A couple of weeks ago, I finally managed to accumulate a set of four matching hubcaps for my van’s stock 12″ wheels. I had been driving on bare black steel wheels for the last year or so.
I tried searching Japanese Yahoo Auctions listings for “sambar hubcap” or “サンバー ハブキャップ” with no luck. Turns out that regular ol’ USA eBay is the place to look. Some early 1990s Justy models had the same 12″ steel wheels as the Sambars of the same years. Once I started searching for those, and found a design I liked, it only took a couple of weeks before I hit paydirt.
I had to buy three from one seller and the fourth from a different seller. The packages arrived within a day of each other and I was happy to find that the hubcaps did indeed all match perfectly. They’ve clearly got a lot of miles on them but are in fair condition. I paid a total of about $110 for the set.
These hubcaps are a real pain to install and to remove, which is probably a good thing if you want to keep them attached to the vehicle while it’s in motion. I had to use more force than I was really comfortable with, but they went on without anything breaking.
I still plan to get a new set of rims+tires for the van, but this was a great cheap upgrade that really improves the van’s appearance while I’m still making up my mind what I want to do long-term.