Wheel nut covers. Necessary?

growse · 1 Apr 2013 at 14:56

I've lost a couple of wheel nut covers from each wheel - are these just an aesthetic thing, or do they serve any function? Ford want £7 ea for new ones, and I'm concerned that if I just get ebay ones, they won't match (unless I replace the lot).

Should I worry about this now, or just when I come to sell the car?

ShakenNstirred · 1 Apr 2013 at 15:06

you could probably replace the whole lot on ebay for a tenner.

Matt82 · 1 Apr 2013 at 15:08

they look better, until they fade and go grey

pita too if you work on the car regularly and have to pop them all off

Lopéz · 1 Apr 2013 at 15:16

growse said:
just an aesthetic thing

growse · 1 Apr 2013 at 16:24

Ok, so if I ignore it, I'm not going to get a load of crap in the nuts which will then seize and require payment of millions of pounds to get off?

Marvellous.

Matt82 · 1 Apr 2013 at 16:29

you wont get crap on your nuts

haaammit · 1 Apr 2013 at 19:49

Matt82 said:
you wont get crap on your nuts

Depends on what types of Teutonic games you like to play

I've not had those daft nut covers on my car for close on 4 years

Matt82 · 1 Apr 2013 at 20:03

I gave mine away to fellas who cared about theirs being missing

mattyfez · 1 Apr 2013 at 20:09

I thought they were just for covering certain types of locking nut, so like one per wheel, so the key pattern doesn't get full of dirt over time.

Otherwise a bit pointless...

andy_mk3 · 1 Apr 2013 at 22:23

You say Ford, I don't recall ever seeing a Ford with wheel nut covers. Are they chrome? If so then they're actually part of the nut, but they're common to come off as they corrode inside and stretch the chrome part (meaning you have to hammer a socket on too).

growse · 1 Apr 2013 at 23:18

andy_mk3 said:
You say Ford, I don't recall ever seeing a Ford with wheel nut covers. Are they chrome? If so then they're actually part of the nut, but they're common to come off as they corrode inside and stretch the chrome part (meaning you have to hammer a socket on too).

It's an 07 Cmax. The nut is an 18mm, and the chrome cover fits over the top and takes a 19mm socket. I took one off with the cover still on, and it looks like it just clips into place, it's fairly easy to take off just removing the cover.

In fact, they look like this with the cover in place:

andy_mk3 · 1 Apr 2013 at 23:20

Just as I thought, the chrome 'covers' are meant to be part of the nut, hence why Ford want £7 for a replacement, as you get the whole nut. They're not meant to come off

growse · 2 Apr 2013 at 09:39

andy_mk3 said:
Just as I thought, the chrome 'covers' are meant to be part of the nut, hence why Ford want £7 for a replacement, as you get the whole nut. They're not meant to come off

Oh

Why do they fall off then? Seems a bit of a silly design. Maybe I'll be better off just getting a replacement set of nuts?

budcj · 2 Apr 2013 at 09:58

I find the caps tend to come off after the nuts have been done up too tight with air wrenches when getting new tyres. The supplied wrench with the car will struggle to remove the nuts without the caps. I don't get them from my local dealer as you can get them from an auction site for a couple of quid each.