TE37SL Center Caps

[Nocturnal]

After buying my TE37SL wheels, looking at greasy axle nuts behind my beautiful wheels started to bother me. There was a lack of aftermarket options. Rays adapter pieces were super expensive, discontinued and don’t fit the rear well. Other options were 3D printed poorly where you could see print marks, lacking a clean aesthetic. I decided to put my old engineering degree to work and make my own center caps!

The process started 3D scanning the wheel and all of the geometry behind the wheel such as axle nuts and hubs. I chose to go with a flat face design to match the cleanliness of the Volk TE37. I went through about 6 rounds of 3D printed pieces were made to test fit. Once I settled on a design I had them CNC machined out of Aluminum 6061-T6. The design is meant to consider many things such as strength to allow the cap to be removed from the backside with a bang of a hammer handle, yet pocketed out to remove unnecessary weight. Matching the material of the wheel will allow the cap to stay tight under temperature changes.

Finally I worked with a paint shop in Dallas to custom color match Volk’s blast bronze. I think the color is as close as you can get without anodizing like Rays. Primer, color and then matte clear. I’m really happy with how they turned out! They have been on the car for a month with zero issues.

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[SuupYota]

After buying my TE37SL wheels, looking at greasy axle nuts behind my beautiful wheels started to bother me. There was a lack of aftermarket options. Rays adapter pieces were super expensive, discontinued and don’t fit the rear well. Other options were 3D printed poorly where you could see print marks, lacking a clean aesthetic. I decided to put my old engineering degree to work and make my own center caps!

The process started 3D scanning the wheel and all of the geometry behind the wheel such as axle nuts and hubs. I chose to go with a flat face design to match the cleanliness of the Volk TE37. I went through about 6 rounds of 3D printed pieces were made to test fit. Once I settled on a design I had them CNC machined out of Aluminum 6061-T6. The design is meant to consider many things such as strength to allow the cap to be removed from the backside with a bang of a hammer handle, yet pocketed out to remove unnecessary weight. Matching the material of the wheel will allow the cap to stay tight under temperature changes.

Finally I worked with a paint shop in Dallas to custom color match Volk’s blast bronze. I think the color is as close as you can get without anodizing like Rays. Primer, color and then matte clear. I’m really happy with how they turned out! They have been on the car for a month with zero issues.

These turned out amazing, good job!

 

[Axix23]

After buying my TE37SL wheels, looking at greasy axle nuts behind my beautiful wheels started to bother me. There was a lack of aftermarket options. Rays adapter pieces were super expensive, discontinued and don’t fit the rear well. Other options were 3D printed poorly where you could see print marks, lacking a clean aesthetic. I decided to put my old engineering degree to work and make my own center caps!

The process started 3D scanning the wheel and all of the geometry behind the wheel such as axle nuts and hubs. I chose to go with a flat face design to match the cleanliness of the Volk TE37. I went through about 6 rounds of 3D printed pieces were made to test fit. Once I settled on a design I had them CNC machined out of Aluminum 6061-T6. The design is meant to consider many things such as strength to allow the cap to be removed from the backside with a bang of a hammer handle, yet pocketed out to remove unnecessary weight. Matching the material of the wheel will allow the cap to stay tight under temperature changes.

Finally I worked with a paint shop in Dallas to custom color match Volk’s blast bronze. I think the color is as close as you can get without anodizing like Rays. Primer, color and then matte clear. I’m really happy with how they turned out! They have been on the car for a month with zero issues.

looks amazing. Time to sell them and make some money!!

 

[PikkaGTR]

Damn turned out nice!
If you ever decide to sell the plastic version lmk

 

[Nocturnal]

Damn turned out nice!
If you ever decide to sell the plastic version lmk

I had the initial thought to run 3D printed ones. Thermal expansion could be an issue with the aluminum wheel and plastic caps. Also, surface quality of a 3D print isn’t Class A or smooth enough to paint without rework. After all the work, aluminum makes more sense and still looks better.

 

[Meraki Autoworks]

Nice!

-Josh

 

[RyanThig]

I was searching the web for a set of Blast Bronze SL centercaps and came across this thread. Any chance you would be willing to make another set? The OEM Ray center caps are a 2-3 month wait.

 

[Nocturnal]

I've gotten a few requests for these. My ideal world would be selling the design to a retail vendor.

To my knowledge Rays does not make centercaps for the SLs. Maybe the wait is for the Ultra-Ms?

 

[RyanThig]

I've gotten a few requests for these. My ideal world would be selling the design to a retail vendor.

To my knowledge Rays does not make centercaps for the SLs. Maybe the wait is for the Ultra-Ms?

Correct, they do have adaptors that will let you use a standard TE37 center cap in a SL wheel.

 

[Nocturnal]

Even then, my understanding is the adapters interfere with the rear hubs and do not sit flush

 

[Dven11]

Got my Noctural TE37 center caps on!

the fit is great and he even paint matched them bright bronze. I’ve done some hard driving and they are still on the wheels lol thanks Noctural!

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