1976 Eldorado Wheel Covers

[JackBoyd]

Please, can someone give me advice, or point me to an already existing discussion thread, on refurbishing wheel covers?
I want to improve the looks of my wheel covers. Can they be repainted easily?
Is it better to start with unpainted covers?
Thanks in advance!

[76eldo]

Jack

They can be sanded, masked and painted.
An easier way to go is to remove the emblems by using a Dremel to split the clips on the back of the emblem and the wreath and remove them. New ones are available on eBay or through some of the Cadillac parts vendors.  You can get push on clips to put the emblems back on at a hardware store.

Make sure that the caps are completely clean front and back and take them to a shop that does vinyl graphics. They can apply gloss black vinyl to the center area and the stripe on the outer ring.

If you want to spend the time you can mask and paint them or take them to a body shop.

Sometimes you can find excellent used or new ones on eBay.

Good luck with your caps.

Brian

[JackBoyd]

Thank you Brian.
I'm wondering about the paint sticking to the polished surface of the wheel. Have you actually painted wheels (or had them done)? Did you have any problems getting the perfect circle and ring prepped well enough to hold paint?

[76eldo]

The ones on my 76 were painted by someone before I got the car.
I was able to find some NOS caps and have them on the car now.
I used the ones that came on the car on another 76 that I sold.

I do have a set of painted caps on my 60 convertible.
They came with three rings on them that were a brushed finish with bright polished raised rings. As an option in 1960 you could order either black painted or white painted caps. On my white 60 convertible I thought the white ones would look pretty nice.
I took a set to my local body shop and they prepped and painted them several years ago and the paint Still looks like new.

I don’t think you can get the same results with a rattle can.
Cost me $100 a cap because the masking was tedious.

For the 76 caps I’d try a vinyl shop.

[JackBoyd]

I do not plan to do this myself. Professional painting is the plan.
But, I want to match the body color (Commodore Blue Metallic), so I don't think vinyl would be a good option.
Thanks again!

[76eldo]

Color choice is your option but you may want to know that all hubcaps for the Eldorado were black except the Bicentennial models
Which were all white cars with white caps.

The color keyed caps started in 77-78 and only included the center area.

If you also do the outer ring it will look better.

[76eldo]

When you remove the caps make a note of any that come off a little too easily.
You may need to adjust the tabs to make them tighter. These caps only grip on the outermost part of the rim.

Make sure you mark the locations on the back of the cap to make sure that they go back on the rim that each one came off of.

[TJ Hopland]

The vinyl like a wrap is an interesting idea.    That concept also got me wondering if anyone uses a cnc machine of some sort to make masks for painting.    I would not be very hard to model the cap then cut out material that could be a more accurate and likely faster to apply mask. 

[JackBoyd]

Hey Brian,
Yes, I'm aware that it won't be the "correct original" look. I just think the matching color looks far better (I consider the decision by Cadillac to put black on every color car in '76 to be a mistake). I have the original black caps on my red one (pic below).
I'll definitely keep the original black wheel covers unmolested, and use a spare set I have to paint for the blue one (pic below).
Thanks again for the advice!