Have you ever had a problem with the center caps on the wheels of your MK1 Audi TT not staying put? You wouldn’t be the only one; it’s a common issue on these cars. Sometimes these things fall off on their own, but you might also need to remove these if you’re ever taking the wheels off your car to access the lug bolts. In any case, it’s insanely difficult to put these back on after they’ve been taken off.
On the back of these center caps are plastic tabs that tend to break over time. This can cause issues with the tension ring not being in just the right shape and position to allow you to press the center cap back on tightly. Even if all the tabs are still intact, these caps are notoriously difficult to pop back onto your wheels.
If your wheel center caps are still intact with no broken parts, you can skip down to the bottom of this post to see the best way to reinstall these caps back onto your wheels. If you have broken tabs, have missing parts, or just want to refresh your wheels with new center caps, it’s best to just replace them with a brand new set.
Wheel Center Cap Replacements
The wheel center caps on the MK1 Audi TT are made of plastic, with the exception of the metal tension ring on the back of the cap. If you have any broken/missing parts on the center cap or simply want to refresh the look of them, just make it easy on yourself and replace them outright.
These parts are readily available on AliExpress and are a perfect replacement for the wheels of the TT. I purchased a set of four for about $40 + $10 shipping. They look exactly like the ones the ones that I had on my car. Putting these new ones on instantly make your wheels look a whole lot better if your original ones are in bad shape. Remember that the MK1 Audi TT center caps are 146mm in diameter when ordering.
Alixexpress: 4pcs 146mm 8D0601165K Audi Grey Black Wheel Center Caps
Replacing the Wheel Center Caps on an MK1 Audi TT
I initially wanted to replace the center caps on my TT (which were all mismatched for some reason) because they were discolored and quite frankly pretty beat up. But recently, I had my tires replaced at a shop and they couldn’t get a couple of these caps back on so they just handed them back over to me.
As I mentioned before, just replace these center caps completely if you need to. The ones you can get off AliExpress are cheap and they actually look really good. Here’s what the new one looks like compared to the others that I already had on my car.
The way that these center caps attach to your wheels is using a combination of the plastic tabs and tension ring. The tension ring sits in and around these various tabs as seen below. When the center cap is pressed into the wheel, it closes the ring, effectively pushing those tabs towards the center. When the cap is pressed in far enough, the tabs pop back out and the tension ring holds the center cap in place.
The difficulty with this is that it is sometimes too difficult to press the cap in. I found that it helps to squeeze the tension ring together to first to minimize the gap in the ring opening. Then, reinstall it into the center cap as it’s supposed to sit. This will reduce the force needed to push the cap back into the wheel.
Next, put the cap into the wheel and look at the grooves in the cap and wheel. They should line up. Once you are sure that the grooves line up and that there will be no interference when you push the cap in, simultaneously press the cap on one side with your hand and press the other side in with your foot. This should give you enough leverage evenly on both sides to sufficiently press the center cap back in place.
I used this method to press in all four center caps on my wheels, which I found to be the best way to get them back on. I have to say for such a cheap replacement, it really makes my wheels look new again. Now, I no longer have the mismatched, discolored, ill-fitting center caps on my wheels on my TT.
