Patio Furniture Glide Replacement

I needed to measure for replacement glides on the feet before I start painting all of the wrought iron patio furniture that is sitting in my driveway.

What are glides?  Glides are the plastic inserts in the feet of your wrought iron patio furniture that protects both the furniture and the floor surface that your furniture is sitting on.  Glides also help the furniture 'glide' over the floor surface so that you do not physically need to pick up the furniture to move it.  One of the benefits of wrought iron furniture is that it is heavy but this is also one of the drawbacks if you like to rearrange your furniture.
   

Most of the glides on my furniture were in fair to destroyed condition or just plain missing.  So I am going to replace all the glides.

 But first I needed to measure the space inside the cup which is called the ID (inside diameter) measurement.  You can also remove the damaged glide and measure it.  I did both and came up with the same measurement of 1 1/2 inches. You want to measure carefully because some glides come in dimensions measured to the 1/32nd.  Measure twice and if you are still not sure, buy one 4 pack of glides before committing to 24, 32, or more glides.

Here is a photo of one of the glides that just fell out while I was dragging furniture around on the driveway. 

While researching and pricing glides I found out that you can also order black glides.  I was thrilled because I am painting my furniture satin black.  I then noticed that they are almost twice the price of the white glides.  I need 66 glides for this batch of furniture so I am talking about $40.00 which is doable.....$80.00 not so much considering that you can hardly see the glides when the furniture is in place.

I also found a company that sell the metal cup feet.  I've passed on some patio furniture because it didn't have the cup feet that holds the glide.  There is a line of wrought iron furniture (not Woodard) that was popular in 60's that didn't have the cup.  Of course you would need to spot weld the cup in place. But I have found that this furniture is generally less expensive than Woodard so paying to have the cup welded on still makes the furniture affordable.  These pieces are also simple in styling so they work with contemporary or mid century modern (MCM) better than most of the more ornate Woodard pieces.

Websites and stores that sell patio furniture glides

http://www.patioproducts.com/parts.asp

http://www.patiofurnituresupplies.com/foot-glides.html

http://www.ebay.com/  search for patio furniture glides

http://www.truevalue.com

http://www.homedepot.com/

http://www.lowes.com/pd/Garden-Treasures-1-1-2-in-Wrought-Iron-Leg-Cap-Insert/3034646