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P51 Wheels & Centre Caps Issue

TeamDenno

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Hi Guys

Anyone running on P51 wheels on their cars and having issues with constantly failing front bearings?

My car has been back to the dealer to have bearings replaced on both sides of the car, and on multiple occaisons. The only thing my Ford dealer has suggested is the possible cause is that on the P51 wheel, for the stock centre cap to fit, the tyre shop who fitted the wheel has removed the centre bearing cap

154198876_911176839653124_2508313149045437048_n.png


This little plastic / rubber cover (seen her in the middle of the wheel) apparenlty prevents ingress of water/dirt into the bearing.

So my choice is continue to have bearings fail or remove the centre cap from the wheel itself.

Anyone else with the P51 wheel faced this challenge?
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Emilbadal

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I don’t have P51 wheels, but from reading your post I think also that the reason the dealership told you is correct and not having the dust cap was the reason for failure. Depending on your wheel size and offset you could add 5mm spacer to get the cap on without having to remove it
 

GT 550

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If the rim fits around the hub correctly, and the centre cap also fits correctly, it's not clear how anything much is going to get in there.
 
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TeamDenno

TeamDenno

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I don’t have P51 wheels, but from reading your post I think also that the reason the dealership told you is correct and not having the dust cap was the reason for failure. Depending on your wheel size and offset you could add 5mm spacer to get the cap on without having to remove it
Yeah. It does makes sense.

And spacers are not an option - spacers are illegal in this part of the world!
 
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TeamDenno

TeamDenno

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If the rim fits around the hub correctly, and the centre cap also fits correctly, it's not clear how anything much is going to get in there.
Becuase there is still a potential for dirt and water to ingress into the hub/bearing without the sealed rubber cover.
 

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GT 550

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Via where though? The rim seals against the hub, and the cap seals the center bore. Presumably you'd see it if enough water or grit was getting in there to make a difference?
 

gadgtfreek

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When looking at wheels, and talking to a few here behind the scenes about P51 who own them, more than one has complained to me about the P51 center caps... "Awful" being one description from an owner.
 

Emilbadal

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Via where though? The rim seals against the hub, and the cap seals the center bore. Presumably you'd see it if enough water or grit was getting in there to make a difference?
The rim cannot seal against the hub as well as that cap.have you noticed how much oxidation builds up between the hub and the wheel? Mainly the humidity and oxidation is what kills the grease and as a result the bearings go out too. Don't forget that the bearings inside are rotating almost as fast as the wheels too, so any contamination will do its damage really fast, hence why they seal it with that cap so much so you'll have to use hammer and prying tool to take it off
 

GT 550

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Mmmm ok must take a lot less moisture etc to kill the bearings than I thought.
 
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TeamDenno

TeamDenno

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Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments.


Mmmm ok must take a lot less moisture etc to kill the bearings than I thought.
Talking to a few wheel specialists across Sydney this morning, the comment has been made that the OEM bearings on the Mustang are terribly poor. One wheel shop said they had replaced with regularity the bearings on a number of cars. The bearing sits behind the hub, some washers and then covered in grease (which should assist in repelling water).

The one thing the cars have in common - they are all "driven hard" vehicles, where users (like me) track their cars, or tarmac rally their cars and have taken the vehicle to its limits.

The plastic wheel cover might simply be a placebo. It might just be the driving style and use which is to blame. The guys from P51 contacted me overnight and suggested they haven't been made aware of issues (not sure they would admit to this) and just suggested I try the stock P51 wheel cap instead (not sure if this would make any difference) or just try to shave some of the plastic off the back of the cap to make it fit.
 

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Was thinking the same thing given what I've read about the oem bearings. IIRC the local Mustang whisperers said they've replaced about 20 sets. One of mine was done at 25k km and I don't track it.
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