1956 continental kit hub cap comes loose

woodeye

woodeye

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Mar 12, 2021
Thunderbird Year
1956
The hub cap on the wheel of my continental kit pops out about 1" on top rt. side of rim. There are spring clips that look to hold hubcap tight to wheel . Whenever I hit a good bump in the road it must spring out. First I'm worried it might come right off and also it looks sloppy.
When I pull it out all the way around how do you get the spring thingies to release to get it off completely.
Also the ring that goes around the tire tread keeps working it's way around the tire after taking the car out for a few drives. I can rotate it back but then it moves back around the tire. Not a big deal just doesn't seem correct.
Thanks
continental-hub-cap.jpg
 
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I inserted the photo into your post using this method-
 
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Hi Tom
Looking at the pic. I sent I was wondering why the outer, spoked trim ring keeps popping out, as in pic., when ever I go over a bump in the road.
Also how do you get the spoked trim ring off too access the hub cap underneath it, to get to the lug nuts, to remove tire from the continental kit mount.
I assume that is the process to get the spare tire off continental kit.
Also, also, I was wondering how to keep the big blue tire cover from rotating around the tire, exposing the open space that should be out of sight on the bottom of tire, as I drive down the road. Not a big deal. It just looks bad.
Thanks Jeff
 
First off its a pain in the butt. Alot of people carry a mini spare in the trunk and never touch the continental kit once it's set up.
To get the spoked trim off , you pull it out and manipulate those clips untill they release from the hub cap. Takes a few times but you will get it.
Rotation, on the bottom of the center blue tire cover where the two ends almost meet. I drilled a small hole in each side and put in a small turnbuckle and it tightened everything up, and you can't see it.
Hope this helps, Tom
 
thessler said:
First off its a pain in the butt. Alot of people carry a mini spare in the trunk and never touch the continental kit once it's set up.
To get the spoked trim off , you pull it out and manipulate those clips untill they release from the hub cap. Takes a few times but you will get it.
Rotation, on the bottom of the center blue tire cover where the two ends almost meet. I drilled a small hole in each side and put in a small turnbuckle and it tightened everything up, and you can't see it.
Hope this helps, Tom
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Hi Thanks for your response
Would you have any idea why the spoked trim ring pops out away from the rim when I go over bumps as it's shown in that picture. I was wondering if maybe the clips that are designed to hold it in have lost their Spring tension or if they need to be bent a little or something. I imagine it's just trial And Error. But of course that would mean getting them disconnected from the trim ring and then removed from however they are connected to the rim itself
Thanks again Jeff
 
It's possible your clips are old and brittle, or possibly installed wrong. When I bought my 56 recently, and put new WWs on it, I was installing the wheel covers and actually had one clip break, and they just didn't want to stay installed (clipped to the rim)...they kept popping out, and it was GIANT PITA to put them back on (deflating the tire, installing the clip, reinflating the tire, only to have one pop off when attaching the wheel cover to the clips). I finally threw in the towel and bought all new clips and rubber bumpers, and a) they went right on to the wheel easy-peasy, and b) attaching the cover never caused one to unclip from the rim. They WERE really strong, though, and it took me a while to figure out that to get the cover to sit "down" on the rim, you had to give it a good, hard, sudden shove...being gentle only caused trouble, including actually bending one clip. It took a solid thump to make it "snap" down.

That said, I didn't screw with the spare...I have no plans to *ever* take it off, but if I ever do, I have new clips to install there, too. And I've not had any issues with the cover popping up like yours.

So depending on the age of those clips, I'd say replace them, read the instructions linked here, and don't be timid with the cover once you get it clipped to all 5 spring clips.

Thunderbird-Wire-Wheel-Installation-1.jpgThunderbird-Wire-Wheel-Installation-2.jpg
 
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You can buy repo clips for the caps but the repos are not as thick or as strong as the OE clips. I have these caps on 3 of my Thunderbirds and I like the look, but they are a pain as has been stated.
 
woodeye said:
Hi Thanks for your response
Would you have any idea why the spoked trim ring pops out away from the rim when I go over bumps as it's shown in that picture. I was wondering if maybe the clips that are designed to hold it in have lost their Spring tension or if they need to be bent a little or something. I imagine it's just trial And Error. But of course that would mean getting them disconnected from the trim ring and then removed from however they are connected to the rim itself
Thanks again Jeff
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Try adjusting the spacing of the spring clips of the upper cover they may be hitting the spokes !
 
Looking at the picture again...do you have all six clips installed? Looks like perhaps some are missing, which might contribute to your problem.
 
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According from Ford instructions there should be six clips.
cross section.jpgWheel Clips.jpg
 
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I'll go out in the AM and take a look at how many are on the wheel.
Are these clips used on the driving wheels or just the continental kit wheel?
 
The first set of instructions were from CASCO, and if they were difficult for you to understand I suggest calling the CASCO tech help line at (740) 622-9700 and I'm sure they would be glad to help you.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue
 
After deeper inspection/pulling the ring out further than I was comfortable with initially, I was able to see how they worked. A pain yes, but not too terrible. I found that the spare, (C. K. ), only had 4 clips and the front rt. only had 3 but that one was staying on ok. I haven't checked the others and of course I'll have to remove the skirts. Another new experience. I've taken them off other cars back in the day so I hope the process is similar.
I looked on Hill's site and found clips but I think they may be after market ones. Some of mine looked like Hills and some were different. Split where they mount to the rim and with rubber bumpers. Are the split ones OEM. As Cokefirst wrote they both seem to be avaiable. Any Idea where the OEM ones are from?
Thanks
 
woodeye said:
I looked on Hill's site and found clips but I think they may be after market ones. Some of mine looked like Hills and some were different. Split where they mount to the rim and with rubber bumpers. Are the split ones OEM. As Cokefirst wrote they both seem to be avaiable. Any Idea where the OEM ones are from?
Thanks
Click to expand...
As I said before, I suggest calling the CASCO tech help line at (740) 622-9700 and I'm sure they will be able to answer all of your questions.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue
 
What is the correct way to attach the ring on the continental kit? My car has an oversized radiator clamp, I'm sure thats wrong & it doesn't keep it tight.
 
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Deflate the tire, Then remove the spring clips. These are being held on the rim. inflate the spare tire.
 
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