The 5 1/2 " wide aluminum wheels have a white/silver broken line. So there are 4 lines. The 6" wide aluminum wheels have a white/silver non-broken solid line.

If it were my situation, I would keep the two aluminum wheels and run them on either the front of the back of the 1978.

And if I didn't have the correct clips but had the wheels, I would either buy the clips or use the metal clips for steel wheels and live with it until I found the right clips or until someone helped me. Realistically we don't take hubcaps off of wheels very often. You could place a small piece of rag between the clip and the aluminum if you are worried about scratching the aluminum. So what if it traps water in the rag - the part that would rust would be the steel hubcap clip which is of no consequence...

I had a very hard time fitting my alloy wheels with the all metal clips. They didn't fit right and had to be hammered on. No such issues with the correct parts.

I believe you, but find it odd. I know of others using the metal clips without problem. Hammering should not be a solution - we definitely agree on that. It would be nice if you could plastic-coat the metal clips - I wonder if a product exists that you can dip the surface that goes metal-to-metal... Anyway, good luck with finding a solution. <5 minutes later> it looks like plastic-dip products are rubbery and high-friction, so that won't work. But there seem to be nylon coatings and nylon powder coating. Perhaps something is available along those lines...

I rotate my tires every oil change, so I take the caps off often enough to want to make it easy and least damaging to the rims (now that I finally have enough)
This last time I had the tire shop go ahead and put the caps with metal clips onto my sedan's alloys, as the fresh body paint deserved the matching hub caps.
The tech took an extra hour trying to bend the clips, lube them a bit, and hammer the caps on = heck of a time to get 4 metal clips into place.

I am just putting the request for used parts out there, like NC-Diesel represented, there are alot of this alloys and the correct cap clips around especially on 240Ds!

Once I learned the difference and fished through a box of spare clips laying around, I found 4 with the plastic backing

NC-Diesel: I could still use 1 more rim for my wagon spare. I have a slightly bent 6" one, that barely balances, I was going to use. If you have 1 leftover, bring it up to add to our horse trading
Please keep checking the hub caps in the yards guys!

__________________
1990 300D 2.5Turbo, two tank WVO, daily driver 300,911
1992 E300 gaser, 150k. Parts only, For Sale

[B]1984 300TD Euro 4speed Sold
1977 300D Elsbett SVO single tank Sold
1981 300TD "Silver bullet" 285k ran B100 Sold
1981-5 300D x 5 cars stripped and reused, parts for sale

Other toys:
1995 Dodge 2500 Cummins 12V P7100 Bosch mechanical pump with 2 tank veggieconversion kit, only 120k!
1959 Cadillac Dad's legacy, needs finishing

Have you or anyone else reading this looked into what it takes to have the wheel fixed? I know this is done, I just don't know if it is cost-effective... I've been saving my rims that don't pass the test.

I'm looking for one broken striped rim so I can put a set on my wagon. I have three now. Anyone? Thanks!

I was quoted $1-200 a rim for minor damages/bends, but I didn't look any harder into it

Actually my slightly bent one is a 6" white line rim and so is 1 other one on the car.
Anyone think there would be issues using a mix of 5.5 and 6" alloys?

__________________
1990 300D 2.5Turbo, two tank WVO, daily driver 300,911
1992 E300 gaser, 150k. Parts only, For Sale

[B]1984 300TD Euro 4speed Sold
1977 300D Elsbett SVO single tank Sold
1981 300TD "Silver bullet" 285k ran B100 Sold
1981-5 300D x 5 cars stripped and reused, parts for sale

Other toys:
1995 Dodge 2500 Cummins 12V P7100 Bosch mechanical pump with 2 tank veggieconversion kit, only 120k!
1959 Cadillac Dad's legacy, needs finishing

I do. I think it would be a little bit like putting different size tires on one wheel of the car. It's going to affect the shape of the tire.

FWIW I would gladly trade you two nice 5 1/2" wheels for 1 nice 6" wheel....

