Hello All!! I have now pulled the trigger and bought 4 more brand new STEEL wheels!
I'm looking real hard now for a HIGH QUALITY set of simulators.
Most that I'm seeing have a weird looking cut out on the front ones that (I guess for the valve) that shows way more of the steel wheel than I'd like.
IMHO "most" of these things are coming out of 1 factory in China now.
I have been in contact with PRIME INDUSTRIES, who claim THEIR factory is in Tiawan, REPUBLIC of China, which is NOT the same AS China and I'm told that the folks IN Taiwan absolutely HATE the Chinese.
I have also been in contact with Real Wheels, who CLAIM to manufacture in the USA. Theirs ARE more expensive but they say that THEIR quality is far above the Chinese ones.
Real Wheels claims to supply simulators to city fleets and ambulance fleets as well. Their mounting system is way different than the others though and it doesn't look that positive to me.

So, IS anyone RUNNING simulators that could post a few pictures and/or make recommendations on brand? Thanks Again guys!!

 

I've used several sets of stainless steel wheel simulators from Ford, obtained through the Ford parts department, complete with Ford emblems for the center caps.

The OEM supplier to Ford for stainless simulators is PhoenixUSA, a company that was already mentioned upthread by Shovelhead Rob. The PhoenixUSA stainless simulators are all the type that use two actual nuts out of the 8 to 10 simulated nuts to attach the wheel skin to the exposed thread tails of the wheel studs.

Over the years, I've lost a couple of nuts, but have never lost a simulator. I received a message that someone trashed a simulator on one of the 550's, but I didn't bother to replace it, because I don't think it is possible to order just one, although I have not reached out to Phoenix to verify this or not.

I've run all steel wheels with stainless sims on 16" and 19.5" Fords for the last 25 years. The 19.5" ones have all been PhoenixUSA sourced through Ford (in order to get the Ford logo Eurocals for the center caps, to maintain OEM appearance.)





Here is a set I installed on a 2021 F-550...



And here is a set that I installed 21 years ealier, on a 2000 F-550:




As you can see, they are pretty much the same thing, with the same handhole size, the same triple concentric ring design detail around the hub, the same tonality of 304 stainless, the same bead wrap cover, the same valve stem cut out for the front wheel.

The only difference over the two decades time is 8x225mm bolt circle diameter for the earlier version, versus 10x225mm bolt circle diameter for the later version.

PhoenixUSA also offers the 8x170mm and 8x200mm stainless wheel skis for 16" and 17" wheels, depending on what you are running.

I also have snap in stainless wheel sims for an 8x6.5" bolt circle diameter application (Ford E-Series). These hubcap style (hammer on, pry off) stainless wheel sims were manufactured by Dicor. I do not recommend snap in wheel sims from Dicor. They do not come off easily (so none have ever been lost, and no nuts have been lost either, since no nuts are used to attach them). The problem is, the sharp spring loaded pawls scratch through all the paint and electrodeposition prime coating on the wheel, creating corrosion points all the way around the wheel, depending on how many different ways the wheel sim was clocked when removed and remounted to check lug nut torque or rotate tires.

Dicor is an OEM supplier to the RV and Tow Truck upfitter industries. I do not know if Dicor also provides bolt on wheel simulators, because I have standardized on the supplier that Ford uses, which is PhoenixUSA. If another wheel skin gets trashed in the fleet, and another, and another, eventually I can justify buying a set and distributing the skins to the vehicles which need them.

Bolt in wheel skins are nice because stainless steel skin is easier to clean than a painted wheel. Brake dust seems to cling to painted wheels more vigorously, whereas the stainless steel washes clean like stainless cookware. The skins also instantly conceal all of that stuck on dirt whenever an inside dual is rotated (crossed over and flipped) to an outside dual position on the opposing side. The reddish brown tone of rusty dust is instantly covered without a single wipe with a wheel skin.

Finally, the skins serve as sacrificial rub surfaces when curbing a tire and wheel. So rather than the wheel lip getting scraped, or losing a wheel weight, the skin gets scraped. Of course, if the lip flange of the once bright and shiny wheel skin getting gouged by a rotational make out session with a concrete curb bothers you, then it is now a $400 problem to correct, if these things are only sold in sets of 4. I'm not sure why I'm too lazy to find out for sure, but I've only seen them sold in sets. You might call PhoenixUSA to find out, because if you wait on me to do it, you'll be waiting for a very long time.

There is one difference I failed to mention earlier, that took place at some point between my first wheel skin set over 20 years ago, and the most recent purchase I took delivery of not quite a year ago. They used to be Made In USA. Then they were Made in Taiwan. The last box I bought said Made in China. Then again, Ford aluminum wheels are also Made in China, so there's no escape.

