I have a 70s Rover with the chrome hubs and ball bearing wheels. It came to me without any wheel caps, which are really just small, plastic buttons about the diameter of a 5 cent coin (or slightly bigger). I recently purchased a set but cannot understand how they are held in place. They just seem to sit there, no matter how hard I push on them.
Is this the way they are supposed to be? If so, I can only guess they must need a spot of glue or a small blob of clear silicon behind the cap, then push on to hold in place. I've tried using different washers, including the original spring washer behind the nut but there is no difference. The caps just seem to sit there on top of the nut with nothing to hold them in place. They certainly push in to the gap, but are too small to go around the nut to attach to anything.They've got me a bit baffled!
I think that is why they are always missing. Probably a bead of silicone around the inside of the cap should hold them. I have a few of them here and none have caps
Hello gents, they actually clip into the wheel and sit flush with it. If they are sitting proud and hence not staying on, it's probably because the wrong nuts are being used to hols the wheels on.
I have a 70s Rover with the chrome hubs and ball bearing wheels. It came to me without any wheel caps, which are really just small, plastic buttons about the diameter of a 5 cent coin (or slightly bigger). I recently purchased a set but cannot understand how they are held in place
I think vint-mow is referring to genuine Rover wheels of the day. The red caps are really plastic Welch plugs. .. an interference fit. A kind tap with a soft hammer is all that is needed to seat them.
Hi Ian, I have found that the new replacement ones like everything from China are crap, they just don�t fit. You will need to find some original red or the later black ones that do just clip in. The drawback is that they will cost you as they are sought after by restorers.
Thanks for all the replies. Jack, I doubt if a soft hammer will do the trick, as there is nothing for them to seat on to and not enough meat on the caps. The caps fit over the nut okay, but there is no space left in the cap for it to physically go any further without breaking. I think Paul has hit the target dead centre. The Rover wheel sets are being sold on ebay and my guess is they are coming from China, or are being put together in Australia using Chinese stock from various sources. So they are not really O.E.M. ("aftermarket"). They are more like "long time after-the-fact aftermarket". LOL!
I could have bought original caps when I purchased the wheels, but I told the seller I did not require the caps. DOH! I was depending on the aftermarket ones being the real deal. Obviously they are not!
Anyway I will use a small spot of silicon gel behind each one, which should do the trick. I can always remove them in future without causing any damage.
I could have bought original caps when I purchased the wheels, but I told the seller I did not require the caps. DOH! I was depending on the aftermarket ones being the real deal. Obviously they are not!
We can all learn from this. My heart sank when I read that after all the drama you described! I often hold onto things I am convinced I will never need. Invariably, I end up needing them.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
The really sad thing is I have done this before. "Nah mate, won't need them. This is all I came for." Then I go home and start working and straight away discover I needed them afterall! Then again I tend to accumulate a lot of stuff that I will probably never need, or I put it away somewhere safe and lose it. I have actually gone out and bought things at times, only to come across the same thing back in the corner of the shed at a later date. Every now and then I have a good clean up.
It is also interesting how a seller will sometimes "throw in" something extra like wheel caps when you buy the wheels. But if you say you don't need the caps and go home, then come back a week later and ask "Hey mate, have you still got those wheel caps?" Suddenly you find there is a charge on them. So you end up paying more. :-(
Silicon gel is not working real well. Not sure if it is the cold conditions at present, but it doesn't want to set and the rotation of the wheels keeps making the caps go crooked. I might end up using a spot from the heat glue gun on the nut and push the caps straight on while the glue is still hot. Or a spot of super glue might be needed. I have used super glue to hold loose wheel caps in place before. I guess I might run into problems next time I try to take the wheels off!
My guess is these caps are being made for a totally different purpose, but someone in Australia has discovered that they look similar to the old Rover hub caps and are selling them as a substitute.
If these kits come from various Chinese sources, this tends to suggest that some Chinese factory must be making those red caps. They probably make more than one kind of cap. I wonder if the caps could be purchased separately? I guess the big problem with anything from China is they generally have minimum orders of 1000 or more, which makes the whole idea of importing them impractical. Even at 10 cents each, that is a lot to pay for a lot of caps! But if they could make their caps a smidgen deeper and out of slightly softer materials, they would pop on and tend to clasp the nut and washer.
VM you have to be careful where you put the silicone/glue you can't put it on the nut you have to glue the cap to the wheel, the nut remains stationary the wheel turns
Norm, the Chinese caps are far too short to reach and barely make any contact with the surface of the wheel rim. They really only make contact with the nut. It is a bit dodgy if you ask me, that they are being sold for a fortune online when they do not even work properly.
Sadly, that's the way it has to be Norm. They are just not quite wide enough to reach the wheels and are just barely wide and deep enough to go around the nut. So in the words of Yoda: "Attach to the nut they must!"
I had a closer look at this problem this morning. Norm's suggestion about the caps needing to turn with the wheel is of course the correct way that they should be fitted. I decided to add some tiny spots of glue to the outer edge, then gave this a light sanding after it dried. Very fiddly job, but it has brought the caps up to spec. Now they push on nice and tight and turn with the wheels.
So it seems I was wrong when I said the caps are too big. They are in fact just a smidgen too small.
