Looking for Appliance Wheel center caps

[Arne]

No, all of the currently available angled stems are too long. I keep hoping to find someone who has a set of these wheels that are beat up and going to be scrapped that still has the stems, because they're the only ones that work correctly.

As for the stems you have in yours, any good tire shop should have replacement sealing grommets for them. When you have your next set of tires mounted have them remove the stems and replace the grommets and you'll be fine.

Similarly, changing tires on those old Appliances is no more difficult than on any similar vintage mag. Any good shop should be able to do it without damage. I know from experience - I sold and serviced tires and similar mags for over 20 years. Sold lots of those Appliances back in the day, albeit most that I sold were the RotoLug style.

[Arne]

For those of you who may not be familiar with the oddball valve stems we're talking about, here is a picture. I'm currently using small rubber stems in mine, which work but make it difficult to check and adjust the air pressure. So any leads on these stems -- even singles -- would be appreciated.

[zgermans]

As for the stems you have in yours, any good tire shop should have replacement sealing grommets for them. When you have your next set of tires mounted have then remove the stems and replace the grommets and you'll be fine.

Arne, should they also be able to replace the schrader valve if need be?

Massey is on ebay so the 3.126 front snap eagle caps can be found there as well as the mag shank lug nuts in both .55" and .75" length

Summit also sells these same center caps (Eagle Alloys ACC310706) even cheaper:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=AEW%2DACC310706&N=700+115&autoview=sku

Also, can you recommend a best method for deep cleaning these rims, or any particular method I should avoid? (ie Do these have any type of coating or finish that I could potentially harm) I was hoping to apply some mechanical advantage with a buffing wheel/ball and some metal polish.

Thanks again for all your help,

Robert

[Arne]

Arne, should they also be able to replace the schrader valve if need be?

Absolutely. They just use a standard short valve core. No problems there.

Also, can you recommend a best method for deep cleaning these rims, or any particular method I should avoid? (ie Do these have any type of coating or finish that I could potentially harm) I was hoping to apply some mechanical advantage with a buffing wheel/ball and some metal polish.

Ahhh. Yes, I do have some experience with this, although my comments here might not apply to all of them.

First, none of these wheels (regardless of when or where they were cast) have any kind of coating. The lips and the center hub area were originally lightly machine polished, and the face of the spokes were machined, not polished. The cast-finish area between the spokes were not painted, just natural finish.

I've had some problems polishing the early versions (with 'JAPAN' cast in the back side). Apparently the alloy used was not very consistent in quality. (This may or may not apply to the later versions cast in the US.) It's easy to open up pits when machine polishing that give a speckled and sometimes uneven surface. When I had my first set of four polished by a local polishing shop, three of the four had varying amounts of these pits and surface unevenness. Two were quite noticeable. I've not been able to determine the exact cause. Could have been excessive buffer speed and heat for the alloy used, perhaps inconsistency with the alloy itself, or even possibly caused by the acid-based pre-cleaner I used eating into miniscule surface pits and opening them to the buffer. I don't know for sure, I just know that while most people thought my wheels looked good on the car, if you got close to the bad ones you could see that they weren't all that great looking. I have since done a LOT of hand sanding and polishing on the two worst ones and have made significant improvements, but they still aren't quite up to the standard I desire.

Because I don't know which of the possibilities (or combination thereof) caused my poor results, I would not recommend the use of any acid-based mag cleaners on these wheels, nor would I let anyone use a high-speed buffer on them.

The set I am working on now as replacements to the first set have been hand sanded to smooth and clean the surface, and polished using a Mother's Mini Powerball and the Power Metal liquid polish. I am much happier with the results this time. While not perfect (they ARE 35 years old, after all), they are turning out much better than the previous set did.

In the attached picture, the one with the tire is one of the two "worst" wheels from the first set, and the other is one of the replacements I am now preparing. I have painted the center area on the second set to match the grill and tail trim panels.

[conedodger]

I have a set of something in the garage that came with my Z. Not sure of the diameter but they are plastic if I recall correctly. They are yours if they will fit Randy. I will check in a bit here...

[Arne]

Rob, if the caps you have are metal, and look like this picture, I'd be interested, assuming they aren't rusty.

[conedodger]

Rob, if the caps you have are metal, and look like this picture, I'd be interested, assuming they aren't rusty.

They are plastic for sure Arne... Sorry.

[conedodger]

They are plastic for sure. They appear to be intended to sit on the face of the wheel instead of being pushed through from the back. The outside diameter is just greater than 3" perhaps 3 1/8". They apparently screw into holes on the surface of the wheel. Cheap and cheesy. Free to good home. Hell, free to unwed mothers who do a lot of crack...

[esprist]

That appears to be about the same dimensions externally Arne. I am going to pull the wheel tomorrow and take my calipers and find out what the dimension is on the hole. Thanks Arne. Appreciate the help!

Hello Randy, depending on your goal, but you could sand blast them, repair the dents, and painted with texture paint (only $6 at Home depot) shown in these pictures. These are my old pictures.

Esprist

[esprist]

That appears to be about the same dimensions externally Arne. I am going to pull the wheel tomorrow and take my calipers and find out what the dimension is on the hole. Thanks Arne. Appreciate the help!

Here you go!

[MidLifeCrisiz]

Has anyone purchased these center caps from Motor Sport? (First picture below and this link)

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/WCC

I have the same issue as discussed on this post, rusted and pitted Appliance center caps, however mine are on a set of slotted mags. (3 additional pics)

Just wondering if these are worth buying for $34, or should i just go the route that esprist has gone, sanding and painting?

Any advice/opinions or experience on these?

Thanks in advance

Steve

[mgood]

Steve I had the same problem with the Appliance centers, I purchased mine form Masseys phone number is 405-239-2010. They are not Appliance centers but ones for Eagle wheels. The problem is that they are 3 1/8 diameter. I think the ones Motor Sport are 3 3/16 diameter and too big.

You can see them on my car if you go to my web site (see signature below)and click on Closeup Details and look at the 3rd and 4th image.