Mike,

Where you able to find any retainer clips for the rimbellishers or did you use the hose clamp trick? If so, mind sharing.

Also, beautiful job with the restoration.

 

Hello,
I was not able to find a source for the retainer clips. I tried the hose clamp trick but discovered that the clips interfere with the brake drum. I spent a long time getting the clips all set inside the wheel and adjusted to hold the trim, but when I went to put the wheel on the car they jammed up on the brake drum. This method would only work with disk brakes I believe. I ended up getting modern chrome rings that fit the car.
mike

 

Thank you for the follow up and glad you found a solution. I have been using the hose clamp method on my MKIX for the wheels that are missing the original clamps but I would love to replace them with the correct piece.

 

Hi RedDog,
Its been a long time but I thought I would do a followup on these clips. My solution of using aftermarket rims didn't last. This past summer one of them took its own trip and and the following truck made mince meat out of it. So I decided to try to make my own clips. I still had a couple so I used them as my template. I got some 18 gauge steel and cut it into strips. Found some 1/8" brass rod, drilled it and tapped some threads. I used 8-32 screws. Just bent the pieces in the vice to shape and trimmed with a tin snips. I had the correct trim rings in storage when I first started working on the car and hung onto them in case I ever got to this point. Tried them on and the clips worked great.
For some reason I didn't have the patience 7 yrs ago to do this, but I'm glad I got it done. Hope you can use this info. Mike
Bent the steel strap over brass rod for shape. Then cut the slot.Brass rod cut to length, drilled and tapped.


A couple of these are original Can you tell which ones?

Outside of wheel

Inside of wheel

There is low tension on the clips, and they hold fine.