I've just moved from a Mk 1 (160k and still going strong!) to a Mk 2 and first job was to inspect the brakes. The longest part of the work was removing the plastic caps from the bolt heads on the alloy wheels. I have the wire hook thingy tool that's stored with the jack. But it was sooooo fiddly.

Is there a knack please? Should I be using a different tool?  

Wire hook is for something else (towing eye cover?) but will work in an emergency, the proper tool is a U shaped plastic tong with small retaining lugs, dead cheap to buy on e-bay, sorry but I don't have the VAG  part number.

8D0 012 244A will get you a suitable one, there might now be more than one part number, that part number is an old Audi one and maybe still the only one for this tool.

 

Edit:- yup, still works £2.19 upwards delivered, or even under £4 if you buy 2 at a time I see!

 

VW do fit bolt caps that have a "Torx" type hole in the centre - that wire springy tool works only for them - and obviously other things.

Edited 18 October, 20214 yr by rum4mo

The correct tool looks like a large pair of tweezers with 2 little clips on the inside that clip over the cap then you pull the cap off, I did find that for the first time mine would not budge, so i used a pair of long nosed pliers and wrapped some masking tape around the prongs I found that I could get a good grip on the cap and wiggle it off, i then used a small amount of silicon grease on the inside of the cap when re-fitting them

Ooooohh. I didn't know that. Durr. That tool's definitely not there. Thanks guys. Great forum. Tool ordered off Fleabay. xx

23 hours ago, Murdockman said:

The correct tool looks like a large pair of tweezers with 2 little clips on the inside that clip over the cap then you pull the cap off,

 

Thats what I wanted to explain but the intelligible words just would not come to mind!

 

Thanks for your explanation, I was aware that mine fell well short of the mark & may have confused the OP.

Having trouble removing these bolt caps is another indicator to point to the fact that that car has not had its wheels off for a very long time, it is a good plan to service the brakes once every year or every other year, plus if the wheels have not been off for quite a long time, unless you live in an area where NO road salt/grit is used in winter, or are not near the seaside, then getting these wheels off in the event of a puncture, might prove to be a lot harder than expected.

 

I think with my own car bought at just under 2.5 years old, getting the bolt covers off was a bit tricky, so I cleaned off any accumulated salt or corrosion, then applied a "touch" of silicon grease - though now due to me removing the wheels twice a year to change to summer/winter wheels/tyres, these bolt covers come off quite easily, and so far I've never ever lost any from either car.