Stainless steel hubcaps

[BLACKJACKф]

Hi there on my Mark II Cooper S I have the original steel wheels and stainless hubcaps. I recently purchased a set of the aluminum Cooper S copy Wheels. When I put the original hubcaps off the steel wheels on to the new aluminum wheels they are too big and are very loose and fall off if I just bumped them. I have tried five different hubcaps on all four wheels and all of them are all too loose. Any help will be greatly appreciated thank you.

[Bitsilly]

I had same problem.
They are now held on with cable ties.
Sorry I can’t say why!

[Peter Laidler]

This situation was discussed a couple of years ago and was put down to repro parts not made to the spec

[111Robin]

Who did you buy the wheels from ?. JBW ?.

[haynes]

Slight thread hijack: ive just received some chrome hub caps from mini spares to go with their repro 10x4.5 steels and the caps seam a bit tight, in fact ive been reluctant to force them right on. I realise theres a balance between making them removeable versus getting thrown off when the wheels are in motion.

Whats the technique for fitting them, smart tap with the palm of your hand or does it need a mallet?
Is scraping the paint off the lugs inevitable or is this avoidable if they are a proper fit?
Whats the technique for getting them off, withour damaging the wheel? Ie best tool to use, where to lever and how to protect the wheel?

[mk1]

There is an ongoing issue with the Minispares hubcaps. They have been trying to get it remedied, but this is proving difficult. The supplier is claiming that there is nothing wrong with them, but there is.

The return on the internal turned in edge is not fully turned over which makes them difficult to fit & almost impossible to remove. The internal edge should be almost totally turned in on itself, if it looks like a sort of "V" either turn the edge over yourself more or return them. I can't recommend fitting them as they won't come off without removing paint from the wheel & damaging the hub cap once on.

This IS NOT a cheap product made in China!

[CooperTune]

I'm about to complete work on a 64 998 Cooper it arrived with alum S style wheels with hub caps. To my surprise it took me nearly 1 hour each to remove the caps without damage to either the wheels or caps. I called the customer to let him know there would be wrapped in bubble wrap and bagged in the boot. I will not be reinstalling them. What a pain. Steve (CTR)

[Hipwell]

Hold up theres two stories here, the OP has it looks an issue with his wheels.


In reply to the above. The new hub caps had always sized to fit the original wheels. Obviously now there are new wheels available which they fit also fit, but the lugs are not defined on these and also being powdercoated will mean they are fit tight.

Think consensus would be a nice tight fit as I cant imagine many pop them on and off every weekend.

Its a fine margin where some are tight others find not tight enough, but there is such variation across the original Dunlop wheels let alone the repros! Think everyone does there best to keep to parts available on both sides.

[Polarsilver]

I have Minispares supplied 4.5J S steel wheels & very pleased with them .. No Issue fitting with OE Hubcaps.. have no wish to use repro hubcaps .
.. so asking is there a UK supplier with the Tooling who can refurbish the OE Centre Hubcap?

[mab01uk]

i seem to remember the OE hubcaps used to lever off fairly easily using the end of the wheelbrace but in later years they included a separate metal tool/lever....

[BLACKJACKф]

Yes they are the jbw wheels and they are not repo hubcaps they are the original stainless ones.

[mk1]

Yes they are the jbw wheels and they are not repo hubcaps they are the original stainless ones.

You will probably find that the current Minispares production ones are a better fit on your alloy wheels.

[BLACKJACKф]

Thank you