95 Taurus Wheelcover replacement

These are those stupid ones that have a center piece that pops out so
you can get to the lugnuts, then there are 5 steel screws that are
screwed to steel clips that snap into the wheel. The engineer
that thought that one up either never kept a car for more than a year,
or never lived in a 'rust-belt' state.

I lost one wheel cover & need replacement screw & clips for all the
others.

This was one of Ford's stupider ideas, IMO -- and rather than buy
another very expensive wheelcover & mess around with all the other
wheels, I'd like to just throw a cheap replacement set on this thing.

Is this even possible? I asked in the two places that I happened to
be in today [Walmart and Advance Auto] and neither clerk thought I
could replace these wheelcovers with anything but the Ford parts. I
haven't priced them through a dealer, but I see the same covers online
for $40 each at- http://www.hubcaps.org/taurus.html
[ FRD903 -- says they only go on 92-95 Taurus]

I can probably pick one up at a junkyard -- but then I'm still left
with the terrible design and still have to locate those clips
someplace. [I'm guessing dealer since I've searched for them most
every other likely spot.]

Is there some sort of adapter-- or 'universal cover' that I can attach
to these wheels. [15"]

Jim

Just a followup to my own post. I called the dealer.

$60 for the wheelcover & $2 *each* for the 20 clips and screws I'd
need to replace.

The parts guy at the dealership said the same thing as Walmart &
Advance Auto-- nothing but 3-4 yrs of Ford covers will fit these
wheels.

I think my Taurus will be wheel-cover-less for a while unless I can
figure out how to adapt a cheap set to attach to these wheels.


Jim

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 22:19:21 GMT, Jim Elbrecht >
wrote:

>These are those stupid ones that have a center piece that pops out so
>you can get to the lugnuts, then there are 5 steel screws that are
>screwed to steel clips that snap into the wheel. The engineer
>that thought that one up either never kept a car for more than a year,
>or never lived in a 'rust-belt' state.
>
>I lost one wheel cover & need replacement screw & clips for all the
>others.
>
>This was one of Ford's stupider ideas, IMO -- and rather than buy
>another very expensive wheelcover & mess around with all the other
>wheels, I'd like to just throw a cheap replacement set on this thing.
>
>Is this even possible? I asked in the two places that I happened to
>be in today [Walmart and Advance Auto] and neither clerk thought I
>could replace these wheelcovers with anything but the Ford parts. I
>haven't priced them through a dealer, but I see the same covers online
>for $40 each at- http://www.hubcaps.org/taurus.html
>[ FRD903 -- says they only go on 92-95 Taurus]
>
>I can probably pick one up at a junkyard -- but then I'm still left
>with the terrible design and still have to locate those clips
>someplace. [I'm guessing dealer since I've searched for them most
>every other likely spot.]
>
>Is there some sort of adapter-- or 'universal cover' that I can attach
>to these wheels. [15"]
>
>Jim