Chrome center caps

Went to my local "chromer" to see if my center caps could be redone without hurting the center badge. He said they couldn't but, if the center badge could be removed, then they could. But, even with them removed he didn't know if the badges could be reinstalled due to the chrome thickness.

So, my questions are.
1. Has anyone had any success in removing the badges? It looks like an epoxy holding the posts. Maybe use a heat gun?
2. For the price of chroming these (about $140) can I find nice replacements? If so where? I checked out our 3 and didn't see them.
3. Any other ideas?

These are off chromed S4 discs. I don't know if they are OEM or not.



Same post as at RL

I HATE those center caps! They are the ones that have the screw in nubs that hold it in place and notoriously what happens (at wheel/tire places) the monkey that takes your wheels off will then try and pop them out and when they don't come right out they will take to them with a hammer! OMG! Of course "F*ing" up your wheels in the process!

If I were you I would watch ebay and find some other ones. Just get regular ones and then paint the crests yourself using Testors paint...

Yes, they do have 3 set screws that help hold them in place. I like these caps because they are heavy and they have a real nice badge. I will attempt to remove the badges and then see about re-plating.

In the mean time I also plan on watching the Bay for others.

There would be no reason for any wheel monkey to have take these off the wheel. If they tried, they would have to remove a banana from somewhere. :eek:

Rick,

Just keep an eye on them when you go to get new tires... They have to take that out to balance the wheel! That is when a friend saw them bashing the back side of his caps just like yours with a mallet...they damaged the wheels a bit but not enough to cause problems, probably didn't do the center caps any good either!

pcar928fan;2946 wrote: Rick,

Just keep an eye on them when you go to get new tires... They have to take that out to balance the wheel! That is when a friend saw them bashing the back side of his caps just like yours with a mallet...they damaged the wheels a bit but not enough to cause problems, probably didn't do the center caps any good either!

I didn't realize they would have to be removed to balance. Thanks for the tip!

Little update on these.

A post on RL clued me in on that these may be Boothe Design center caps.
www.boothedesign.com/

An E-mail to them confirmed this and that they were made 15 - 20 years ago. He said he didn't see how these could be repaired though. He didn't know a "way of applying heat without total destruction". I e-mailed him back to be more specific on "total destruction". I'm not giving up yet.

Took me about 20 mins. total to remove the badges unharmed from the alum caps. All that needed done was to remove the three spots of epoxy. I used a small sharp wood chisel. I wasn't too concerned about scratching the cap up because the back is never seen plus it's going to get re-chromed. After the hard epoxy was gone there was a retaining ring on the center post of the badge that needed removed. I used a Dremel tool with grinding wheel to cut that off. The badge popped right off then. Of course the first one took the longest. A little epoxy was still on the back side of the badges so that was removed too with the Dremel. Now to get them re-chromed. Here's where I'm getting them done. They are local to me. www.paulschrome.com/

Sweet, you did a great job pulling those off.
That was the hard part. never say never

Good work Rick! Put this in the TECH AREA of the web site please Brad! While it is a small thing, it does belong with the TECH TIPS!

Rick, do a short write up on how you got it done too so we will have something good to post over in the other section! Thanks guys!

I'll edit my post and be more specific on what I did.

That would be great and then be sure that Stan sees it for posting over in the TECH TIPS area...or maybe Brad can do that...he is bored anyway, nothing to do but surf the web when it is -40F outside!!!

BTW, it was a high of 65F here today! When I went out for my ride at 10:30AM it was 52 and sunny! Light breeze of 6-10 mph out of the SE! NICE!

Chrome center caps done!

They look really good Rick. Way to stick with it.

good job! wow!

Very nice!