*thinking* Not metal painted, but I have seen somewhere offered ones that were cast in raised relief, silver or something? Anyone? I can't even keep stem caps on....out of the question, for me! Good Luck!
Should have clarified better - I'm looking for something along the lines of what Porsche offers for some of their wheels with their crest design, with an enamel baked finish on a metal cap. The yellow plastic Ferrari ones get scratched, fade with age, and in general look a bit on the cheap side for my tastes. Cheers - DM
Steven (enjoythemusic) got a set for his Kinesis wheels... I don't know if they're the same size as stock. But the FCA NewsBulletin has this ad: Custom wheel centers for stock Ferrari wheels. Fly yellow metal centers with sculptured 1 1/2” chrome horse. Replace the “plastic” look with pieces of jewelry. Will snap fit into all stock Ferrari wheels using original black plastic housing. “True pieces of art.” $495/set of four. Limited availability. Call (508)783-2134 (MA).
Thanks Mike, I think that's what I had seen advertised.... Or you could just tape the hundred dollar bills on the windows, in my neighborhood....LOL!
(Said in good humor) $100 are the cheap and easy way out... and NO Ferrari is THAT easy LOL Yes, Kinesis has them as does the advert guy and they are gorgeous darrrling. Makes the stock OEM plastic stuff look like... well... the overpriced crap it really is. Mine have ben to variuous track events and have seen h#ll and back. i spit-polished them just before this photo, they look MUCH better than this when new and not having lots of brake dust on them. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
A casual Google search shows a number of vendors of these for Porsches wheels with prices around $50.00 USD per cap, which sounds about right. $495 for a set of four seems a bit on the high side. I can't believe that some vendor has not stepped up to the plate and had a run of these made, as I would imagine that a number of folks other than myself would like to upgrade. This sounds like an idea candidate for a Group Buy, if there were someone who made them that we could contact. DM
See if the International Auto Parts # 02004 @ $31.50 are enameled: http://www.international-auto.com/index.cfm?fa=p&pid=3241
Yes, they claim that these are metal, and for that price it's worth a risk. I'll report back herein once they arrive. Thanks - DM
metal adds to unsprung weight! I image they are real heavy, one f-chater had a wheel weight come off and pierce a hole in his fender the size of a half dollar. I would think these would cause damage if accidentally un-attached. What I like about the metal ones is it make the obscenely priced original seem cheap!! rob
I have received a set of the enamel metal wheel caps from International Auto Parts, as noted above. Due to an error which I made at the time of order placement, I accidentally ordered their Dino center caps instead of the Prancing Horse ones, but upon subsequent discussions with the folks at IAP, the comments which follow apply equally to both styles. These caps are indeed metal enamel and are much nicer than the OEM plastic caps in terms of overall quality and appearance. However, I don't see how they can be used with our wheels as they are simply a flat disc with no visible means of retention. According to IAP, they are intended to be held onto the wheel using a circlip of some style (which they do not sell), but I'll be darned if I can see how it all works. As you can see, the cap is flat and smooth on both front and back, so there's no place to stick a clip. The only idea that I can come up with is that they might fit into the wheel from the back side, and then there's an internal expanding clip which holds the cap into position? But the wheels that I have don't have any sort of a feature like this. The only way that I could use these flat caps would be to glue them onto the face of the wheel hub with something like a silicone adhesive, but I don't think this would hold well. For however they are to be attached, they won't do me any good, and so the caps are on their way back to IAP for a refund. Now that my curiosity has been piqued by these caps, just how DO these caps attach, anyways? I am told by IAP that certain Ferrari wheel models as well as some Alfas use this flat smooth cap style, but I have no experience with either. I'd be quite interested to learn an answer to this one, even though, for me, it's now become a moot point. Cheers - DM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not a problem with the center caps. The center caps have almost no inertia to pierce body panels since they are spinning over their centroid. The wheels weights are on the edge of the wheels and so have tremendous energy due to their position relative to the center of rotation. Also these have less effect on accelleration since they are closer to the center. If you are going to add unsprung weight, it is better to have it at the center of the wheel as opposed to the perimeter. BT
sone dino's had alloy wheels and small hub caps in the center of the wheel, the emblem somehow fit into the center of the hubcap. How wide were those dino badges? Ferrari used to sell the plastic emblems seperately which you would punch out the one the the black plastic cap that snapped onto the wheel and replace the center piece. BTW. If anyone is interested I am looking for a good home for my HRE wheels they have a custom made aluminum center cap!
That's exactly what I was thinking. If those emblems are the correct diameter, the center "disc" can be replaced and the new enamel one fit into the black plastic housing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
By the way, I have an extra set of 4 of those plastic disc inserts as shown in the photo (just the inserts, not the black housings)... if anyone wants to purchase set, PM me.
More information: The old style center caps that required a metal circlip were part number 154794 and they take a 50mm center disc. These are no longer available. They were replaced by part number 108947 which takes a 49mm disc (I have both kinds here and measured with a set of calipers) and just presses in. I'm almost certain that the 50mm disc won't fit in the new style press-in wheel centers. The new press-in style is what I posted previously, and you can see that the plastic outer bevel around the disc is wider/thicker. Here's what the old style looks like. I do have a brand new set of those here too, still in the Ferrari factory packaging, but I don't think I'd want to mess with them to put in the metal enamel inserts. You can't just press the old ones out from the rear... you'd have to use a Dremel tool or something to actually cut out part of the back, and you might destroy the inserts in the process. By the way, it does appear that you can use circlips *or* an o-ring. My factory replacement set came with both as shown in the photo. Image Unavailable, Please Login
