Does anyone know if there are any type of locks for the 82-83 bowling ball rims? Everytime I drive my 82 trans am, I am always worried that when I come back to my car that the bowling ball rims will be stolen. And I want to make sure they dont fall off either. Does anyone have any suggestions? Someone gave me some good advice about using zip-ties. But zip-ties can be easily seen and easily cut with scizzors if a thief wants to get the expensive and rare bowling ball rims. Please help me out.....Thank you

No locks for these...GM did make some metal clips that attach to the plastic clips on the back to help them stay more secure, but it wont stop theft. Don't know the part number, sometimes they show up on ebay. I was lucky enough to get a set of caps that already had them on. These were mostly used to just help prevent them from coming off while driving. Other than the zip tie method, there really isn't any other way to secure these. The zip ties really are not visible unless you get under the car and look behind the wheel. This would be the only way to cut the zipties.

Hello my friend,
Your email was enlightening! Thank you! These metal clips you talk about would be great! I was going to ask you for a part # if they were on your metal clips, but I am assuming that it is not. But the metal clips sound like a great idea. It seems when I drive with them attached, I feel like it is loose but so far they have not come off.

I will look for these metal clips for my hubcaps. If you know a place other than ebay, please let me know where to look.

Thanks Buddy!

Don't know the part number...I've tried looking but they are not listed in my parts manual. It's actually a pretty common part that was used for other things in these cars, if not other GM cars. I think it was an afterthought by GM that just happened to work. The part number may have been listed by someone on here before, I cannot remember. If I find it I'll let you know.

The part number is listed in this thread:
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/hi...ll-hubcap.html

P/N 1245581

Dens71transam..........................
Thank you so much for the part number. Thank you sincerely! I will call my dealer tomorrow and look in some places that may have this retainer clip! And the link you sent me is also very valuable.......THANK YOU!

Do you know how many metal retaining clips are to be used for each hubcap?
Did GM have a standard amount used for each hubcap?

Here is the Technical Service Bulletin on the clips.

LOOSE TURBO WHEEL COVERS 1982 FIREBIRD #82-T-61A - (08/12/1982)
The information in this bulletin supersedes bulletin 82-T-61 published in May.
Some 1982 Firebirds with turbo wheels may have wheel covers that are loose and rattle or fall off. Wheels with this condition can be repaired using the following procedure.
1. Note position of wheel cover to wheel as it fits in only one position. Remove wheel cover from wheel.
2. Install five (5) clips per wheel cover (part number 1245581) on the cover retaining flanges as shown below.
3. To reinstall wheel cover on wheel, place cover in its original position and use a rubber mallet (tapping at outer edge only) to knock it on.
NOTICE: If the cover is difficult to reinstall, remove one or two (1 or 2) clips. Pounding on the cover may break the retaining flanges. The procedure above does not apply to Modern wheels built after March 1982 or Western wheels built after May 1982.

Hello Mr. 71DensTransam,
Thank you for this knowledge you sent me...you are a "Firebird Angel".
I have a question though if you do not mind. I looked at the previous tech board link you sent me and they were saying that there are 10 tabs per cap, and that 1 clip would go for each tab. This confuses me a bit. Is there 10 or 5 tabs per cap? Do I use 10 or 5 per cap? Can you shed some light on this confusion if you dont mind. thank you

There are 10 tabs per cap, so you can use 10. The more the better.

Now that all you "Michael Knights" out there have installed the metal clips and cable ties, I sure hope you have discovered by now that it is NOT necessary to remove the hub cap to pull the wheel ! Just use a 6-point, deep-well socket with a magnetic insert to catch the lug nut... and remember, NEVER lay the wheel down on the hubcap. It'll scratch your valuable wheel covers. I'm speaking from experiance, owned an '82 TA for 7 years, had 2 sets of the bowling ball caps, both 14 and 15". (Sure wish I'd kept a set to sell, they all went w/the car in '89.)

Thanks for the valuable info on the 6-point, deep-well socket with a magnetic insert to catch the lug nut. Do you think a tire shop like discount tires or Costco even would have that type of socket?
And from what I understand, the consensus says that there are 10 tabs per hubcap, and therefor there should be 10 retainer clips per hubcap. Is this about right?

I ALWAYS change my own wheels, since most discount tire places don't even use a torque wrench, and will damage your original chrome-capped GM lug nuts by overtorqing them. Few people know this, but the original GM chrome-capped lug nuts which were originally supplied with the factory 'Turbo' wheels are actually DESIGNED to deform/break if they are overtorqued by an air-impact wrench, (which is the preferred lug nut-destroying weapon of the discount tire store). When they break, the store usually blames it on "them damn cheap GM lugnuts" and not the 300 foot-lb setting they used to tighten your 100 ft-lb lug nuts. A six-point, deep well (metric) socket is standard equiptment for any reputable garage, but they may, or may not have the magnetic inserts. Look for a "Snap-on" tool cabinet at the shop. Even Sears Craftsman sets come with the mag inserts. That said, I sincerely doubt they will have the time, or patience to do this for you. In my experiance, you'll never find anyone who will treat your car as if it were THEIR own car. As for the clips, I never used over 5. Look at the edge of the inside spoke where the plastic is getting chewed away by the wear from the aluminium wheel. Start with the spoke that has the most wear, and skip every other one, 'till you have 5 installed. I doubt you'll ever get all ten on, it would require so much force to install the cap to the wheel, you would likely dent/buckle the cap trying to force it on the wheel.

