since the 4 plastic tabs on the back of the 90-91 crx si wheel centercaps are so weak and end up breaking easily, i was trying to think of ways to strengthen them or prevent them from breaking ?, or ideas on ways to make them stay on, such as screwing on a piece of metal in place or over the plastic tabs, somehow attached to the metal tabs that come out from the center or something ???,

just wanted to get people's ideas on things to maybe try out ?

these are the centercaps i am talking about :

 

you could remove the metal piece, break off all the plastic tabs, and redesign a new metal piece to do the spring and clip function that the plastic tabs did.

Other than that, old plastic is going to get brittle.

 

This is a solid idea. Take the old metal piece and attach some form of spring to it. Then use semi-circle pieces of metal to make contact with the rim.


Best editing on HT right there.

 

The current metal used behind the plastic is 'spring steel'.
You can bend it to a certain degree and it pops back to original shape. It's used in a lot of things including battery contacts for a lot of devices rather than using an actual coil spring.

The shape of the plastic is a hook. Just bend spring steel to that shape and follow the existing steel that is screwed down.

Also, you might be able to get away with slipping a piece of rubber over the existing metal after the plastic is removed. Maybe a piece large vacuum hose or something. Just so it is thick enough to mimic the plastic that was removed. The rubber should get compress and hold it in place.

 

Interesting. I did not know that.

OP, do you remove the rim and then pop the caps out from the back side or do you pry them off from the front?

 

good to see some ideas, could'nt i coat the tabs and all around the base of the tabs with expoxy or something, to at least strengthen it to maybe make it last a little longer before they crack or break ?,

or just break them off and drill a hole in the ends of the metal pieces that stick out towards the edge, and attach a piece of metal thats the same shape as the plastic tabs, with a nut and bolt through the hole ?

or do something where you use a thicker piece of plastic or something and you attach it by putting small pointy screws through the front of the centercap, into the edge, so it holds them in place, then put epoxy around the back of the piece and the base of it, paint over the heads of the screws you put through the front of the centercap so its silver and not as noticeable.

 

i have'nt had my centercaps on my 90 si wheels for 10 yrs, but recently i decided i want to put them back on cause i like how they look, each of my centercaps are missing at least 1-2 tabs, they still snap in place securely, but its easy to break the tabs, and don't want a centercap falling off cause its hard to find them.

one thing is to be real carefull when removing the centercap, cause thats how alot of people break the tabs, and don't let a mechanic at discount tire or some place remove the centercap, cause they don't care and don't know how fragile they are.

i know a lot of people would'nt even bother going through all this extra stuff, but i know there has to be some creative way to make them work good so they are stronger or don't break.