hub cap problem

I've never heard of someone gluing on hub caps before.  They should be a tight press fit unless they are not the correct size for the rims that you are running.  One or the other will need to be replaced with the appropriate part.

to be frank i was appalled when i saw the glue all over the wheels. this seems like bad work to me. i am not a mechanic but i know that this is not how hubcaps are supposed to be installed and i know that they should fit. the fact that they would try to glue them on seems ridiculous to me.

Lane's right. The hubcaps "snap" over four side bumps around the center inner ring on the wheel. The hubcaps have an inner lip that fastens over the bumps. Once in place, they take a bit of effort to remove them; a screwdriver or a hubcap tool.

I'm assuming you have a wheel that has four bolts holding it onto the car. Perhaps Kirk is installing hubcaps made for the wide-five bolt pattern or the Porsche five bolt pattern, which are a slightly larger in diameter. The gooey stuff is probably silicone used to glue the over-sized hubcaps in place. You're right, not a very professional way to attach the hubcaps and very short-sided as you would eventually need to remove the hubcaps to rotate or change tires.

If you can't get a satisfactory response from Vintage, I suggest you go to a VW parts store and have one of the sales people look at what you have. 

yes silicone is what it is. excuse my hangover brain. everything is hard after a night of manhattans.

 

i sent an email over to VS asking them if they have any idea how to resolve this issue. i am really not happy about the silicone solution. that's something that i would have done, a complete novice, to stick them on and then laughed at myself about later. not something i expect from a professional shop where i have just spent a large amount of money on a new car.

 

does anyone know a good VW parts store in my area? i am in the pasadena area of LA.

They are tricky to snap on without denting.  I have ruined or lost a total of 4, so far, in three years (all my own fault).  Now, I spray the wheels with WD40 before popping on..it helps.  Glue is ridiculous.

i have officially lost 7 hub caps in a total time of about 10 minutes because of whatever the problem is. the 8th is sitting behind my driver's seat right now.

That's just stupid.

How can VS let a car go back out like this?

Post picture of your wheels and the hub caps.  The quality of current aftermarket chromed hub caps is (as you found out) poor!  Still silicon is poor solution. Might be that mid-70s Porsche 914 OEM hub caps will fit.  They seem to be quality stainless steel.  You can find undented used one for maybe $15-20 each.  They have a small flat area that could be drilled for the PORSCHE crests.

 

Annaliese,

 Not an excuse, but if your as attractive as your profile picture, is it any wonder that Kirk wants to see you back at his shop! Cheers!

thank you all for the helpful replies.

Shouldn't this post be placed in the fiction area? Sure seems odd from all the posts about Kirk doing wonders for his clients. My wheels have the clips rivited on for mounting the hupcaps and have never come off. In fact they're real hard to get off.

Rich,

 

Every once in a while even Superman has a sh!tty day.

Terry, maybe that's my problem, I'm usually dressed in my Clark Kent attire when changing tires.

I remember having this same problem on one of my Ghia's, even after I had them on properly,

you could turn them on the wheel, I always kept a few on board for when I lost one...

There are some Chinese aftermarket steel (4-bolt, 8 slot) wheels that require their own special hubcaps. Wonder if there's your problem.

Rich, I have better things to do than make up an imaginary story about hub caps to tell a bunch of strangers on a forum.

Rich, I have better things to do than make up an imaginary story about hub caps to tell a bunch of strangers on a forum.

Annaliese.

What does Kirk have to say about it?  I think edsnova has it right.  I would bet the wheels are from a different source than Kirk usually uses and they are just slightly smaller at the hub mounts than the others.  With all the people on this list with Vintage Speedsters, I've never heard of anyone losing their hub caps like what you have experienced. It has to be a wheel problem and I am sure that Kirk will make it right.

Troy

Annaliese, I'm not saying you're making the story up, it just seems odd when I generally only hear stories of Kirk doing right by his VS customers and then to hear they're gluing hup caps on. I believe it's happening, just strange.

If you have a VS problem, them take the car back over to Kirk and explain your concern, I do find it somewhat difficult to understand the silicone thing as that is not...Kirk's method of building ...~Alan

Annaliese.

