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Thread: Center caps

  1. #1
    Hubcap Enthusiast Scratchpaddy's Avatar
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    Center caps / "dog dish" hubcaps

    I understand why Mitsubishi made the hubcaps the way they did (aero/fuel economy), but they look so... cheap. It's hard to get excited about any kind of hubcap, but the stock ones are really dumpy.

    I searched the forum, but didn't find much on hubcap alternatives. Like I said... not many people get excited about hubcaps.

    On my car, I'm going to replace the stock units with chrome trim rings and center caps. I bought the trim rings already, but I still have to make the center caps. I want something that covers only the center area ("hub cap" in the original sense), and there isn't really anything you can buy that will do that.

    Since some of the steel wheel will be exposed, I polished them up today. Unlike the car body, there's no clear coat on the wheels. Just some cheap single-stage paint meant to keep the wheels from rusting, for a few years, at least.



    The paint is very soft and fades quickly. My car was built six months ago, it has 100 miles on it, and the wheels already look bad. I hand-polished them with compound, and they look much better.



    Few things are available for 14" wheels, but a trim ring is a trim ring. They pretty much all fit. I bought an old-school chrome-plated steel set on Ebay. I actually would have preferred chromed plastic, but couldn't find any.



    Now I just have to cover up that mess in the middle of the wheel.


    Last edited by Scratchpaddy; 03-08-2019 at 10:50 PM. Reason: Update title for clarification

  2. #2
    Senior Member Alex1a1f's Avatar
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    Looks good man. You're right, the only decent ones I have seen are in this thread

    https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ubcaps-is-over!!

    If you search ebay for 'alloy look wheel trim' there's some other nice looking from international sellers.
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  3. #3
    Hubcap Enthusiast Scratchpaddy's Avatar
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    Yep, those aren't bad. Much better than the stock ones for sure. I like the idea of not pretending that the car doesn't have basic steel wheels, though. A few members (OK, two that I know of) have put on "full moon" hubcaps, which I seriously considered myself. I think they look awesome, and completely different from the sort of thing you'd normally see out on the road.

    New full moon wheel covers look great!

    I was looking for more of a project, though. I can always fall back on the moons if this doesn't work out for some reason.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scratchpaddy View Post
    Yep, those aren't bad. Much better than the stock ones for sure. I like the idea of not pretending that the car doesn't have basic steel wheels, though. A few members (OK, two that I know of) have put on "full moon" hubcaps, which I seriously considered myself. I think they look awesome, and completely different from the sort of thing you'd normally see out on the road.

    I was looking for more of a project, though. I can always fall back on the moons if this doesn't work out for some reason.
    If I found center caps that fit the steel wheels, I would probably dump the hubcaps, too. I would spend some money on acorn lug nuts instead of the chrome rings. The chrome rings, however, look good!

    I don't like the look of the full moon hubcaps at all. Not to hurt anyone's feeling, but that is probably my least favorite look of any tires I have ever seen. I don't care for that look on a Mirage at all. They are probably very aerodynamic & easy to keep clean, however.

    Nicer lug nuts are an easy find. Finding a quality center cap is more of a challenge. I tried some cheap plastic ones, but it didn't take much to break them. Thus, they were a bust!

    If someone knows of a quality center cap that works on factory steel wheels, I hope they share, too!
    Last edited by Mark; 03-03-2019 at 01:38 AM.

  5. #5
    member kerc had trim rims on his green Mirage as well - since replaced with another one, so unfortunately he removed his garage & photos.

    But found this one where he was considering going with white wheels (photoshopped) vs. his black steelies:

    Name:  rLr8nQ5.jpg
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    https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ight=trim+ring

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    member kerc had trim rims on his green Mirage as well - since replaced with another one, so unfortunately he removed his garage & photos.

    But found this one where he was considering going with white wheels (photoshopped) vs. his black steelies:

    Name:  rLr8nQ5.jpg
Views: 2401
Size:  89.9 KB

    https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ight=trim+ring
    It would be nice to know what he used for the front center caps? Trim rings or not, I don't mind the looks of black steel rims. Adding acorn lug nuts & center caps would give more of a finished look, however.

  7. #7
    Hubcap Enthusiast Scratchpaddy's Avatar
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    Mark, I'm sure you're not alone in your opinion about moon caps. You either love them or hate them; there's not much in between.

    MetroMPG, thanks for digging up Kerk's old ride. I like the way both setups look. The center caps in the original (black wheel) picture should be easy to find and buy, but it's not what I'm trying to do on my car. I didn't explain it very well in my first post. I want to cover the whole recessed center part of the rim, lug nuts and all, like this:



    Acorn nuts are good if you're going to leave them exposed, but I actually need the stock hex nuts for my idea. There's not much to hold on to in the center of the wheel, so I'll use the exposed stud beyond the nut to screw on my own custom bolts that hold the cap on.



    It's like a bolt, but with internal threads. I think the technical term is "binding barrel". Here's a section view:



    I'm printing one cap for testing tonight, so I can see if I got my measurements right. I need to pick a color, too. Probably black. Maybe blue?

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    Thanks for the clarification. That would give your black steel rims a nice finished look. Thus, you need to find a center cap that fits on 4-100 bolt pattern.

    If you come up with something, please keep us posted.

  10. #9
    Ooh, I see. Fancy dog dishes! Sorta. Shallow ones.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    Would standard center caps work on Mirage steel wheels? I'm picturing something like these that you would see on something like a Crown Vic Police Interceptor...

    Name:  wheel_caps.jpg
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    These links talk about different wheels and how to measure them for conventional center caps:

    https://www.cokertire.com/blog/center-caps/

    https://hubcapmike.com/vintage-hubca...hubcap-wizard/


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


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