///// Aero hubcaps /////

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
Hi

Looking to get some extra fuel economy from my Jetta by improving aerodynamics.

When I was running steel wheels I simply drilled and bolted aerodynamic covers to the factory hubcaps and it worked fine. However, i switched my wheels to Avis aluminum rims to save weight and now I can no longer run hubcaps.

My dilemma is how to attach the aerodynamic covers to my wheels ( the aerodynamic covers I was referring to are the pizza pans available from Walmart .... ).

I've been a little reluctant to drill into the spokes to mount them so I've been leaning towards trying to utilize magnets to glue to the rim ( high-strength rare earth magnets)

It would be neat if I could do it using magnets because then there would be absolutely no indication of How It's mounted when viewed from the outside.... but the difficulty doing that is to precisely place and glue the magnets...

What are your thoughts on mounting this?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Andrew
 

Pharcyde145

Veteran Member
Joined
May 27, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
TDI
2011 JSW 6MT
Man, I like this idea. It almost reminds of of the old "turbo-fan" wheels for the 80's. I think some wheel manufacturers like Rotiform offer an attachment, they call it an Aerodisc. (here's an example for a 19" wheel https://www.urotuning.com/products/rotiform-aerodisc?variant=14306413772855&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImabnu9yZ5gIVrx6tBh3mQQNFEAQYAyABEgIqcfD_BwE

At $125/ea I'd just buy a true set of turbo fan wheels, but to answer your question more precisely, it looks like they are attach via the cap for the wheel bolt. That's ideally where I'd look to attach also since it offers the most opportunity to "bolt on" and prevent detachment. Rare earth magnets are powerful, but so is the kinetic energy at work on the moving wheel.

Good luck!
 

1854sailor

Resident Curmudgeon
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Location
Westerly, RI
TDI
2015 Golf SE SportWagen, 2015 Golf SE Hatch Back.
Get in touch with Aaron (Growler on the Forums) He had aero hubcaps on Schnurren a while back. Picture is HERE.
 

thundershorts

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Location
west chester pa
TDI
2015 passat tdi sel premium 2015 golf s tdi gls tdi b5.5, 2002 eurovan,Peugeot 505 td,Citroen cx25 prestige
remember moon hubcaps? mabe still available
 

scrambld

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2004
Location
Belchertown, MA
TDI
'06 Jetta...TDI/5spd :) >>>now a '15 Passat TDI/DSG
Run a bead of construction adhesive (adhesives are available to bond to metals) around the outer portion of the rim and affix the aero disk. It'll have a clean look.....and make breakdown a bit more work :)

Not so clean would be self tapping screws into the outer rim.....much the same using screws to prevent tire slippage (on wheel) on cars set-up for drag racing....you could even go into the tires bead a bit to prevent tire/wheel slip.....oh wait, you don't drag start as you're doing the hypermile thing...LOL
 

Growler

Got Soot Vendor
Joined
Nov 24, 2003
Location
Millersport, Ohio
TDI
Schmutz, 2015 Golf Sportwagen DSG & Schnurren, 2001 Golf GL 2 door 5M
Get in touch with Aaron (Growler on the Forums) He had aero hubcaps on Schnurren a while back. Picture is HERE.
I still have 3 of those, sized for stock 15" alloys. somehow my son lost one on the road.. he probably didn't get it fully seated after having to put air in a tire.

they were purchased on Amazon for about $75 and are stainless steel.
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
Andy,
Why not make some "piece of pie" shaped alloy sheets and fill in the holes?
Less weight and you still have access to the hub and lug nuts. Those you could glue on, I like sikaflex construction adhesive & sealants.
The idea, I take it, is to fill the holes and lower drag. You will lose some brake cooling.
Cheers
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
Man, I like this idea. It almost reminds of of the old "turbo-fan" wheels for the 80's. I think some wheel manufacturers like Rotiform offer an attachment, they call it an Aerodisc. (here's an example for a 19" wheel https://www.urotuning.com/products/rotiform-aerodisc?variant=14306413772855&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImabnu9yZ5gIVrx6tBh3mQQNFEAQYAyABEgIqcfD_BwE
At $125/ea I'd just buy a true set of turbo fan wheels, but to answer your question more precisely, it looks like they are attach via the cap for the wheel bolt. That's ideally where I'd look to attach also since it offers the most opportunity to "bolt on" and prevent detachment. Rare earth magnets are powerful, but so is the kinetic energy at work on the moving wheel.
Good luck!
Hi

Interesting looking wheel with the outer edge of the rims open ....

I don't have the link for it but I was reading about wheel aerodynamics and according to this other article The Rim , for best aero, should be closed on the outside edge and opened in the middle if you had to have openings ....

