So I'm walking to my car this afternoon which is parked in my driveway in a very quiet, peaceful neighborhood in a small, low-crime town when I notice that my right rear wheel is missing the ol' tire pressure cap. One of the few accessories I purchased for my MINI was the MINI tires caps (I've bought just about every model, shirt and hat but as far as accessories for the MINI that was it except for a "Let's Motor" license plate frame. Well, anyway, I look at the right front tire and it's missing also! I check the other side and what do you know...NO TIRE CAPS! Someone friggin' stole my MINI tires caps! Who would do such a thing....my poor MINI! I feel terrible although I know a lot worse could have happened. Although I'm not sure it happened today, it definitely happened recently. I'm pretty sure I would have noticed it earlier if they were missing for a while and my son remembers seeing them yesterday afternoon. So I'm assumming it was in a parking lot somewhere today. So watch out for those anti-MINI people out there! :evil:

 

I had just basic chrome ones on my Miata that I bought at a Parts store for about $2. I had so much trouble with kids on bikes taking them I just went in and bought a bunch and just replaced them when they went missing. This is why I haven't delt out the overpriced money for the MINI ones, I just figured somebody would like them too much.

 

Mine are long gone. Someone suggested wrench-tightening.

 

Bummer...at least they didn't walk off with the whole car....

 

I've had 2 full sets stolen - and I live in a very crime free area in the North Shore of Chicago. The first set they only managed to get 3. The next time they grabbed all of them - bastards!

 

I bought them too. I was so impressed at how nice they were, complete with little o-rings inside. But you all just got me so paranoid I just ran out to the garage to double check mine are still there! Luckily, they are! I guess super-gluing them down paid off!!!

 

I don't want to plug a product that I haven't tried but I've seen in a couple of places,valve stem caps that ratchet - they spin on by hand but need a tool (that is carried on the keychain) to take them off ... and they can be had with a variety of logos or marques on the top

 

3 from my first set was stolen after just 3 days, then the second set, 2 weeks and one was missing, after that no more problems, I guess the guy who got the first three came for the full set...

At least in 4 months 13 usd in missing pieces, not bad...

It was worse with my cherokee...

 

That sucks, but I have you beat. Back when I lived in Detroit, I came out of my apartment one morning and noticed that all of my center-caps were gone on my 91 Talon. I swore a bit, got in and started the car, then thought "Hmmm...something didn't look right." I got out and had another look. Some utter bastard(s) had stolen all 20 of my wheel nuts. Didn't even leave them around. Took them away with them. If I hadn't had a closer look, I would have had a VERY nasty and expensive surprise about 100 yards down to road.

 

>>That sucks, but I have you beat. Back when I lived in Detroit, I came out of my apartment one morning and noticed that all of my center-caps were gone on my 91 Talon. I swore a bit, got in and started the car, then thought "Hmmm...something didn't look right." I got out and had another look. Some utter bastard(s) had stolen all 20 of my wheel nuts. Didn't even leave them around. Took them away with them. If I hadn't had a closer look, I would have had a VERY nasty and expensive surprise about 100 yards down to road.
That is a bummer...losing your nuts.
Tightening with pliers has been posted before.
Discourages kids until they come back the next
day with pliers.

 

Mine are still in place after 6 months. I feel lucky I still have mine although somebody stole my Spider-man antennae ball, from the office parking lot! (I already had Christmas with my wife this past weekend, we going home for Christmas so we had ours already and she found a new one on eBay)

 

Count your blessings Agro, they were probably really after your wheels. You just got out there before they could jack up the car to pull them. It would have been smart, and efficient, to get the lug nuts all in one shot before jacking up the car to pop the wheels. You would have found the car sitting on the ground. Unless of course, somebody just wanted to pull a nsaty on you 100 yards down the road...

 

That's why I haven't purchased the MINI valve stem caps...my girlfriend can't even keep the chrome one's on her WRX...so I figure cool UJ caps or MINI caps would disappear in a second!

 

Stealing stem caps? What's next? Ripping off the MINI logo from our boot? Or better yet, here's one - stealing your wiper blades. I have heard a lot of things, but don't people have better things to do than to steal someone's stem caps? Who goes around looking at the tires that closely? I guess I haven't had a nice car before, so I never knew what this was all about. I work at a Job Corps Center, and thought I had seen it all, until this.

 

:evil: :evil: :evil:

Dang punks!

 

Well now that I've run out to a freezing cold garage with bare feet, to check on my covers, I'm happy to say, they are still where they belong

X2

 

I'm 36, but I must confess that 22 or so odd years ago, I was running around clipping off hood ornaments with wire cutters , with my "friends" who I never see anymore (Thank God).

_________________

 

I have to confess too...when I was 14 or 15 I used to drive arund my neighborhood and take stem valve caps. So I guess I should spend about twenty bucks on valve caps and let them get nicked.

 

>> :evil: :evil: :evil:
>>
>>Dang punks!

Clover, you can bind cheap chrome ones for a couple of bucks at auto parts store, thats what I did with my Miata, I alwasy had a few extra to slap on.

 

I have had my UJ caps since day one. Never had one taken! I feel lucky.

 

Still got mine,for now ..........Reminds me of something that I did a life time ago.I was the owner of a small bicycle shop in northern seacoast Mass. and was having trouble with a local kid,who made my life a living hell,including bubble gumming a cherry bomb to one of my store windows.I finally threatened to call a friend in East Boston and have him killed(empty threat ,but quite effective).Some years later while walking my dog late at night ,I noticed this kids mustang 50 parked on a side street,and noticing that one of his valve caps was the valve tool type,I used it to remove all of his valve cores and left the car sitting on all 4 rims.Payback's a *****.

 

So I just got my MINI valve covers today from gotmini.com. Since I used to be a stem cap thief in my youth I suppose they won't last long. My time is due...

BTW: Since I don't live far from gotmini, I drove there today. The caps I got are not on their website (they were out of the union jack caps). I got these new ones that are white with MINI in red and a smaller union jack. They're quite nice.

 

I also bought the Mini logo caps and have had two sets stolen. One set in the parking lot at work. One set at the Rolling Stones Concert/Staples Center in L.A.
I'm trying one last time.

 

Wouldn't you just like to catch a punk!

If they are taking them from your driveway: Place a motion sensor near your car to alert you.

If they are taking them from your work: Check company camera or rig one.

If somewhere else: Win the lottery and buy James Bond's white Lotus alarm kits and keep several Minis in a warehouse for backup.

Got carried away, but wouldn't you like to catch a punk!

 

Reading with interest, is there a demographic here? Is this small town thievery big city thieves or all around punk thiefs?