Losing Navion wheel covers

[golfball8]

As a first time user of site hope I do this right. We have a 2018 Navion that has had problems with the rear simulators . Lost one in Corpus Christi and had to wire tie the other before it fell off . Running in to several other winnie Mercedes owners most either took theirs off after they started making noise ( the grippers break inside the cover )or lost them on the road . Called Mercedes and they don't put the covers on .Its done at the Winniebago. Anyone else with some info on this?

[creativepart]

GB8, you’re doing fine. I moved your post out of a year old thread on a different model into its own thread. It’s always better to start a new thread to ask your question rather than tack it on to another thread that is not exactly the same topic.

Hope this helps you.

[DMA]

I removed our sims. Painted the steel rims to match our gray,
Borg stems. Michelin LTX tires.
15NJ.

[golfball8]

Thanks for the reply. That's an option but I do like the way the rims looks so I picked up an after market rim on Ebay and got the center emblem from Winnebago . I'll wire tie them for safety .

[HFA]

I lost a rear wheel simulator on our last trip. It had come off once before and I repaired the retainer clips. That lasted a while but obviously wasn't permanent. I just replaced the ones that came from Winnebago with a set of these:

https://buytruckwheels.com/collectio...mulator-set-18

These use a different method of clipping to the wheels, like the old style full wheel covers. There are clips all the way around the wheel. They are quite tight now so I don't expect to be losing one any time soon. There are no rivets to come loose or fall out. They are also polished so they are really shiny.

I had put 40,000 miles on my previous Sprinter based motor home and never had a problem with the wheel covers. This time I lost one at about 11,000 miles. The only difference is that the wheel covers had been on and off of my new one several times for mounting and balancing. I suspect that weakened the retainer clips.

[golfball8]

Your right about the clips . Each time the cover came off the less of the clips were working. I replaced one with the after market and it works much better than they OEM.
I still install the clear wire ties to the wheels for extra safety .One of these could do some damage if it comes off on the road .

Thanks

[SeeTheUSA]

Stainless steel zip-ties work and look great. After losing a couple of wheel covers way back in 2005 on our ‘06 View, I’ve used them ever since ... on all three of our View/Navion rigs.

You can get the stainless ones at Home Depot, probably other places, too. I use three per wheel cover. Have never lost a cover with them applied.

[jcurtisis]

Warren and Debbie: Your 24D RV looks just like ours! You have great taste ... obviously.
About the zip ties, what length zip tie do you use? Many sites offer 5" and 8"; Home depot offers 11" in both the straight and the "gardner bender" (already bent style). Which did you use?

[SeeTheUSA]

Originally Posted by jcurtisis

Warren and Debbie: Your 24D RV looks just like ours! You have great taste ... obviously.
About the zip ties, what length zip tie do you use? Many sites offer 5" and 8"; Home depot offers 11" in both the straight and the "gardner bender" (already bent style). Which did you use?

Thanks!

I am not close to my zip-tie stash, so I can’t go look. As I recall, however, I use the longer ones, straight (don’t remember seeing any bent ones ... hmmm). You have to fish a tie-wrap into the wheel cover hole and through an adjoining steel wheel hole, then over to the next steel wheel hole and out through the corresponding wheel cover hole (hard to write all of that down than it is to do it!). I do three locations, roughly 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 spacing around the wheel cover hole circle. Anyway, after being secured, cut off the free end.

Good luck! Seems to work well. By the way, I’ve used plastic/nylon ones, too, when I can’t find my stainless ones. Stainless looks better, though.