It's possible that Kirk was sent the wrong style hubs, but if I'm not mistaken, the 5 lug version is actually smaller than the 4 lug version and are VERY difficult to make fit on a 4 lug wheel.

Tell him you want the nipple hubs with the Porsche crest if that isn't what you already have.  Here is the link, they are way nicer than the style in the pictures posted above.

http://www.socalautoparts.com/...-emblem-p-15446.html

Agree with Ed - there "are" Chinese Mangels that you have to grind the bumps down a bit to even get the caps on.  Pictures might help figure issue out.  Of course if yours are flying off then Kirk must have issue with others (or know of a cap that works).  Is there any id on who made wheels (think on Mangels you don't see it til tire is removed).  I'd put sticker on them "If found return me to"  just on light side. 

Did someone say "Nipples"

 

kirk says he is 'working on a resolution' and apologizes.

DAMN VINCE WAS AN UGLY BABY

I'm thinking you shouldn't throw stones...

This came right out of Gerddddd's baby book

 

 

 

 

 

IM COMING FOR U DEVIL MAN. WHEN I CATCH U I AM GOING TO BREAK YOUR HORNS

Similar thing happened to me.  I purchased some Chinese nipple caps after delivery and they wouldn't stay on, clearly not made to spec.  I just bent them and now they are 100% okay.  Have never lost a one!

 

I know these things are frustrations on "a new car" but it comes with the territory and is made better/worse by your expectations.  Some of us enjoy tweaking things to get everything just right. Others expect most things to be right out of the box, which based on my experience nice is a reasonable expectation, but not realistic.

 

I will say the silicone fix was just...hmmm...how do I say it...dumb!

At the prices folks charge--especially for new coach-built cars--"right out of the box" is pretty reasonable.

 

I got Bridget for $3500 & she'd have been a bargain at half the price. Even still, her hub caps are tight.

here are pictures of the wheels and the hub cap that i managed to save before it flew off.

 

 

 

and yes-- i paid a lot of cash for this car. it was expensive. it's not unreasonable for me to expect it to not have problems. if i bought a new BMW instead and something was repeatedly falling off of it and the BMW service mechanics were perplexed i would be rightfully furious. i like kirk and i think he is a pleasant person but this is an unpleasant issue and it's not something that happened yesterday. this happened for the first time the day that i picked my car up. now it's still happening. and any reasonable person would be feeling concerned about other aspects of the car being unsound as well. what if something is wrong with the engine? this hub cap issue hasn't been the only problem with my car. the door mechanism stopped working within a few days of me having the car and i was having to climb in and out of it. the brake lights and turn signals went out. did kirk fix these things? absolutely! but they still happened.

Annaliese, sorry for all the trouble you are having?  When I began my initial search for a speedster I read through every owners comments and ratings of their car.  Vintage had by far the most cars which made me comfortable that it was a great brand, but I also found that it had a lot of owners who sited problems with the cars shortly after purchasing them...  I know some take a comment like this personally, but it is what it is.  I agree with you, all of these problems should not be happening when you lay out the kind of money you did.  It's supposed to be a new car With no issues.  I wish you the best of luck with getting all of the issues worked out.  From what I read Kirk backs up his product so I hope you get it all sorted out soon.  If not, Will Pierson may still have that  IM for sale.... good luck...

i love this car and also went with vintage because 1. the ease of registration and 2. because i am local and could go there and be a part of the process in person and 3. because kirk has built SO MANY of these cars that it seemed there couldn't possibly be an issue.

 

i am by no means accusing anyone of not backing up their product. the door and brake light issues were fixed and he seems to have every intention of fixing this hub cap issue. it's just concerning that these issues are even happening and it makes me worried that there might be other problems that will appear at inconvenient times. if the wheels/hub caps are not sound then i worry that other more complicated things might not be sound. i can deal with the hub caps falling off. i can't deal with the engine catching on fire.

I think you will be fine. There are more people on this site without major problems with Vintage Speedsters than there are those with problems. I caught up with Jim Ignacio this summer while on vacation in Cali. I rode in his Vintage. Beautiful car and he has logged about 80,000 plus issue free miles with it of I am recalling it correctly. I'm sure you will be fine. Again good luck!

thank you. i am a natural worrier so yeah. =)