How to Replace Hubcaps & Wheel Covers on a Dodge Caravan
Hubcaps, also known as wheel covers, dress up the rims of your Dodge Caravan. With many different designs available, there is sure to be a wheel cover that suits your personal style. There may come a time when you will need to replace the wheel covers on your Dodge Caravan. Some reasons to replace them would include losing one or changing out a damaged one. You may also want a different style. With the Dodge Caravan, you will run into mainly two different types of wheel covers--ones that snap on and ones that are secured behind the lug nuts.
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Instructions
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Replacing Snap-On Wheel Covers
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1
Place a pry bar between the wheel cover and the rim. Slowly pry outward from the rim to pull the wheel cover away from the rim.
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2
Work your way around the entire circumference of the wheel cover with the pry bar until the wheel cover is loose on the rim. Grasp it with your hands and pull it free from the rim.
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3
Align the valve stem hole of your new wheel cover with the valve stem on your tire. Take your rubber mallet and hit the edge of the wheel cover to drive it into the rim.
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4
Tap your wheel cover with your rubber mallet around its entirety until it is fully seated into the rim of your wheel.
Replacing Bolt-On Wheel Covers
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5
Examine your wheel cover. Notice that two of the holes are larger than the others. This is so you do not have to remove all the lug nuts from the tire. The wheel cover will slide over these lug nuts.
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6
Place your lug nut wrench on a lug nut that is in one of the smaller holes. Turn the wrench counterclockwise to loosen the lug nut. Continue to turn the wrench until you have completely removed the lug nut.
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7
Remove the other lug nuts that are in the smaller holes in the same fashion as you did the first.
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8
Grasp the wheel cover and pull it straight off the wheel. Slide the new wheel cover into place and ensure it is oriented in the right way so that the valve stem fits.
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9
Screw the lug nuts that you removed back into place and tighten them with your lug nut wrench.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Make sure the replacement wheel covers are the same size as the ones you removed. Rims come in different sizes, so therefore wheel covers will also come in different sizes to match different rims.
Do not use a regular hammer to pound on wheel covers. You may crack, scuff or otherwise damage the wheel covers if a regular hammer is used.
References
- Photo Credit wheel cover image by Vladislav Gajic from Fotolia.com
