rota wheel center cap won't fit on front!

[gary lee]

16x8 rota wheels on my 260z.

rear cap snaps on fine.

front caps wont snap on - clearance problem!

now what?

[rcb280z]

I think somewhere on this site someone mentioned having to dimple the front hub dust caps to get them to fit. Might want to do a search for that.

How far off is it? Maybe take a couple pics and post them.

Here it is and its the same for the 260

Wheel Hub Dust Cap 240z 

By jackmau, December 29, 2018 in Wheels, Tires and Brakes

Edited January 7, 2019 by rcb280z

[Pmg]

Hulk smash the dust cap.. just a little bit.

[Captain Obvious]

I've seen it work with two tricks... First is to flatten the top of the grease cap a little (as mentioned above), but in the case of @GGRIII, they still wouldn't fit.

Hopefully he'll chime in with any details I miss, but I believe the solution was to snap the caps into the front wheels first before mounting the wheels on the car.

Problem is that if you try to snap the caps in after the wheels are mounted, the little plastic retainer fingers have to move inward to get past the retaining ledge. But with the rotor casting in the way, there isn't enough room for the fingers to move in. But once the caps are fully installed, the fingers snap back out just a little and it's enough room to clear the rotor snout.

[gary lee]

9 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

I've seen it work with two tricks... First is to flatten the top of the grease cap a little (as mentioned above), but in the case of @GGRIII, they still wouldn't fit.

Hopefully he'll chime in with any details I miss, but I believe the solution was to snap the caps into the front wheels first before mounting the wheels on the car.

Problem is that if you try to snap the caps in after the wheels are mounted, the little plastic retainer fingers have to move inward to get past the retaining ledge. But with the rotor casting in the way, there isn't enough room for the fingers to move in. But once the caps are fully installed, the fingers snap back out just a little and it's enough room to clear the rotor snout.

here are pics- front wheel  cap cannot be inserted, rear wheel cap snaps right in 

[Zed Head]

Sandpaper and elbow grease.  Seems like the walls must be too thick to fit in the gap.  Take a picture of the back of the cap.  Take some measurements.  Things will become clear.

Even then you might have to get all Hulk on the dust caps.  You don't want to leave your bearings exposed.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Zed Head

[Captain Obvious]

12 hours ago, gary lee said:

here are pics- front wheel  cap cannot be inserted, rear wheel cap snaps right in 

I understand the issue. Give this a try... Take a front wheel off the car, snap the cap in, and then put the front wheel back on.

[w3wilkes]

Those caps look like they're not as tall as the ones that came with my wheels. These caps fit over the dust caps just fine with no mod to the cap. I bought my wheels here; https://www.18racing.com/collections/rb/products/rota-rb-1570-4x114-3-4-73-gunmetal-with-polish-lip Maybe they will sell just the caps.

[GGRIII]

5 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

I understand the issue. Give this a try... Take a front wheel off the car, snap the cap in, and then put the front wheel back on.

CO is correct,  I was getting ready to try all sorts of things but all I had to do was put the caps on first, then mount the wheel to the hub.  Note that I also had to flatten the dust caps to the point where they were almost rubbing, make sure your cotter pin does not go over the end  but around each side instead and smoosh the cap flat to the axle...

 

[GGRIII]

1 minute ago, GGRIII said:

CO is correct,  I was getting ready to try all sorts of things but all I had to do was put the caps on first, then mount the wheel to the hub.  Note that I also had to flatten the dust caps to the point where they were almost rubbing, make sure your cotter pin does not go over the end  but around each side instead and smoosh the cap flat to the axle...

 

I will see if I can get some pics later tonight...

 

[52crankman]

There are short and tall caps.  Had to make sure I requested the tall ones when I got my wheels last Septemeber from Aspec Wheel.