Full Wheel Covers, Later Style

[mdsalemi]

Hi All,

Tom Rose and I, in pursuit of perfection, collaborated on replacing our respective wheel covers with new.  I located a very professional local body shop who agreed to paint them, labor and materials, for $50 each.  Considering the amount of hand masking, I think this is probably a good deal.

Tom got all new, OEM Mercedes wheel covers and sent them to me.  I thought I bought the same from Millers, but at a lower price.  Turns out that Millers has one part number, but two different wheel covers--repro, and OEM.  Well when mine came and I compared them to Tom's I was appalled.

Tom's looked like they should have been in a display case in a jewelry store laying on red velvet; the OEM's are that good.  Mine looked like, well, something less.  What was annoying is that the cost of reproduction of something like this is in the tooling; you'd think that the manufacturer could have spent a couple of dollars more on a higher grade of stainless!  But, nooooooo  The OEM's also have a hologram label on the back indicating they are genuine Mercedes parts.

Back to Miller's mine went for exchange.  I took all 8 of them in for painting on Monday afternoon, and about 24 hours later they called me and said they are all done.  Wow.  I'll edit this post when I see what they look like.

What was very impressive was that the body shop manager--with a suit on--saw my sample coming out of the box and said, "Oh, 568 Signal Red.  My favorite color!"  He also waxed ecstatic on the look of full wheel covers for early Mercedes versus alloys.  Saying the right thing, or his real opinion??  Hmmm....

BTW Miller's sells the new OEM wheel covers for $115 each.  Repros are $75 each, or $260 for a set of 4.  Apparently they have quite a few as the vendor shipped more then they wanted!

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[Vince Canepa]

Michael - This is the case with most parts.  I typically buy everything from the dealer and only go aftermarket if there was a basic design flaw in the factory part.

Vince Canepa
1967 250SL
113.043-10-001543
568H Signal Red
116 Caviar MB-Tex

[hauser]

Mike, this is great news!  I wasn't aware that reproductions were out there.  Aside from the quality issue is there a difference in the weight?  I ask this because the original caps that were on my car are considerably heavier than the ones that are on my car right now.

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[Cees Klumper]

I bought 4 OEM caps (they came in heavy plastic bags with the hologram seal) and, oddly enough, two are brighter than the other two. Not a lot, but just enough to be noticeable. Still, they look quite nice. Hand masking them took me a lot of work. They were painted at a body shop 4 years ago without any special prepping to the steel, and the paint is still like new.

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[mdsalemi]

quote:Originally posted by hauser

Mike, this is great news!  I wasn't aware that reproductions were out there.  Aside from the quality issue is there a difference in the weight?  I ask this because the original caps that were on my car are considerably heavier than the ones that are on my car right now.

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

I think the reproductions were fine for a daily driver, or a typical 113.  Tom's is particularly nice, and mine is a show car that drives, so the new OEM's will look spectacular.  For someone with an older paint job, older chrome, older trim, the repro hubcaps would be fine.  Yes they are not as shiny, and yes the steel is a bit thinner, but they are stainess nonetheless.

Since they are so shiny, almost chrome like, I'd follow my restorer's advice.  He told me that for exterior chrome, you "do it all" or none.  Good new chrome against old is too stark a contrast.  I'd say the same for the new OEM hubcaps.  If the rest of your car's trim isn't "like new" the shine on your new hubcaps would be too great, in my opinion.  In that case the repros are toned down enough to work well.

Hauser, the original, first generation covers were steel, chrome plated.  They are heavier then the rest.  Somewhere along the line they switched to stainless.  Apparently, they were out of production for a while but are now back.  The latest and newest ones are very, very nice.  See the attached photo; obviously the OEM version is on the left.


Download Attachment: covers.jpg
67.28 KB

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[TR]

Mike -- I'm sure glad you're "on it".

Thanks again for coordinating this.

Tom in Boise
'71 280SL 4-spd, signal red w/lt. tan interior, restored/enhanced

[Douglas]

Another alternative is that you can have any of these wheel covers polished to a higher gloss. I had this done years ago for the wheel covers on my last SL and they turned out very nicely. They were OEM, but not as shiny as I felt they should be. I believe they were simply polished on a wheel with some gentle compound.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[mdsalemi]

quote:Originally posted by Douglas

Another alternative is that you can have any of these wheel covers polished to a higher gloss. I had this done years ago for the wheel covers on my last SL and they turned out very nicely. They were OEM, but not as shiny as I felt they should be. I believe they were simply polished on a wheel with some gentle compound.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

Doug,

This is an obvious idea and a good one.  However, if you have scrapes, dents and dings in your wheel covers, buffing won't remove them.  It will, of course, help polish the metal.