At the moment, all of my wheel skins are off on my personal truck. I've done some service work where the tires and wheels needed to be pulled off, and with hubpiloted DRW wheels with swiveling flat faced lug nuts that require retorquing after 500 miles, skins being off reminds me to check wheel torque again.

 

Supercab , seeing your thread gave me a little nudge to start looking for some simulators as I have been meaning to do this for quite some time now. My OEM simulators on my 2000 f450 have held up pretty well considering how old they are, but the ones on the 2 front wheels are starting to look a little ragged. Mostly just the lug nut stud covers are ripped off from getting a little to close to a curb or from an incompetent tire shop using an impact to take off some of the stud covers that are not supposed to come off . Being that y2k said that the Phoenix USA simulators are basically the same as OEM I'm going to go with those. Looking at the pictures online they look identical to the ones I have on the truck now. After shopping around online I found that summit racing has the whole kit for $337 which I thought was a pretty good deal being that other companies are selling just one simulator for $175. Curious if you have found any better deals or if you have decided to go with a different brand

 

WOW!!! Thanks so much for taking the time for this response and your great pictures!! I appreciate it.

 

Thanks! I haven't figures out what brand I'm going with yet. I just don't care for the mounting system on the Real Wheels brand....

 

Supercab, I pulled the trigger on some new phoenix USA simulators and am very pleased, they make the truck look new again. They are identical to OEM and fit nice and snug with no rattling. Here is a pic for ya

 

Nice!! Love the Red!! Thank You!!

 

UPDATE; 5/7/23; A couple of months ago I bought (After waiting 6 months) a set from PRIME INDUSTRIES, bolt on with 4 lug attachment.
VERY nice lady there named Paula kept me informed as to their arrival.
After 3 months they got in the 2 lug mounting ones but I elected to wait another 3 months to get the 4 lug mounting type.
I figured the more the better!!
They finally came and I installed them, only to find out that the FRONT ones, with the special cutout for the tire valve wern't centered on THAT hand hole.
Looks bad and puts the valve very tight against the right side of the cutout.
I have taken measurements and pictures showing this problem.
Paula was kind enough to send me a new set of the front ones.
They are exactly the same as the previous ones.
I'm going to have to send back the entire mess now and try a different brand.
Thinking now of going with Phoenix USA.

Anyone else have the problem that I did with simulators not fitting the hand hole cutouts in the wheels right?

 

My Phoenix USA will simulators only have two lug nuts holding it on and it fits very nice and tight so in my opinion you don't necessarily need the four lug nuts. I believe the simulators that came on the truck from ford were only two lug nuts as well. The valve stem cut out on the Phoenix simulators are spot on. Not sure if you can return your simulators to get a different brand? Curious what your reasoning was for waiting 6 months for the prime industry simulators?

 

Gotcha. I waited 6 months total because Prime Industries were out of stock and I really liked the idea of having the 4 lug hold down system as opposed to 2.
Boy, The Phoenix USA set is EXPENSIVE!!






Gotcha. I waited the 6 months because Prime Industries were out of stock on them.

 

When I was shopping around for simulators I found the whole set for $337 which was a pretty good price compared to others in its class. Not sure how much the prime industries set is though?

 

The Prime Simulators were $284 to my door.
I inquired on a different brand (Pacific Duallys) the seller on Ebay told me that there was a problem with the Accuride wheels that Ford used on the F350s in that THEIR hand holes were off causing the simulators not to fit.
Any truth to this?

 

I have never had a fitment problem with Phoenix USA, which is the OEM supplier to Ford for the stainless steel wheel simulators sold through Ford Accessories, on any version of Accuride wheel used in the past by Ford.

GM still uses Accuride wheels (made in Canada), but Ford has long ago switched to China for aluminum wheels and Maxion (Mexico) for steel wheels.

I have not had any fitment issues with Phoenix USA simulators on the Maxion wheels either.

I have heard of Pacific Dually, but have never purchased them.

The only alternative stainless steel wheel simulator I've used is made by Dicor, on Accuride wheels with 8 hand holes (no longer made).

I will never use snap on, pry off wheel simulators again. The pawls cut through the paint on the wheel and create corrosion sites. The Dicor simulators were snap in pry off. The Phoenix USA simulators are "bolt on" (actually, "nut on", as they mount with secondary nuts that stack on top of the lug nuts, engaging the exposed threads of the wheel stud).j

The old adage "one gets what they pay for" might be applicable to the various choices in stainless steel wheel simulators.

 

You simply can't beat the quality or service from Phoenix covers, the only issue I had was that when trying to order a couple of nuts from their online store, it would not accept a UK card for payment, I had to call them.
Price is not always a guide to quality but in this instance it definitely is.

 

Thanks again everyone!!
I'm going to return the Prime Industries simulators and order a set of Phoenix USA units.
- Gotta pay more for AMERICAN MADE QUALITY!!