EL mags - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

madmelon · 05-20-2003, 01:53

I have the factory option 15" mags on my EL falcon. They have this annoying (rather hiddeous) black plastic "plate" behind the spokes which completely covers the inside face of the spokes. What i want to know is this:

Is there any point in it?
Can it be removed without dammaging it (incase i need 2 put it back for some reason)?
Will removing it have a detrimental effect?

As far as i'm concerned it keeps the heat from the brakes in thereby reducing their effectiveness...
Whats your oppinion? Has anyone done this?

TIKFD6 · 05-20-2003, 03:03

hey dude
the plates are there to help keep the wheels clean, if its the ones i am thinking of they are plastic, so i cant see a hassle with taking them off.

madmelon · 05-20-2003, 21:18

Yeah, the only purpose i could think of is to keep brake dust off the mags...but honestly, wouldn't you rather see the discs (only just...) and have better braking?

blueoval · 05-20-2003, 21:57

I agree with TIKFD6 and madmelon. keeps brake dust off and better braking!

madmelon · 05-20-2003, 22:13

..Would removing them have any effect on wheel balance?

blueoval · 05-20-2003, 22:26

i doubt it but then again I dont have them on my car or have had them on any car I have owned!

!Gn|T|0n · 05-20-2003, 23:53

I have these on my car... I tried to remove the one on my spare. The clips on the outer side of the plastic come off easily but the inner side don't. I came to the conclusion that they were a once only fit and removal would mean breaking them. I guess if it's the spare it wouldn't hurt too much as a trial for the rest.

I'd venture that the main reason why they are there is to keep nasties from getting into the callipers. We had a rock find it's way between the disc and a pad on our commodore, ground a nice groove in the disc that was too nasty to be machined out. The other point is the rotor will be nice and rusty looking. This is not something I'd like to expose to sight! I guess it could be taken off, sanded and painted a sexy colour.

This is not the 1st time I've posted this picture, but is this the cover you're talking about?
wheel

madmelon · 05-21-2003, 00:10

Yeh, thats the bitch...different mags tho- they're on a GLi Wagon...i would hope that the rotors aren;t rusty...coz if they are there is something very corrosive getting to them..u see the brakes on this car get worked pretty hard...new rotors and pads are required too often as far as i;m concerned...so removing that plakky thing would prolly make little diff to it as far as i'm concerned...might have a look at the spare.
Thanks for your help.

!Gn|T|0n · 05-21-2003, 00:14

I just remember thinking "yuck" when my wheels were all off getting new tyres. I guess I can try it with the spare, I have directional tyres now so I can't use the spare (non-directional) legally anyway so it won't be on the car for long.

HSV.ETA · 05-21-2003, 01:38

EF fairmont wheels have a plastic cover on the inside as well. I pulled mine off with a bit of effort and they went back in ok. It looked heaps better while the old wheels were still on my car