D Wheel Covers - Cost of Restoration?

[Hardway]

I acquired this set of D wheel covers for helping a friend part a car out that had them sitting in the hatch.  I also have three 14x4.5 original wheels.  The wheel covers are rough but complete and appear to be free of any impact damage.  The rust is pretty severe and I unsure if it would be financially viable to have them blasted, repaired, re-chromed, and re-painted.  The metal is pitted where the build up of rust is on the outer edge.  I took some fine steel wool just to see what could be done with elbow grease alone.  The hazy residue took some real effort to get through but I can already tell that to do them justice, they need to be re-chromed.  I already have inquiry out to a shop here in town for a ball park estimate before driving all the way down there.  For those of you that have restored these wheel covers, what kind of cost did you encounter with them?

[240260280]

I'm in the same boat.  $100-$200 each here for chrome.

 

The chrome company takes care of the rust.

[EhlersRS]

Hardway,

When Marty Rogan was selling his pristine set of "D" hubcaps I posted this from the restoration of my caps:

"The cost of re-chroming was dependent on the current condition of the hubcaps.  My caps were straight without any dents, but they did have minor surface rust on the back sides  and a little rust on the front sides.  The cost to re-chrome the caps was $348 (set of 4) and the center "D" medallions was $100 (set of 4).  Considering a good pair of "D" hubcaps is around $800 for the set, I thought this was a fair value!"

I sent my caps to Mike at Vintage Chrome last October and look forward to seeing the new chrome!  As you may have read, he's discontinuing the service, but I'm hoping someone else can take over the business for him.  My caps were in better condition than yours in terms of rust, but since these "D" caps are getting hard to find, I think your caps look like good candidates to restore!

Robert S.

[Hardway]

Thank you for the info guys!  I knew Mike was not going to be doing anymore plastic chroming.  Luckily the center caps are in pretty good shape and I will see what I can do about brightening them up a little.  I just spoke to Cen-Tex plating in south Austin as I had sent them the pictures above.  Just a ball park he could give me over the phone was $50 - $60/each or $240/set.  He walked me through everything they would do from stripping, to blasting, the multiple coatings, and polishing and $60 each sounds very fair.  Since they are open on Monday and I am off I am planning to make the drive down, get a quote in writing, and drop them off.  There is a 3-week lead time so this would still put me in good shape for ZCON.  I will keep you posted.

[Hardway]

I dropped the wheel covers off late last week at Cen-Tex plating in south Austin.  The price was $60/each.  The D center caps came off without any issues so I will be able to re-use them.  David at Cen-Tex looked at the 2 rustiest wheels covers and was not optimistic about being able to plate them as the blasting process may punch holes through the metal.  He assured me they would be as gentle as possible but they really need to be "restored".  I should know more in a week or two and should have them back in no more than three weeks.  We will see how they look and go from there.  At the very least I believe they deserve the effort to be saved if possible given how rare they are.

[EhlersRS]

Thanks for sharing the update! I'm anxious to get my replated parts back from Mike. From his last email the plastic parts were done, but the metal parts were taking longer. Also, when I took the center 'D' medallions off my caps, one plastic post snapped off. I was being gentle, but what do you expect from 45 year old plastic! Since I don't trust the old metal clips, I've considered using this product from 3M to secure the medallions to the caps. Jim Frederick (Z Mecca) said he uses this to reseal taillight lenses.





Robert S.

[Zup]

Quote

Jim Frederick (Z Mecca) said he uses this to reseal taillight lenses.

While I too have used that product for tail light lenses, I do not think it is suitable for adhering your centers to the hubcaps. It is not a cement or a glue.

I would reuse the remaining post and repair the broken one with  plastic rod of a suitable diameter and length to replace the missing piece. Epoxy the ends together and reinforce it with additional epoxy by coating the entire mended length. A thin coat of epoxy to the remaining (un-damaged) post would be good reinforcement for it as well.

The 3M product you show in the photo is butyl rope caulking, which is great stuff for the tail lights, as it never sets up hard but retains plasticity if you ever need to get them apart in the future for cleaning the inside of soot and grim. It is very similar to the original sealant used in the tail light assemblies and will keep moisture out indefinitely.

Get some 3M emblem adhesive tape if you want additional assurance that your center will not fly off. It is very good at adhering plastic to metal, and is used extensively for attaching emblems to metal painted surfaces.

Good luck with your project!

Saving these hubcaps is a must as @Hardway mentions-----they don't make them anymore for sure.
 

[Patcon]

A thought for the future, in lieu of blasting them some rust away, Eastwood Rust remover or something similar will remove all the rust but not remove good metal. A little slower but less chance of warpage or holes...

[Hardway]

Another thought is to cut the pins down all together and replace with threaded metal studs.  This way you could use a lock washer and nut to hold them on.  I did something similar to this with my Datsun script emblem.  See link below.

http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/49682-diy-datsun-script-emblem-repair-refurbishment/

Edited March 3, 2017 by Hardway

[EhlersRS]

Thanks for the advice on the center "D" medallions.  I still have the piece that broke off from the plastic post and I would like to use retaining clips again, but I wanted something else to ensure they don't fall off.  I don't know why I didn't think about using emblem adhesive tape before, but that would be a good solution!

Robert S.

[Hardway]

I picked up the wheel covers the other day from the chrome shop.  I knew going in they would not be show quality but anything was better than the "tetanus shot ready" state they were in before.  The chrome shop warned me there would be a lot pitting due to the rust damage.  He had called me last week to let me know that two of the covers could really stand to be sent off for restoration at a local metal shop that specializes in this type of work.  He estimated 2-3 hours per wheel cover at a cost of $100/hr.  I passed and asked they do they best that can and I believe given what I paid versus what I got back, it was very fair.  All in all, 2.5 weeks and $260 total with tax.  I dropped one of the D medallions on just to see how it looked and to be honest, for something that will always be driver quality I am questioning if I should even paint them.  Thoughts?  I welcome any feedback and questions you guys have.

[EhlersRS]

Considering how bad the wheel covers looked before the rechrome, I'd say they look decent!  I like the contrast between the paint and chrome on the original caps.  I wonder if painting them would conceal some of the pitting, or at least make it less noticeable?  Like you said, these aren't show quality and it's still rare to see a set of original caps on a 240Z!

Robert S.