When I purchased my car it had a new set of hubcaps included and they are the same diameter as the originals but using normal hand pressure I am unable to fit them over the wheel sprigs - any other members experienced this problem and if so how did you overcome it without recourse to a BIG hammer?
I have a Triumph 2.5PI, and I lost a hub-cap[1] which ended on the
roadway and was run over by several other cars by the time I had stopped
and walked back to rescue it. It was too buckled to be put back on. I
found online a set of what looked like identical hub caps from a TR
being broken for spares. When I received them, the outside was exactly
the right size and appearance. When I tried to fit one on the PI wheels,
the inside ring was just a fraction too small for the wheel sprigs.
There is only one way the hub cap can go on because there is only one
hole for the air valve, so I knew exactly where on the inside ring the
sprigs had to go and with gentle taps with a smallish hammer in those
places I got the inner ring distorted enough to force it on with my foot
rather than my hand.
Having done that, I made the same adjustments to the other three hub
caps before finally fitting one on the wheel and leaving it there. So if
I lose another now, I have a readily available spare I can replace it with.
[1] I had a puncture and the deflating tyre flipped off the hub cap.
Normally they stay on!
Jim