Of course my plan is to go with a full wheel cover but I'm still having trouble figuring out how to get the magnets too attached to the steel cover ( the magnets I have are seemingly plenty strong to hold the cover on but I have to be able to glue them to the wheel in such a way that the magnets make full contact with the metal cover).

I have thought about mounting the magnets on a dowel of some sort, running them through the back of the wheel, and then using epoxy or some very high strength glue to attach the dowel to the spokes of the aluminum wheel ...

In theory that should work just a matter of executing it properly ....

Thanks for the link though always never hurts to look at what's out there
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
I like the magnet idea, except that aluminum alloys aren't really good at sticking to magnets...

Cheers,

PH
Hi

My plan was to attach the magnets to the aluminum wheel using epoxy or high strength glue in such a way that when you put the pizza pan over top of it the metal of the pan will stick to the magnets.

I bought an even larger magnet with a handle to pull the cap off of the wheels so I would not have to resort to prying with a screwdriver ...

The only hard part is attaching the magnets to the wheel in such a way that they make full contact with the pizza pan in order to have enough strength to hold the pan on when in motion...

I may have to resort to using dowels and magnets and gluing the dowels to the rim...

I actually bought a spare aluminum wheel and tire to Tinker with inside the house to get it all figured out plus I figure I need is a spare tire and wheel anyways
 
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nicklockard

Torque Dorque
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Location
Arizona
TDI
SOLD 2010 Touareg Tdi w/factory Tow PCKG
Hi
Looking to get some extra fuel economy from my Jetta by improving aerodynamics.
When I was running steel wheels I simply drilled and bolted aerodynamic covers to the factory hubcaps and it worked fine. However, i switched my wheels to Avis aluminum rims to save weight and now I can no longer run hubcaps.
My dilemma is how to attach the aerodynamic covers to my wheels ( the aerodynamic covers I was referring to are the pizza pans available from Walmart .... ).
I've been a little reluctant to drill into the spokes to mount them so I've been leaning towards trying to utilize magnets to glue to the rim ( high-strength rare earth magnets)
It would be neat if I could do it using magnets because then there would be absolutely no indication of How It's mounted when viewed from the outside.... but the difficulty doing that is to precisely place and glue the magnets...
What are your thoughts on mounting this?
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Andrew
Andrew, look at the offerings at KJMagnetics

You can filter for length, width, thickness, bonding force, shape, coating/finishing. You can search by usage too.

Select a size and bonding force that works and fits. I would suggest 5 magnets at least 10lbs force (each) per wheel. In my experience, neodymium magnets give 1/3 to 1/2 of the rated force in real world applications. So, 5*10/3 = 33.3 lbs effective force required to remove.

Or if you're Mr. Moneybags you can get even stronger.

As for precise placement strategy: I would suggest using a weak glue to set them. Once you've found the places that work perfectly, mark their outline with sharpie and re-bond them with JB weld or other epoxy for permanent mounting.

PS: KJMagetics has dowel-shaped magnets. Actually, they have a lot of shapes, sizes, and strengths with different finishes. I've used them for 3-4 work projects.
 
Last edited:

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
Andrew, look at the offerings at KJMagnetics

You can filter for length, width, thickness, bonding force, shape, coating/finishing. You can search by usage too.

Select a size and bonding force that works and fits. I would suggest 5 magnets at least 10lbs force (each) per wheel. In my experience, neodymium magnets give 1/3 to 1/2 of the rated force in real world applications. So, 5*10/3 = 33.3 lbs effective force required to remove.

Or if you're Mr. Moneybags you can get even stronger.

As for precise placement strategy: I would suggest using a weak glue to set them. Once you've found the places that work perfectly, mark their outline with sharpie and re-bond them with JB weld or other epoxy for permanent mounting.

PS: KJMagetics has dowel-shaped magnets. Actually, they have a lot of shapes, sizes, and strengths with different finishes. I've used them for 3-4 work projects.
Hi,

Thanks for the lead.

At the suggestion of my sister I bought some "wet foam" blocks from a craft store and made an impression to see how thick the area I had to fill was to make contact with the metal pan.... As far as I could measure , the distance was 11 MM which ironically is the same size as some standard dice ....

With that I'm thinking I could drill a recess for the magnet in the die, glue the die to the wheel, fill the recess with epoxy , put the magnet in then turn the assembly upside down and hope the magnet sticks to the pan AND wheel without running everywhere before it sets up.

On the flip side maybe I van find just the right size magnet to accomplish it .... I do agree with 5 magnets tho to keep the wheel in balance (1 on each wheel spoke , equal distances).

I'll research the site.

Thanks!

Andrew
 
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