Has anyone swapped out their wheel center caps and can advise a simple way to do it?

I notice there are 5 clips on the back of the caps that hold it into the rim...how do you depress them so they'll pop out.

I'm sure it's not to difficult, I'd just prefer not scratching my caps up while trying to figure it out.

Image attached

 

I played it safe and took the wheels off and removed the wire ring with needle nose pliers. Then it's simply a matter of tapping them out from the inside.

You might be able to pop them out with a screwdriver with the wheel on but I wouldn't take the chance of scratching anything.

 

they are easy to remove from the wheels by using a wire coat hanger. you unwind the hanger and use the pointed ends, insert them in the 2 holes in the cap and gently pop out the caps.

the new ones go in a bit easier if you grease or vaseline them around the edges before popping them in.

 

+1.

 

Thanks for the great suggestion, KonaKai.

Swapping out the caps took less than 2 minutes. Not a scratch, very easy.

Here's the coat hanger tool:

 

Take a very small diameter allen wrench. Insert the short end, give a tug with the long end. Takes two seconds and works every time.

To reinstall, hold in place and smack smartly with the heel of your hand. Perfect.

DMoore
'10 P4S
'11 GTS

 

oops, I forgot...I was removing my Champion Motorsport center caps which have no holes in them. That's why I took the wheels off, etc.

As others have said, the coat hanger routine works pefectly well for OEM caps. My apologies.

 

This IS the way to do it with the OEM caps - you can also buy this tool from Porsche, but simple enough to make with a coat hanger.

 

take a wheel off, hit center cap from inside - it will jump out. big deal...

 

But make sure you put a hand in front or it will pop out onto the ground.

 

I created my own tool out of a coat hanger that works perfect....its essentially a 3 to 4 inch "U" shape with the ends bent up 90 degrees. The bent up ends are 1 cm or so long. The two ends line up into the holes and you just pull. The tool works great and I can pop out my Center caps real easily. I modeled my tool after this...but cost me nothing.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsc...item564312191e

 

I assume that when you re-installed the caps you aligned the pointy end of the Porsche 'badge' so it points toward the valve stem.. like they do from the factory..

 

My centre wheel caps got pretty beaten up all these years, took delivery in 2006 August, summer and winter, one set of wheels, finally got them changed with the homemade hanger tool.

Thanks for all the tips here.

 

Good info thanks. I am planning to have mine replaced soon but I am trying to locate center caps that are blanks without any Porsche logo. Has anyone come across blank center caps to match 19" Turbo Wheels? Here is a pix of a wheel that I have on my car.



Thanks.

 

The handle of a hammer will do the trick, if rims are off the car (so you can get to the caps from the back side).
The wooden handle offers a nice dead blow. I've always thought anything metal used, could cause dents in the
caps or crack a plastic cap. I nice smack with that hammers handle will pop the caps right out.