared about.

So, you probably didn't want all that, but thanks for asking!

-Alex

 

[hubbard]

Fascinating. Thanks.

 

[hubbard]

Furthermore, now that I have my hubcaps off:

I notice that the stock lug nuts don't even cover the ends of the lug bolts. It seems to me that the chrome trim rings that I desire would look good with some big old chrome lug nuts. Any suggestions?

 

[grizzly_choppers]

Furthermore, now that I have my hubcaps off:

I notice that the stock lug nuts don't even cover the ends of the lug bolts. It seems to me that the chrome trim rings that I desire would look good with some big old chrome lug nuts. Any suggestions?

I'd say buy the Toyota acorn lug nuts, but they're REALLY expensive (over $4 each). They do tend to hold up better than aftermarket though.

Anyway, most auto parts stores should be able to set you up for about $20 for a set of lugs.

-Alex

 

[hubbard]

Anyone have a pic of one of these acorn lugnuts from Toyota? I'd always prefer to have a Toyota part. Or are they just regular looking lug nuts that happen to be made well by Toyota?

 

[grizzly_choppers]

Just took some. Up in a minute.

 

[grizzly_choppers]

Here you go. Sorry, they're cell phone pics, but you get the idea.

Here's two styles, the lower one is what I was really talking about:

Here they are on a Camry wheel:

Hope that helps!

-Alex

 

[hubbard]

Again, thanks! And don't they make little chrome center caps, too?