Centre cap

[MartynE]

After waiting for this to arrive from Germany, I'm wondering how the hell they get to charge so much £147 for one, I had to break mine getting it off as it was seized solid, as you can imagine they are all now well lubricated

It's true what AMG stands for All Money Gone

 

[Gazwould]

Nothing on the bay ?

 

[Blobcat]

"Reassuringly Expensive"...

 

[MartynE]

Nothing on the bay ?

No mate unfortunately not I kept looking but couldn't stand driving around with one missing.

 

[Chrishazle]

Never mind "All Money Gone", have you tried pronouncing AMG in German (rather than the English pronounciation of the letters)? It sounds like "I Am Gay"!!

 

[MartynE]

Never mind "All Money Gone", have you tried pronouncing AMG in German (rather than the English pronounciation of the letters)? It sounds like "I Am Gay"!!

 

[mioba]

if you have an AMG you can't expect Ford fiesta prices.

 

[chic0821]

S63 are slightly different but here is what I did,
I have an S63 AMG Coupe with the dummy centre lock wheel centres, What a job removing them with the plastic removal tool which kept slipping off. Wheels off for Gtechniq wheel armour & calliper bells repaint. All good until replacing the centre cap which has a plastic thread. Was a bit tight then it broke. It is a three part design, back plate, plastic threaded part & dummy nut, all clipped together. Can I just buy the threaded part, no. Full assembly only £150 . Had a good look to see what happened. Their are five bosses on the back plate which should be located in the wheel nut counterbores before screwing it on otherwise they sit against the wheel & when tightening it goes tight so you tend to think its a high spot so tighten it a bit farther & it breaks.
I decided rather than pay £150+ for a new cap, I would modify the old one, so after throwing away the broken plastic threaded part, I was left with the back plate & nut. Original plan was to tap 3 equi-spaced holes in the wheel, but as there are 5 wheel nuts & an additional 5 holes equi-spaced on the wheel this would not work. 5 equi-spaced holes would work, but that's a bit overkill considering what is to be held on. I decided to go for 2 screws, but they cannot be exactly opposed , so decided to make them opposed as near as possible .
Placed back plate in position & drilled 2 pilot holes through it & into the wheel. Decided to go for M4 x 8mm stainless button head screws. 3,3mm drill into the wheel about 12mm deep, then tapped M4 by around 10mm deep. Opened up the holes in back plate to 4.5mm clearance. Good to go after checking the screws fitted perfectly.
Used JB weld 2 part epoxy glue to hold the nut to the back plate. Let it fully cure over night. Touch of copaslip on screws, then screwed it in position. Using M4 button heads, would not be noticed unless you knew they were there. Note, just hand tighten, don't use the tool

 

[MartynE]

Do you know mate, I sat around for ages wondering what to do, and what a good idea you've had, and as you said unless you knew they was there you wouldn't notice them.
Well done mate, I have packed mine with grease on the plastic thread plus the backing plate, I've kept the broken one for a spare although I tried all of the others this afternoon and they undid easily, thanks for taking the time to respond mate

 

[chic0821]

One thing which is important, when replacing. Ensure the 5 bosses on the backplate sit inside the counterbores for the wheel screws, then hand tighten. That's where I went wrong. I just put it on then started tightening, but the bosses were sitting against the wheel face, not in the counterbores as I said it felt like a high spot so kept going, then it broke. Just use your hands, not the fitting tool.

 

[MartynE]

Yes I didn't use that plastic cap to refit I did them all hand tight with a rubber glove, which is now in the boot, so whenever they need to be removed I will remove them myself