55.2-59 Original 3 clip wheels....reproductions

[Missyblue]

Does anyone know if theres wheels you can buy that would accept the old hubcaps? I'm ford 5 front and chevy 6 rear so cant just look for original 1950's rims. I have 60's rims and wondering if I can just install the clips inside to mount them? Does anyone have originals and mind measuring width of circle and depth from stud mounting to top of bump where the face of the hubcap sits. Thanks

[jhnpldng]

This rim was on an AD but that's not 100% guarantee that it's an AD rim. Most likely though. 8 inch hubcap, 6 lug. Hard to see but the measurement is right at 8" or slightly less. The gap may be a better indicator and it was slightly under 1/8". You could probably almost put them up against the rim metal.

[mr48chev]

The one I just ran out and measured was 8 inches across the outside of the tabs. Too dark to get decent photos but the outside of the cap is pretty well centered by the wheel with the tabs holding it in place.

You might want to see how much slack you have around the cap before going too wild as the cap has to set against something along with being held by the retainer tabs.

From the base of the clip/tab/retainer to the lip around the cap is 1-1/4 inches.

[Missyblue]

Thanks so much for the help with measurements and photos. Sadly my truck has apparently 1960's rims and they measure only 7 1/4 on the inner circle so the hubcaps wont work from your measurements. I'll have to search for originals or go a different style route 😭

[joedoh]

wheel vintiques makes gennie style wheels, they dont use clip caps but the good news is that wheel vintiques also makes replacement caps that look like originals too.

buy them from jegs, they carry 15s 16s and 17s in a lot of widths and in most bolt patterns. they carry the caps too, make sure you get the ones for the gennie wheels because they make 3 mounting styles.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Wheel-Vintiqu...71204/10002/-1

you might even be able to screw the clips to this wheel and run original caps.

[Missyblue]

Originally Posted by joedoh

wheel vintiques makes gennie style wheels, they dont use clip caps but the good news is that wheel vintiques also makes replacement caps that look like originals too.

buy them from jegs, they carry 15s 16s and 17s in a lot of widths and in most bolt patterns. they carry the caps too, make sure you get the ones for the gennie wheels because they make 3 mounting styles.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Wheel-Vintiqu...71204/10002/-1

you might even be able to screw the clips to this wheel and run original caps.

Thank you I hadn't seen those rims I'll check it out. Sounds like the repop caps are 81/8 and the originals are supposedly 8 so maybe they might work. I wanted the red like these because my emblems are red and love the original style. Hmm....

[mr48chev]

I had to do some serous searching but Wheels Vintique does have some AD original looking caps for their Gennie wheels . https://www.jegs.com/i/Wheel+Vintiqu...0aAq3qEALw_wcB
That's 256.91 for 4 plus 399.80 for the wheels =656.71 for wheels and caps.

[Missyblue]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I had to do some serous searching but Wheels Vintique does have some AD original looking caps for their Gennie wheels . https://www.jegs.com/i/Wheel+Vintiqu...0aAq3qEALw_wcB
That's 256.91 for 4 plus 399.80 for the wheels =656.71 for wheels and caps.

Thanks for trying. Problem is mine is the less popular gmc. Dont know why I hav eto make my life harder haha

[1project2many]

What you're doing is making your truck original. The reason it's difficult is that you're not following someone else's cookie cutter recipe. Be prepared to do some work to bring the vision to life.

I posted pictures of an early '90s Toyota truck wheel in your original wheel / disc brake thread. It appears the center of the Toyota wheel, the "hubcap mounting surface," is larger than the center of the stock GM wheel. For me the next question is whether or not the OD of the GMC hubcap at the shiny part is large enough to look good on the Yota wheel. If so it might be possible to make some nice inserts for the wheels that would allow you to use stock hubcaps.

[Missyblue]

Originally Posted by 1project2many

What you're doing is making your truck original. The reason it's difficult is that you're not following someone else's cookie cutter recipe. Be prepared to do some work to bring the vision to life.

I posted pictures of an early '90s Toyota truck wheel in your original wheel / disc brake thread. It appears the center of the Toyota wheel, the "hubcap mounting surface," is larger than the center of the stock GM wheel. For me the next question is whether or not the OD of the GMC hubcap at the shiny part is large enough to look good on the Yota wheel. If so it might be possible to make some nice inserts for the wheels that would allow you to use stock hubcaps.

Thank you for that I'll check it out. Not afraid to do work but have to logical that I am limited in the fab department. Thanks! Have to buy a hubcap and try I guess

[1project2many]

Well... one way to evaluate this is to consider what you would be willing to pay for wheels and caps from Wheel Vintiques, then set that as an upper limit for cost for going another direction. If you have to pay someone to build the inserts you might still end up spending less $$ than buying new wheels.

[joedoh]

ah yes, the gmc cap problem. I ran into this with running wheels that used smoothie caps but there was only one guy (wheelsmith) who made 47-53 gmc caps to fit smoothie wheels, and wants $140 ea for them. so, $560 for caps, or something else.

I thouhgt about buying blank baby moons and using a sticker, who would know the difference? but the baby moon was smaller diameter and these were big wheels.



so I made the caps from a set of clip style gmc caps ($240) and some blem/dented ralley wheel poverty caps ($free$) since the smoothie mounting was the same. I cut and ground the back of the clip cap to the right height with a jig I made, and welded the ralley cap in the opening.









1project2many is right, you have to figure out the costs, I wasnt willing to spend another 300 on caps just to snap them on. you have two different bolt patterns to consider, which makes it more complicated, you have to decide what you are going to standardize, either the wheels or the hubs need to change.

I picked up an old pair of custom made steel wheels recently, use a 5 on 4.75 clip cap center in a 15x8 reverse wheel. I couldnt resist them but the question is, where am I going to find the matching pair? sure wheelsmith or stockton or even I could make a pair with enough spare parts, starting with finding another pair of 5 on 4.75 clip cap centers, something I dont think is laying around much.

anyway, good luck!

[Missyblue]

Joedoh thank you so much for the ideas and photos very creative and got me thinking. And Quite the fab work looks nice! Good luck with the next wheel adventure! Have to see if I can find someone around here capable.of that kind of work cause it's not me!

1project2many I agree it is about what you are willing to pay. I still dont see wheel vintiques being a perfect option as I have to add the clips and hope the original caps work since I want the different style of cap then they reproduce.

I have this now to get started and it could work and they dont cost anything. But I really prefer the 50's design red caps better. I have the ford ranger 5 lug front for my mustang 2 and the 60's 6 lug gm rear and the large dog dish caps fit both. But I preferred the style of the smaller got confused and thought baby moon rims were the way to go then realised all the photos I had saved were the original hubcaps not baby moon reproductions haha. So yes dilemmas. At this point it's worth it to try for the dream and that's why I'm trying to see if it's possible to put it together the original style if I can 1. Make sure they work with disk brakes. 2. If not can I source and modify something to work with disk. And 3. Make sure I can find everything. And get it to me here.

Oh and my rotors are 11 inches so good to go!

Appreciate the continued insights and ideas