SSST

Since the tire f/r tire diameters are slightly are slightly different, don't they get out of sync regardless?

BTW. The painted lowers look fantactic.

Wouldn't work for me because of the scraping. There are just too many steep approaches in my neck of the woods. Even getting in my drive way is a challenge, and I get a scrape once every 5 or 6 trys when I don't hit the angle just right.

LVDell

Bingo. Plus anytime there is understeer push (or even oversteer) in the car you will get them out of sync.

Dock

Nope. The center caps do not naturally rotate relative to the rest of the wheel. Once they are set in a specific location, they will stay there until you physically move them. I set my center caps relative to the valve stems (as seen in the picture I posted) over nine years ago and haven't touched them once since then.

I didn't invent this "center cap positioning technique". I picked it up when I bought my first Porsche, having seen the technique, and talked to other owners who did this. I had Porsche crest center caps on all my other Porsches, and they were positioned so the bottom tip of the crest pointed to the valve stem (this is what I picked up from other Porsche owners). When I bought my Turbo I stayed with the OEM "turbo" center caps, and the only two positions I considered logical would be the script pointing at the valve stem, or the script 90 degrees to the valve stem. I went with the 90 degree positioning.

Like I said, the center caps have to be in some location, so why not have them all the same. I decided to take two minuets to align them all to the same reference.

LVDell

Dock....I think you are misunderstanding what he said. If you line them up front and rear then they will never be able to stay "in sync". He's not asking if they rotate on the individual wheel.

I assume what he is talking about and what you do are also two different things, no? Wheel caps set to a reference point on one wheel is different than the scripts staying "in sync" with different rotational diameters.

Dock

I didn't misunderstand a word he (or you) said. You both seemed to have missed the point along the way. I posted this..."Mine are all aligned like this (valve stem 90 degrees to the script). They have to be set somewhere, why not set them all the same?" This seems pretty clear, but since it didn't come across that way for some reason (and I have no problem with that fact), I posted the clarification above.

But to reemphasise, it is a situation of each wheel's center cap being placed in a specific position relative to that wheel's valve stem.

Renn 951

You are both right! But I think Dock's point on lining them with the valve stem is not so they look symmetrical front to rear, but so when you are checking your tire pressures you can instantly locate the valve stem. It may only save you a second or two per tire, but it is a nice convenience.

Both my Cayenne and my Boxster S came new from the factory with all the colored crest center caps having the "point" on the shield pointing to the valve stem. This isn't just an aftermarket trick - it is "factory developed!"

LVDell

Dock, I didn't miss your point. I addressed his point where he asked about F to R sync. My guess is that he assumed since you were lining them up you were also trying to get them to ALL point in the same direction so they match F and R not solely to point at a valve stem.

Dock

P.S. I suspect that there is a possibility SSST (and maybe you too) looked at the picture I posted, and having seen the staged wheel location used for the picture (valve stem at the bottom with the "turbo" script "level" in the picture) assumed I was talking about doing something (I can't imagine what though) to try make this always true with all four wheels, instead of just aligning the center cap relative to each wheel's valve stem. I was thinking this was the point he missed, but didn't want to just come out and offer that as my opinion about him (and you) as I considered it obvious that attempting to do something (and again, I can't imagine what in the world of physics that would be) to keep all four wheels in the same relative rotational position would fall in the "impossible to accomplish" category.

Dock

No problem. But you could also have told him that "all synced" wasn't the point of discussion. Your "bingo" remark indicated to me that you supported his line of reasoning.

Anyway, I hope it's all sorted out now.

LVDell

Careful, you'll get flagged for use of too many air quotes

I didn't suspect that was what you were trying to do, but I assume that is what SSST was trying to understand. Yes, it would be impossible to have them all level. Now there was (maybe still is) a product that Ralph Boothe sold that was a center cap much like the Rolls Royce center caps where the logo stay motionless (i.e., no turn) while the wheel is moving.

All sorted. Bingo was merely telling him emphatically that it would work, not that I supported that line of reasoning. Crap, my OCD is bad and trying to make those in sync would drive me to the brink. I still have just enough sanity left to keep myself from crossing over to senility.

Dock

"My name is Dock, and I'm a recovering OCD guy".

Key word "recovering"...not "recovered". I work on it every day...

LVDell

We never fully recover.

SSST

Sorry to leave you guys hanging. While Doc was checking the alignment on his center caps, I was getting mine all out of sync on some really fun Texas hill country roads.

I did mis-understand Doc's original post about having the same reference point on each wheel.

I thought he was trying to get the center caps to rotate in sync on all four wheels.

Tim Wasmer

Can we rename this thread to OCD.....We have it?

jimq

I usually find the valve stem pretty fast by seeing that silver thing poking out of the wheel