Valve Cap Thefts

[Guest]

Hi All,

I have come accross an annoying problem. I have had 2 porsche crested valve caps stolen off my car ( I live in a nice area - a friend tells me they go missing in pairs as kids steal them to put on their bikes !!!!), this happened about two weeks ago so yesterday I bought some more and drove to my friends house accross town in a nice area. Low and behold I had another two go missing ( Swaering profusely !!), luckely I still had two from the first mr meaner so I put them back on the car and set off to footie last night.

WELL..........I got back to my car and have had another one go missing (The air is now blue) so have had to spend another £10 on valve caps.

Does anybody else have the same luck as me ? Are their any nice anti-theft caps on the market ? Is electrofying your car to frazzle the little urchins still illegal in the UK ??

Any responses greatfully received........now where are those electrodes !!!!

 

[Black80XSA]

You can buy some valve caps with a minute lockign screw on the side - might deter the kids long enough for them not to bother.
You can tighten the caps using a pair of pliers and a cloth to protect the caps - i do this - if i can't remove them by hand then neither can the kids. you just have to hope they give up without doing anything else to the car !
I lost loads of BMW ones years ago (metal caps, when everythign else was black plastic) - only ever saw one kids bike with them on, so must have had a collection in his bedroom somewhere !

 

[THX911]

Have 6 nicked so far in the 3 years or so and yes, always in pairs; see, God created man and man decided that lets have the bicycle valves the same size as cars valves so kids can nick them all the time and what better way to gain kudos from your friends than to say you have Porsche valves caps on your bike... so blame it on the almighty [].

I had put screwable ones but noticed that they still tried to take them and failed; luckily they did not damage the valve (just the screw threats) but I now leave them unscrewed as it would still be cheaper to replace the caps then if they damage the valve and even worse, caused hidden damage to the valve which I would only find out at high speeds on a motorway []

 

[Guest]

Both Fair Points, I had not thought about the potential damage to the actual valve so maybe its just better to keep a spare set just in case. I have seen the ones with the small screw in the side but they always look like they have been made in a sweat shop in Thailand !!! and not very good quality.

Whoever thought of the bright idea to make bike and car valve sizes the same must somehow be related to the plonker who designed the roadlayout in Wolverhampton.........Not a bloody road sign in sight at any junction !!!

Cheers Guys

 

[Mark Elder]

The best cycle values by far are "presto" - completely different caps required. Much lighter and aerodynamic. Pick sticker on your wheel next to caps - "come on guys, get yourselves decent cycle values - if you nick my caps you must have silly great car ones"[]

Kids round here are even dumber - they nick my black plastic caps.

 

[MarcBC]

Valve caps?! I thought the thieves that took my coloured wheel centres were petty. Sorry to read this. I will look around for a push bike with P-car valves and stuck on wheel centres.

 

[Black80XSA]

You could always spray some black plastic ones silver - imagine their disappointment []

 

[Dylan1]

i have been tempted at times to be really sad and carry a set of plastic ones and whenever i park away from the house replace the porsche ones with the black ones and put the porsche ones in my pocket and then put them back on when i get back to the car
but i couldnt be ar*ed

 

[Greg Park]

Best solution is to get standard black plastic caps as they don't get nicked and don't corrode onto the valve, they also decrease the weight so increasing performance []

 

[ianfiat]

and who can see the Porsche crest anyway ?

 

[Fred Hindle]

It puts a smile on your face when checking the tyre pressures.[]

Cheers,

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

I got these nice alloy ones. You can nip them up (gently) with a spanner making them difficult to undo by hand. About £9 for the set - part number 000.044.600.00

 

[Guest]

Cheers guys....but I have to inform you that we are now looking for either one kid with 6 bikes all carrying porsche valve caps or 3 kids ( probably all mates ) with them on !!!

It will however amuse you that i thought i saw one of the little urchins stop by my car last night and bend down.... i flew through my front door ripping it from its hinges and proceeded to launch into a tyrade of abuse at the approximeatly 15 year old on a bike...........only to realise that his plasic bag had split and he had lost about 8 bars of chocolate and 4 bottles of coke on the pavement

More hast....less speed I believe............I apologised !!!

 

[POR_NT]

These look very similar to the caps I used to have on my Golf 4Motion, which had BBS RC alloys.

I lost a couple of sets of caps before deciding to use a 10mm socket to tighten them - beyond finger tight.

The socket, along with a handle of course, stayed in the car and I never lost another cap!

 

[sbloxxy]

I've got the opposite problem - I'm waiting for someone to nick mine. Let me explain: the young lad down the road regularly wanders over to look at my Boxster and he asks lots of daft questions (such as 'Which Porsche would be the fastest - a red one or a silver one?' - you get the idea). Anyway, one day last week he ran up and excitedly announced that he had bought a 'present' for my car - a set of valve caps - in fact he had bought two (another set for his bike) and would let me choose which set I wanted. The first set were in the form of small 'chrome' plastic skulls complete with red glass eyes...
The second set were straightforward polished metal caps but they were huge and horrible. Now normally if anyone had proposed fitting either of these to my car, I would have no problem in telling them were to stick them; however I know this kid's Mum and I know both she and the lad are totally skint and buying the valve caps was a big deal to him (even though they were obviously very cheap) - how could I refuse?
So now my car sports whopping great big shiny valve caps until I can think of a way to discreetly get rid of them.
So if anyone fancies nicking a set for their bike, come to Northumberland - you'll find me easily enough - just head for the blinding glow of the sunlight bouncing off my monstrous valve caps...

 

[Alan Woods]

The best cycle values by far are "presto" - completely different caps required. Much lighter and aerodynamic. Pick sticker on your wheel next to caps - "come on guys, get yourselves decent cycle values - if you nick my caps you must have silly great car ones"

pres·to [pres-toh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation adverb, adjective, noun, plural -tos.
""adverb
1. quickly, rapidly, or immediately.
2. at a rapid tempo (used as a musical direction).
""adjective
3. quick or rapid.
4. executed at a rapid tempo (used as a musical direction).
""noun
5. Music. a movement or piece in quick tempo.

pres-ta [pres-tah]
1. High pressure valve commonly used on road and higher-end bicycles.

[]

Alan

 

[IainCameron]

Hi Danny,

I am glad that I am not alone! It seems there are quite a few silly little Boys all over the UK stealing these items & for what reason? My ones were all the plain old black plastic ones. I have even reported it to our local police fArce as I have had 4 sets taken from my cars and a friend's that was parked in my drive. On a look around our housing estate I could see that most of the cars had no dust covers. That's some collection the culprit has now. Any Dad's out there checked ther son's rooms for a large collection of valve caps?

However, as I was getting fed up replacing said caps and after much investigation I found these Richbrook spinning ant-theft caps that have defeated the little blighter for these past 9 months. See link here for info. I bought my ones in a local car accessory shop. Just remember not to loose the key!

 

[gdavison]

lets be glad we have moved on from the VW bonnet badge "Beastie Boys" days .. we had numerous 944 Porsche Bonnet badges screw drivered off then ....[]