Center caps for TType wheels

[KevinB]

Is there a place where you can still get these? I can not seem to find them. Anyone have luck using a different style cap?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Michael McCoy]

TType as in '84/85 or '86 TType/'87 Turbo T? The hot air caps are discontinued & I think the '86/'87 style may be as well. If not, they're hi $$. I've got lots of the '84/'85 ones if that's what you need. Thanks.

 

[KevinB]

I'm talking about the 86-7 wheels. I just bought a set. They are starting to cost me a small fortune.

 

[jeff wilson]

what was the cost for those caps,, i know that you can still get them from gm.........i also need a spare set......thank jeff

 

[Red Regal T]

Firebird gta centercaps work fine. Kirban may have them. Somebody sells them.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/105502178/105251576CEpmQH

 

[Gary Wells]

FWIW & IMHO:
GMpartsdirect shows them in stock for $ 49.58 per and $ 9.92 Shipping and handling per, bringing the the total to $ 59.50 per cap shippeed and insured to your door. These are brand new.
$ 238 total for a set of 4 of brand new '86 T-type/'87 Turbo-T wheel center caps is not bad considering. GM list is $ 84.05 per. These are for '86-'87 T-type/Turbo-T wheel center caps. I just bought a set of 4 from one of the vendors on 1 of the turbo buick sites for $ 263 shipped & insured. GM Part no. is 25518704 for this item. Just because these are pricey everywhere is not necessarily an indicator that these are currently or will in the near future be hard to get/find. In my opinion, it is a very good indicator that GM themselves realizes what we will do/pay to keep these cars running/looking nice. In other words, Gm themselves are capitalizing on the collector market for these cars. What a fckng sham/scam. Gm, or one of their vendors/suppliers is currently making these wheel center caps in Canada. In either case, these caps come packaged in a GM box with the GM part no. so we will never know who the bandit is, GM or one of their vendors/suppliers. Sorry for the long post.

 

[KevinB]

Thanks again Red Regal. Those wheels look good. Thats the look I'm after for these wheels. I bet I can get those centers cheaper than the oem caps.

Kevin

 

[Red Regal T]

Absolutely. One of our local guys just bought a set of the firebird ones but I don't know which vendor. About $60 a set.

contact .........Wes 87 Turbo T . He's the party who just bought a set.

 

[Gary Wells]

I prefer to keep my car as original as possible, but those painted rims with those caps do look nice, and probably a couple of hundred cheaper than the original new caps.

 

[Ken Cunningham]

John: I'm confused. Your gta wheel caps are a Pontiac product but show the Buick tri-shield????? Did you modify the caps with Buick emblems?

 

[turbofish38]

Originally posted by Ken Cunningham
John: I'm confused. Your gta wheel caps are a Pontiac product but show the Buick tri-shield????? Did you modify the caps with Buick emblems?

New GTA caps dont come with any emblems. Check with the vendors for Buick type emblems.


FWIW Gary, I dont think GM has relized all of the profits they are pissing away with the collector market. The last I checked there was still over a 1000 of the T caps in stock. At those prices and at the rate you buy them they will be around forever. If GM was into suppling the collector market you would be able to get every part for a TR from the dealers. Lets see,taillamps,side markers,grilles, sheet metal all gone forever and the aftermarket isn't interested in repro parts for Buicks. When it comes to replacement parts GM is just like Boeing, when the Air Force needs to replace the toilet seat on a C-5 they cant run down to Home Depot and get one, Boeing has to do a small product run which means the Pentagon will pay $600 for a stupid toilet seat. When GM runs low on a little POS,high demand when the car was fairly new,part like this center cap they have to pay some company to dig out the tooling and make a batch, hence the megabuck price tag. I'll be sure to let everyone know if the price comes down on these though, I like the round ones better than the hex ones anyday too.

 

[Gary Wells]

Originally posted by turbofish38
New GTA caps dont come with any emblems. Check with the vendors for Buick type emblems.


