I remember a discussion here awhile back (or it could have been the Roadfly board), regarding the MINI stem caps and the fact that many MINI owners were getting them stolen off of their cars.

My question is, do these MINI stem caps come standard with the MC and MCS? The reason I ask is because for some reason I never noticed before now, but I was washing my MCS today and noticed I didn't have any on my 17" run flats. Did mine get stolen? Or did mine just come without? Strange mystery to me....

 

I believe the stock valve stem caps are plain metal - the ones on my s-lites were. They should have been on your wheels at delivery so there is a distinct probability they were stolen.

The MINI caps referred to are much nicer than stock and at about $14 they should be.

Regardless of the type of caps you replace the lost ones with, put them on finger tight then use a set of pliers to tighten the cap another 1/4 turn (good idea to cover the cap with a cloth before using the pliers - protects both the cap & the wheel). Once tightented in this manner the little fiends who try to steal the cap won't be able to remove them . Remember that you won't be able to remove them either, so keep a set of pliers in the car.

There are some locking caps about, but I'm not sure if any of them have the MINI logo.

 

I washed "da Baby" for the first time yesterday (I had to force myself to wait a week), and I noticed that the stock valve covers that I have look too short. that is, there seems to be an aweful lot of the thread on the valve stem exposed. And they were tight, I checked. So I was thinking that maybe these caps are just loosening themselves and falling off, rather than being stolen. If they don't have enough threads on them, it's certainly a possibility.