MTFCA Forum

The hubcaps on my T are badly corroded and want to find out the best way to clean and bring them back to life?

Thanks,
Jim

If the plating is good, then Simichrome polish will do a good job, Your playing appears to be blistered. The most economical thing to do would be to get a set of good used ones.

Old nickel plated hubcaps may be nickel plated over either brass or steel. Often, the brass ones will wind up polishing through to the brass below. Not a bad thing for those wanting brass hubcaps for a brass era car. Not necessarily good for those wanting proper nickel plated caps on a black era T. The nickel plated steel hubcaps sometimes actually clean up better than do the brass ones. If the plating on the steel hubcaps is bad, about the only thing they are good for is being re-plated (nickel preferred), which actually makes the nicest looking nickel hubcaps in my opinion!

I have found a few nickel plated aluminium hubcaps. They corrode differently from the brass ones, and no amount of polishing will rescue the plating on them. Your photo looks like the colour of an aluminium one, but it could well be brass. If so, there is no better way to fix the problem than having good originals like that re-nickled.

Allan from down under.

Okay thanks guys! I appreciate the tips.

That's rather odd corrosion. Do you live by the ocean perhaps?

I believe your problem is, it's a reproduction hubcap.

I ended up doing a very light wire wheeling with a soft wire, then buffing and polishing by hand. They turned out decently, and my car is a go car not a show car. They'll do just fine, take a peek.

That looks really nice to me!

Hi Jim (fozz71),

Your polished hubcap looks good.

Ford used zinc hubcaps for a while in 1925 and only in 1925. I don't think that they were one of Ford's "Better Ideas." Perhaps your caps are zinc?

Bill, perhaps the zinc hubcaps were what I thought were aluminium. can you point me to a reference for the information on when they were used?

Allan from down under.

I think I have one of those zinc hubcaps on a yard art wheel. Too much snow to look now. Dave