68 Camaro - Almost Done! - Page 8 - North East F-Body Association

jeff68 · #71 10-17-2013, 10:04 PM

Next order of business is the wheels. I love the Polyglas tires, but I'm still not sure about the rally wheels. It just seems that everyone has them, and I want to be a bit different.

My choices are:
1) Original P01 wheel covers that came on the car (I have a NOS set)
2) N96 "simulated mag" wheel covers (have access to a NOS set, but big $$$)
3) Dog dish caps (I have a NOS set) with trim rings on original wheels

Not sure what to do, but I'm leaning toward the dog dish & trim rings. That way I could still run the 'born with' wheels on the car.

P01 wheel covers:

Dog dish & trim rings (trial fit):

N96 wheel covers:

DavidS · #72 10-17-2013, 10:43 PM

I'm voting for #3, dog dish & trim rings.

Formula413 · #73 10-17-2013, 11:11 PM

Out of those three, dog dishes all the way.

DavidS · #74 10-18-2013, 01:04 AM

But if you want to get a pic of your car with my deep dog dishes, let me know. You can have the ones I've got (I'm pretty sure I can still find them) as long as they're going on your car. I think you should consider those as option #4.

Here is a pic of my 68 with deep dog dishes:

You might want to have something different.....but I think they look great.

LSX-Nation · #75 10-18-2013, 03:51 AM

It does look good congrats.

jeff68 · #76 10-19-2013, 02:13 PM

I think I'll pop the NOS P01 wheel covers over the existing rally wheels and run it like that for a little bit. Then I can blast & paint the original wheels so I can run the dog dish & trim rings if I want.

My Dad always ran the original P01 wheel covers, and with Goodyear Polyglas F70-14 white letter tires for most of its life. It's kind of a sleeper look, and certainly different. I don't think I've ever seen those wheel covers on a restored car in person.

My Dad said that back in the day people would look at the car and wonder what those 'high performance' tires were doing on that "plain jane" car. Then he'd hit the go pedal and let the L30 327 and F41 suspension show them.

DavidS · #77 10-19-2013, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff68

My Dad always ran the original P01 wheel covers, and with Goodyear Polyglas F70-14 white letter tires for most of its life. It's kind of a sleeper look, and certainly different. I don't think I've ever seen those wheel covers on a restored car in person.

It's definitely different. I've looked at a lot of wheels and haven't seen them at any shows.

Make the car how you want it. You have really been through the wringer (times 10) with your car and you should go with what seems right!

jeff68 · #78 10-20-2013, 07:40 PM

Yeah, but I really don't know what I want to do. I know I want to be different. I actually really like the N96 wheel covers. My Dad isn't too keen on them, and I want to make him happy too.

Now, my Dad & I discussed getting a set of old school 14"x6" 5-spoke Hurst wheels. I know repros are available, but we'll keep our eyes out for a set of real ones to restore

I'm really bummed out right now, though. I went to put on the P01 wheel covers (onto the rally wheels). I guess the rally wheels are just a little different, because I can't get the wheel covers to go on. They fit fine (although a little tight) on the original wheels.

So, it looks like the original wheels will need to be refinished no matter what. I can go all black and use the P01 wheel covers or N96 covers, or paint the faces silver and install the dog dish caps & trim rings.

I'll head down to The Wheel Shop in Windsor Locks to see what they get for refinishing a set of steelies. I just can't pay for 3 hours each in labor (at $70/hr) plus materials.

jeff68 · #79 10-22-2013, 12:35 AM

I dropped the original steel wheels off at The Wheel Shop in Windsor Locks today. $80 each to blast them to bare metal and refinish in semi-gloss single stage urethane paint. A very fair price I think. I'll report back on how they turn out.

jeff68 · #80 11-08-2013, 03:00 PM

I got the steel wheels back from The Wheel Shop. I'm not very impressed. They didn't sandblast (or even clean up) the inside of the lips or the bead seating areas - almost like they blasted the wheels with the tires still on them. The paint coverage is decent on the outside, but they failed to get any paint down in the corners. Paint coverage on the inside is very thin.

So, I've been cleaning up the lip & bead areas by hand, and I'll re-shoot them with satin black myself.

I wouldn't be too happy if I had paid more than $80 each. However, I think I got what I paid for.