Scott

I don't. Staggered rims aren't uncommon at all - the wider ones are usually placed on the rear. I have a set of staggered BBS rims with the rear ones being an inch wider and the same size of tire is on all four. You just need to have the pair on the back of the car matched, and the pair on the front matched. This setup however means you can't rotate the tires in the traditional sense. The tires on my BBS's are also unidirectional - so I can't even swap them from one side to the other. Not really advocating this setup but it works fine.

I'm sure you would! Considering you sell 6" rims for many times the cost of a 5.5" (not a criticism, they're rare and in demand and thus the price is reasonable). But I'd offer a better trade than that...and have more rims here.

NCfriend, I swear I'm going to find those dang hubcap clips I promised you - it's really bothering me. I've cleaned a bunch at the garage and not yet found them. I know I saw them during the move and set them somewhere where I "wouldn't lose them" (*grumble*). The next step will be to build some wood shelving into the storage rooms and then go through and inventory everything (while continuing the endless battle of cleaning), so if they don't turn up sooner they should in that process. When I do find them I'll mail them to you.

For the record, the clips are available brand new from the Classic Center. I bought 20 of them a while back. About $5-6 each so not too cheap, but nice shiny gold finish and bright white nylon is nice to see.

EDIT: Oh, NCfriend did mention that above already...

Perhaps you and I read different things from the poster. I thought he was suggesting using 3 5.5" rims and 1 6" rim. That's what my post responds to. I'm in agreement with you regarding using 2 6" rims (in back?) and 2 5.5" rims in front.

I agree that Raptelan is probably in a position to offer you a better deal than I am. Just tossing it out on the table though...

cheers
Scott
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I listed the part number and on-line resources to purchase them. Didn't turn out to be a popular suggestion as the desired purchase price seems to be about $2 per clip. The forum is probably a good place to look since people might have hubcaps sitting around and not care what kind of clips they have. The junkyard is a bad place too look given that
a) anyone getting the clips for the hubcaps is probably looking for the wheels and is going to want to keep the clips and the hubcaps for the wheels
b) the hubcaps (with clips) leave the junkyard before the wheels typically.

I guess I don't see a reason that someone with wheels would consider the clips to be give-away items unless the number of clips exceeded those needed for the wheels... But if someone bought new ones and didn't care about the old ones then it makes sense. I have new ones and old ones and not enough for the wheels that I have to sell...

I was responding to:

I reckon it would be worth repairing 6" rims (and thus I'd possibly be interested in a trade for it), but probably not 5.5"'s. I've got three slightly-bent 5.5"'s I'll sell real cheap if anybody wants them; otherwise they'll probably go to the recycler.

So was I. I got the impression he was running 1 6" wheel a 3 5.5" wheels. But the point that I think we agree on is that each axle should have matching wheels (and tires) for "normal" use.

I would be inclined to agree. There is a place in my area that might be called "Tru-Wheel" in North Hollywood that I think I will visit regarding my own damaged 6" wheels. I'll report back on price and results.

Thanks fellas for weighing in. All very informative
You are both correct in that the current 2 matching rims front and back is OK, but if I replace the hard to balance 6" leaving only one 6" rim
than I really should go all 5.5"

Casey: no stress over the clips. I believe you, they exist and am counting on them for one car already. Just keep this thread alive in hopes of finding enough for the second car.
Let's PM and chat about rims before our next meeting!

I may have 2 usable 6" alloys for sale soon!!

For now, I will run them on the back of the wagon for better coverage of the extra weight

__________________
1990 300D 2.5Turbo, two tank WVO, daily driver 300,911
1992 E300 gaser, 150k. Parts only, For Sale

[B]1984 300TD Euro 4speed Sold
1977 300D Elsbett SVO single tank Sold
1981 300TD "Silver bullet" 285k ran B100 Sold
1981-5 300D x 5 cars stripped and reused, parts for sale

Other toys:
1995 Dodge 2500 Cummins 12V P7100 Bosch mechanical pump with 2 tank veggieconversion kit, only 120k!
1959 Cadillac Dad's legacy, needs finishing