FWIW Gary, I dont think GM has relized all of the profits they are pissing away with the collector market. The last I checked there was still over a 1000 of the T caps in stock. At those prices and at the rate you buy them they will be around forever. If GM was into suppling the collector market you would be able to get every part for a TR from the dealers. Lets see,taillamps,side markers,grilles, sheet metal all gone forever and the aftermarket isn't interested in repro parts for Buicks. When it comes to replacement parts GM is just like Boeing, when the Air Force needs to replace the toilet seat on a C-5 they cant run down to Home Depot and get one, Boeing has to do a small product run which means the Pentagon will pay $600 for a stupid toilet seat. When GM runs low on a little POS,high demand when the car was fairly new,part like this center cap they have to pay some company to dig out the tooling and make a batch, hence the megabuck price tag. I'll be sure to let everyone know if the price comes down on these though, I like the round ones better than the hex ones anyday too.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FWIW & IMHO:
Eric: realize that you know more about GM parts and Gm parts manufacturing/marketing/retailing than most people do, and I have virtually no knowledge of the subject at all, but I do feel that somehow GM might be capitalizing on some of the parts left, such as the specified T/R caps. Otherwise, how can the '86-'87 GN caps be worth so little and the '86-'87 T/R caps be worth so much. And as far as the side markers, taillamps, grills, & sheetmetal being used as proof/non-proof that GM is playing the collector market a little, is similiar/parallel to the analogy for someone starting to manufacture GNX replica wheels again. There just isn''t enough business/orders for someone to undertake that project and realize a good profit. If Gm is smart like I think that they are, they would study what parts have the largest profit margin and demand before re-making anything or having anybody re-make anything. Somebody at GM actually might have looked at the center caps and said, Hey, we can get a lot more for those caps. Those caps are made in Canada, BTW, any chance it could be a GM sister ship that is making those parts for GM? Anyhow, I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, only looking for reasons that those caps are so damn high. Let's see, Gm lists those center caps for $ 84 whopping bucks, but the GN caps, similiar in construction and materials, and appearance, is about a third of that? H'mm. I will give you a good example of profiteering. I know of a GM dealer in Long Beach that marks up all of the Turbo-T parts that I have requested prices for about 35%. Now I will admit that all that I have quoted from them is Turbo-T parts. I wonder if they gouge all non GM/Turbo-T parts the same. I can call a Gm dealer in another near-by town and his Turbo-T parts have always been exactly the same as GM parts Direct prices. I know that Gm can not force their dealers to standardize their prices, but 35% damn.
I appreciate your input as you are always on top of the part number & price thing, and I apologize to everybody for the long post, just curious. I do wonder what GM's profit margin is on those caps compared to their other parts.

 

[Hognose]

From 82-92 Firebird/Formula/TA/GTA wheels use the same basic center cap. Just the center medallion is different. As stated above they fit into the T-Type wheel perfectly.

On e-bay some people sell the turbo 6 stickers to put over the firebird emblem, or there are some people that are selling the actual turbo 6 logo medallions from the center caps. I actually popped mine out of my old GN centercaps and put them in the Firebird center caps. It took some modification because the GN medallion is bigger than the Firebird one.
This is a much cheaper alternative to T centercaps plus I think they look a lot better.

I was going to post a picture, but it won't allow me. If you want to see a pic of the ones I made let me know.

Matthew

 

[jstahl]

<SNIP> From 82-92 Firebird/Formula/TA/GTA wheels use the same basic center cap. Just the center medallion is different. As stated above they fit into the T-Type wheel perfectly.

So these are the completely round centercaps and not the ones with the square edges near the tip?

Thanks

 

[Red Regal T]

http://community.webshots.com/photo/105502178/105251576CEpmQH

Again, these are firebird caps. Round at the base and angular towards the top. I glued Buick tri-shield emblems on the caps shown available off the center of the taillite lense of late 80s early 90s skylarks.