Hubcaps will not mount

[Rt.146]

I have the "spinner caps" all four were securely on the car, when I bough it, wanting to dress up the wheel wells I took all of them off, long story short only one have I been able to put back on, right front, the others will not go on all around before popping off, each one I tried on the different rims same problem no matter how I mixed them I tried bending the tabs, measuring the distance side to side on the tabs and using a rubber mallet, no luck. I'm ready to use them as a Frisbee. Any ideas how to fix this problem or why it is happening?

[rzcrisis]

Have you tried jacking up the car to take the pressure off the wheels then mounting the caps? This helped me with a couple of stubborn ones on my 64.

Good Luck!
Randy

[Rt.146]

Thanks, tried the jack all three will not mount on left front wheel, maybe they are warped maybe wheel is warped, I will try them in the back with the jack.

[RAVEN]

RT; do you have correct rims for your car? TBird rims were unique for the car, and over time they get switched out for standard Ford rims. Randy's post is a tried and true method to over come the out of round condition when weight is on the rims. Note you may fight and get them back on but be aware that a heavy impact pot hole can cause them to become frizbies. Just a comment to consider.

[Rt.146]

I have read about the rims needing to be solid, no holes/welds, mine are solid, I guess one can say one piece, whether they are originals I don't know I will look a them a little more to see if there is any differences among them. I did manage to get one more on, drivers side back, like you wrote about them popping off, that was in the back of my mind when I got the latest one on.

[Terry64HT]

If you look at the back side of the original rims, you can see rivet heads at the seam of the center section to the outer one.

Terry
64HT

[blab]

I sit on the ground and push them on with my feet. One foot left of the center, one right.

[mviper13]

Mine were also very difficult to get back on after doing a cleanup of the OG steel. I ended up using my feet and pushing with my back against another vehicle to get them on. Looking back I should have taken the wheels off and pressed the caps on with either feet or a wooden disk maybe. Good luck!