I spent about an hour with one of the repro caps before sending it back to Miller's, and couldn't get anywhere near the finish of the OEM.  I have a professional buffing wheel and compounds, but not the experience; I'm certain a professional could have done it with the correct compounds.  But time is money; if you were to pay someone to take the repro wheel covers to the shine of the OEM's prior to painting, you are looking at more then the $40 price difference between the two.

If your existing hubcaps are painted well, and in good condition, a simple metal polish and a little hand work is all you need.  That's what I've done in the past, and nobody complained about my wheel covers but me!

One thing I've started doing this summer is when I wash the car, the wheel covers come off and are cleaned front and back.  I also replaced all the [corroded] wheel cover clips, only $2 each.  The insidious brake dust is easy to keep off if you clean these regularly...if you let the brake dust build up by the decade on the back of your wheel covers, it becomes a job for some serious elbow grease and nasty chemicals.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[Douglas]

All good adivce for the truly fastidious, Michael. Years ago, I also purchased new lugnuts when I went similarly berserk.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[mdsalemi]

quote:Originally posted by Douglas

All good adivce for the truly fastidious, Michael. Years ago, I also purchased new lugnuts when I went similarly berserk.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

I'd like to get the car to the point where I tell the judge what to deduct points for....

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by mdsalemi

The insidious brake dust is easy to keep off if you clean these regularly...

Mike,
You saying that is like Joe saying "Get one from a parts sedan."      

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[dldubois]

Michael:

I see your photo contrasting the change in the OEM wheelcovers.  I've got two which were purchased 5 years ago that are OEM that look more like the ones in your photo on the right.  Not quite as shiny as the one you show on the left.  They're still packaged and I'm about to order two more as the car is about to be painted.

Do you think I'll have difficulty getting two to match?

Dana DuBois

1969 280sl auto
blue (906)
Corinth, TX

[Douglas]

The factory must have changed something fairly recently because the wheel covers I had professionally polished years ago were OEM and brand new and, like Dana's, a lot less shiny.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[mdsalemi]

Doug, Dana,

I can only tell you what I know.  Tom Rose had the same issue, with an order of 4 OEM's from Miller's, 2 were very shiny and 2 were not.  He sent them back and they did indeed send him 4 that matched in finish, and it was shiny like the one's on the left in the photo.

Mike Ochoa at Miller's indicated to me that MB had stopped making these some time ago, and then started again.  My guess--and it is only a guess--is that with new production, there might have been either a new vendor, or a change in the SS material used to stamp them out, or both.  That would easily explain why some OEM covers look very bright and others somewhat less so.

With any reputable vendor--either your dealer, Caliber, Miller's, etc. I am certain you can request that they all "match" in appearance.

Dana, call Mike at Miller's, and tell him you want OEM's but not as shiny as the ones he just sent me, more like the repros.  I'm sure he can help you out.

BTW my painting project is done; Tom's are on the way back to him, and mine are sitting in the trunk.  I'm debating whether to hold off installing them, or to just put them on and put the old ones for sale.  Winter's a coming and the car will soon rest for the season.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[TR]

Dana -- Please pardon my jumping in here, as your question was directed to Mike.

But I believe the shiny wheel cover (on the left of the photo) was mine.  Like you did, I'd ordered 2 new OEM wheelcovers a couple of years ago and just put them away thinking I'd order 2 more later...which is precisely what I recently did.  When those newest wheel covers showed up last month, before I sent them to Michael, the difference in finish between the olders one (still in their plastic bags with M-B seals on them) and the newest ones (also in plastic with M-B seals) was obvious and striking.

The most recent ones looked so much better that I ordered 2 more of them in order to insure a matching set of chrome-looking stainless steel covers.

Tom in Boise
'71 280SL 4-spd, signal red w/lt. tan interior, restored/enhanced

[TR]

Sorry Mike & Dana ... I hadn't seen Mike's response before I pressed the "Post" button.

Mike, thanks so much for handling all the painting activities!  I can't wait to receive those new wheel covers.  If they make it here in time, which the probably will, I'll probably install them before Carol & I head down to Nevada City for the upcoming get together of W113s there and then a small caravan thru the N. Cal. wine country.

Tom in Boise
'71 280SL 4-spd, signal red w/lt. tan interior, restored/enhanced