Anyone lose their Plastic Wheel cover?

Maybe somone stole them or they weren't on well to begin with. I have a hard time getting them on and off. I was wishing they were looser.

 

Not sure about Toyota. I know some older Honda's wheel covers are secured by the wheel nuts...

 

i almost lost two of mine. I just got an oil change and the guy that rotated the tires didn't snap them on fully. When i got home i looked the car over and snapped the wheel covers on all the way.

 

I lost all 4 of mine the day I bought the car. Those things are ugly.

 

I think its why they sell so many pkg V!! I like the 17"s :nod:

 

Quite a few are either held on by a shoulder on the lugs, or have plastic nuts that screw onto a threaded end on the lugs (GM caps come to mind). Wire over plastic snap-on caps are old school, but they're light and cheap. The REAL question is why Toyota goes to the trouble to make a nice alloy wheel and then hides it under a trim ring or cap. :noidea:

 

Haven't lost them on my Prius.
Have on our 2003 Subaru Forester and 85 Volvo (where they were metal, not plastic). Both times it was after the car had been in use for some years.
My wife always blames incompetent installers.
If it happened to you shortly after your first oil change/tire rotation, I'd say they definitely should give you a new part--the person who put your wheels back on probably screwed up.
I think you can argue, in any case, that this part should not break off so quickly and/or should have been put on better. Can't say how convincing this will be though.

 

My '99 Civic EX has hubs secured by lugnuts. You obviously have to take the lugs off to remove the hubs.

BTW, I think the Prius hubcaps are on pretty tight, you'd have to hit a curb or something to scrape them off.

 

I lost one of the plastic wheel covers (or maybe it has stolen?). I found a local "hubcap store" and purchased a replacement for $35.00.

 

When I had snow tires put on in November, they asked me where the right front wheel cover was (1000 miles on car) and I assumed it was stolen while visiting in DC. Then I remembered the car wash I just had and went back and found the cover. I guess I was being too suspicious.

 

Why?

 

In the first 10,000 miles I've had two of the plastic wheel covers come off.
The first one came off the front left wheel when I lightly brushed against a very low curb. The second one came off while driving down our street (paved, no potholes).

Amazingly enough I got both of them back. The second one was off the wheel for about 3 months before we found it in a neighbor's yard.

I actually like the looks of the wheel without the cover on it but the wheel is more time consuming to wash with the cover off.

 

I lost all 4 of mine the day I brought it home.

Why cover up a great looking set of wheels with cheap plastic? Got a set of hub caps for $16 to cover the center hole.

 

Just this last weekend I noticed that my rear passenger-side cover was partially loose. I took it off and put it back on again and have been checking it since.

Reading your post, I remembered that I had the tires rotated just two weeks before (during my first service at 5,000 miles). I drive pretty conservatively (especially now that I have a Prius) and haven't hit anything while either turning and/or parking so I'm wondering if my wheel cover might have been left loose by the service department.

 

As far as I know, all Honda wheel covers to date use similar securing method:

The lug nuts are a little taller than usual, have a groove with a snap-in plastic ring around mid-height. To install the cover, you put on the wheel, then the cover and then the lug nuts. The ring on the nuts is what holds the cover down.

The main reason we ended up going with the Canadian Touring model, which has the (coverless 17" alloys), was just standing at the dealership: looking at the 15" with covers and the 17". Plastic wheel covers on alloys was a poor design choice from Toyota imho, I don't think anyone likes them.

Could be wrong.