Stolen

[ivegotcclass]

Well, my car is two weeks old now and I've already been attacked by the petty thief.

Not the three pointed star but my valve caps have gone.

They were shiny and suited the Evolution pack wheels well but I expect the local kids nowe have some nice valve caps on their bikes.

I looked on eBay and I can replace this for around a tenner with Mercedes branded ones but I think I will get a nice set of plain black ones from Hellfords as they will simoply get nicked again?

I hope it is the kids, I would have done that when I was younger but I hope it has not been an adult, if I caught him he would have a black eye to go with his valve caps.

 

[timslim]

Mine got robbed too - only noticed the other day - just glad they didn't take the wheels too....

 

[modelmad]

Me too!

Hi it seems as if this is an epidemic,as mine too was TWOC,i have been done too many times now,i think i will replace mine with 'Blue Tack' Ian

 

[television]

locking valve caps

Always plenty of locking MB caps on Ebay, they lock with the supplied Allen key at £6-8 .Malcolm

 

[ivegotcclass]

I looked at them as well and another chap on another forum had his anti-theft caps stolen :roll:

I might still go for black plain ones as I'd be worried I'd spend money on anti-theft ones and these are also pinched.

 

[ivegotcclass]

I've just ordered a set of 'Chromies' from eBay which are lockable and come with a special key. The outer spins and won't unscrew by hand.

They are only £9.25 inc delivery. I'll spend the cash once, if the go missing then I'll stick with plain black rubber caps.

 

[maddog]

You have to be careful using very heavy valve caps on motorbikes as they can pull the valve out of the wheel when travelling at high speed i would imagine the same would be true for cars

 

[ivegotcclass]

The manufacturer does state that they are not really heavy at all. Other people mentioned it could affect the wheel balancing but these appear to be light enough not to have a major effect.

There is a 30day guarantee, if they are heavy I will send them back, the ad states that they are just like black rubber caps but good looking and theft resistant.

I don't forsee them causing any major handling or balancing problems.

Quote from FAQs

"Q: What are their dimensions?

A: Their physical size and weight is that of standard caps, and will not affect the wheel balance."

 

[jberks]

Perhaps I'm missing something here but aren't we talking about valve caps!
Your local tyre fitter has bins full of them. Every time they fit a tyre, they have another old one to discard. Pop in, they'll give you bag full for nothing! You could even hand them out to the local kids so they leave yours alone!!

 

[ivegotcclass]

I got some from the garage today when I was in for other issues.

Because they are shiny metallic rather than black rubber, the kids take them for their bikes.

Suppose it is rather pedantic as they are only valve caps.

:-D

 

[philharve]

I, too, had a nice set of 'chromies' stolen but not from my Mercedes which has a set of simple black plastic ones. I have always assumed that my chromies, which were screw-on, bullet-headed ones, were stolen by kids. I had them for less than a week.

I thought I would reply to this thread because I purchased a set of anti-theft valve caps yesterday from a local automotive store that closely resemble those pictured above: they too have a recess in the head which requires a special key to be fitted in order to rotate the cap. The outer sheath rotates freely.

I was recommended these caps, at GBP12.99 per set, because they are supposed to be the most secure caps on the planet. However, it would be embarrassing if they were stolen.

I assume the key that came with my set of caps is identical to all other keys; the recesses of all the cap sets I examined appear identical? If a kid can obtain a key from somewhere, he can surely acquire a set of caps for himself very easily!

I have a racing bike and a trail bike (both expensive models) but neither will accept car tyre valve caps. The valve stems in my bikes' tubes are much smaller. Why steal my car's caps? Mindless petty theft?

REGARDS Phil