Xcaliber.......Thanks for the most valuable info! Thank you for taking the time to help me out...I sincerely appreciate it! You know a heck of alot! You are right, no one will treat your car like the owner treats the car!

I want to ask you one more question if you do not mind. This 6-point deep well socket with magnetic insert that you you mentioned....well is there a particular brand that you recommend? And where is a good place to purchase this? And do you think I would be able to purchase this by itself without buying a set?

If you're only looking for only one socket, go for the Snap-on, since they have the ones that are permanently magnetized. I sure wish I could remember the right size... GUYS HELP ME OUT HERE, IS IT 19mm ? You'll have to follow one of their white trucks around 'till it stops at a garage, or do what I did and leave a Post-it note on their mirror, with your phone number. If you're lucky, there might be one in the Yellow Pages under "Tools". You could make a friend for life ! If you're cash strapped like most of us, get a complete set of 6 point, metric deep wells in 1/2 drive, that cover the 19-20mm range. Just make sure you don't bring home the 12 point sockets, which are for swing sets and carriage bolts (not cars w/rusty bolts). The Craftsman mag inserts I'm familiar with look like different colored plastic nuts which have magnets in the center of them. They drop into the appropriate socket you'll be using: not nearly as elegant as the Snap-on solution. Glad I can benefit you w/my 7yrs experience w/these caps, they can be a labor of love.

Let me rephrase this, as I recall each inside "spoke" of the wheel cover has 2 positions to install the clips. Choose the ones which have the most damage (from scraping the aluminium wheel). Some spokes may get a clip on each side, if they are the most damaged. You'll see what I mean once you have the cap in your hand. This may actually work better than skipping every other one. The wear to the wheel covers will stop, once you get good at removing the lugs without popping the wheelcovers. Trust me, the only time you'll need to separate the wheel cover from the wheel is when you have new tires mounted, or get the wheels rebalanced. Let me know if you need any help with the cable-tie retrofit. The test I used for security was to see if you could (slowly) pick up the wheel and wheelcover with both hands lifting by the wheelcover. That's tight enough. You only need to lift the assembly a couple inches, don't get carried away. If you use the hidden, black cable ties, the thief risks damaging the covers upon removal.

Mr Xcaliber,
You have been most helpful! I took ur advice very seriously!
I contacted a "Snap On" tools rep and gave him the info u gave me.
He will get back with me tomorrow. And I will definetly use 5 clips per hubcap, in which I have already purchased. Your 7 years experience is worth a million bucks!

I have put some thought into using the zipties, but I just cant drill holes in them. I feel like I am damaging the precious hubcaps.

So I wanted to ask your thought on using RTV sealer silicone to bond the hubcap to the wheel, along with the metal retainer clips? I read there was a GM technical bulleten on using this RTV sealer sillicone before it was updated and superceeded by the techincal bulleten in which the retainer clips were to be used.

Do you know if GM meant for the clips to be used instead of the RTV sillicone sealer or could they be thinking that both are good to be used?

Have you checked to make sure you know what size your lugnuts are ? I no longer have a 3rd gen to check the size on, and was just relying on my memory that it was 19mm. I'd hate for you to get the wrong size. The first TSB I saw on hubcap retention, was the use of the black clips. I never saw the one about using RTV, and doubt that it would be used in combination with the clips. I doubt that using the RTV would provide any additional security anyway. As I said before, my intention was to prevent the caps from falling off, and the clips will do this. When I finally had to resort to locking them with the cable ties, I only drilled 1/8" holes, and they were very discrete. A determined thief can still steal them, but he will damage them in the process, and have very little left to resale.

Hey Xcaliber,
I will check on the size of the lugnuts, but my 82 firebird service manual says the thread size of the metric lug nuts and wheel studs is M12 X 1.5 Then it says M=metric, 12 = diameter in millimeters, and 1.5=millimeters per thread. I am not sure what this means? Does that tell you what size the lugnuts are?

Also, I would like to send you the TSB on the RTV sealant. But I can only send it via email. Do you have email so that I can send it to you? You can always send me a private message with your email for discretion.

Eric, I was really hoping someone else would step up to the plate and say "Yes the right size IS 19mm." The other dims don't really tell me much, since GM intentionally used the chrome cap as a "shim" to shear, in case the lugs were overtorqued. I don't think there is any commercial wrench either metric, or SAE which will fit these once the caps are sheared off. You would probably have to use a nutcracker. Thanks, but I really don't need the TSB about the RTV, I sold my '82 TA in '89 to buy a Formula 350, which I no longer own. I'd be real careful to use only the RTV they specify, since another brand may be corrosive to your Al wheels.