rapid The Audi Centre Cap winter wheel project

[chrisgreen]

Hello everyone

Back in late September, about a week after I bought my Spaceback, I acquired a set of five (yes, five) genuine Audi 15inch alloy rims from an A3. of these, four are in very good condition while the remaining one has some paint corrosion - but all are straight, hold air and are not curbed to any notable degree. These 5 rims (with 5 knackered tyres attached to them) cost me a total of £60 (I went and collected as the seller was near my office). These rims are for my winter tyres.

However, the rims did not include the matching centre caps. I've been using some generic black caps to cover the very centre holes of the wheels in order to protect my hubs, but ideally I wanted to get the proper centre caps that are designed for these rims as they will also cover the wheel bolts (and will just look tidier).

Unlike many Audi rims, there are no Chinese copies of the centre caps for these rims available, so I needed to track down a used set of genuine ones. They are £50 each new so a brand new set from a dealer was definitely out of the question.

It has taken a couple of months, but I now have a complete set (only cost me £20). They've seen better days, but my plan is to refurbish them.


$_57 by Chris Green, on Flickr


$_57-6 by Chris Green, on Flickr


$_57-5 by Chris Green, on Flickr


$_57-4 by Chris Green, on Flickr


$_57-3 by Chris Green, on Flickr


$_57-2 by Chris Green, on Flickr

Each cap can be (carefully) separated into three main parts - a chromed plastic outer ring, a chromed Audi badge and a gunmetal coloured centre. The chromed plastic on all four caps will clean up OK with some careful hand polishing. The centres need the most attention as all four have paint damage, seemingly from a mixture of kerbing and wheel cleaner damage.

My plan is to clean up the chrome using Auto Finesse Mercury metal polish (also works well on chromed plastic), and to sand down and repaint the centres. Going to do them in gloss black rather than gunmetal.

That's it for now, next instalment will be the separation and cleaning.