STLPCA

Spoke to a fellow P car owner today & he mentioned he had a painted crest center cap stolen. Apparently any petty thief worth his vice-grips knows you can pry off the cap with a small screwdriver. I didn't realize it was that easy.

Got me wondering. How common are thefts of center caps? Anyone know of a way/device to better secure the caps?

Dbltime

They do come off easily with a coat hanger bent in half incerted in the two holes. I have never heard of any being stolen but I have had people loose them while driving. They are not as popular as the Mercedes hood star. My Fikse hub centers are much tighter with a o ring securing them. I lost one driving anyway.

Bill walczak

GeoC2cab

High,
On page 63 of the performance products catolog, they sell a set of wheel center locks for ring clip style centers for 39.95 a set, if you dont have a catolog their website is www.performanceproducts.com, you probablly can either order the locks themselves or have a catolog sent to you here.

ragtopgeek

At the risk of asking a dumb question, I was
curious if pulling them off with a coat
hanger inserted into the holes is a sure and
straightforward way to get them off? I have
some new caps I would like to replace the current caps with. I was preparing to remove the wheels to replace the caps to ensure the wheels wouldn't get scuffed.
Thanks!

Dbltime

I pulled my wheels a few years ago thinking that is the only way to pop out the crests from the back. As I was instlalling the 3rd wheel a friend walked in and popped the 4th one out using needle nose pliers in the holes. To avoid damaging them I am sure there is a "proper tool". Check out Robins P-car.com DIY area. The coat hanger needs to be notched or very slight bend on the end. They are not very tight so this has worked fine for me.
Bill Walczak
993 coupe '97

Robin 993DX

That's weird... My painted center caps don't ahve any holes on them and the only way really to get them out without damaging it is to pop it from behind with the wheels off the car.

I can picture that if someone stick a small flat scarew driver into the gap they can probably pry it off. But I would rather have it come off easily then to have someone damage my wheels while trying to do so. If would be cheaper to replace the caps then to have the wheels repainted.

STLPCA

Thanks for the suggestion. If anyone else is interested, here's a link to the Performance Products'lock: http://www.performanceproducts.com/product.asp?productname=Wheel+Center+Locks&prod uctfamily=



My painted crests do not have removal holes.

Kai 96 993

my painted caps dont have holes either and they are so tight that i think the only way is to pop from the back.

i think only the black n silver caps have holes.

CA993

Porsche changed vendors for the center caps a few years ago, at which time the new vendor inserted the two diagonal holes to assist with installation. Additional small differences can also be seen in the finish on the crest (I believe the older caps (i.e. without holes) are thought to hold up better.

LC997C4s

The caps that don't have the holes are aluminum vs the newer center caps whaich are plastic. The plastic caps are much cheapr looking in my opinion than the older and much more costlier aluminum ones.

Jack

Kai:

Nice center caps(nice color car also), but those are not factory wheel caps. It's my understanding that all factory wheel caps have the two small holes to allow for removal w/o taking wheels off the car. I know that all my Porsches dating back to 1978 had this feature--even the Fuchs alloy wheel center caps.

BTW, Performance Products sells a "factory" look-a-like center cap removal tool--see Page63 of their Spring/Summer catalog.

STLPCA

Jack
I don't believe this is correct, since my '96 has the original factory optioned (#445) aluminum disc center caps w/rivoted on painted crests WITHOUT any holes