Product Reviews

Audi Lug Cover Caps in Gloss Black

Love your Audi lug caps but wish they matched your wheels? Look no further...

When I upgraded my street wheels to HRE P47SC’s, I was delighted to find out that they accept the OEM ball seat lug bolts the car came with, saving me from having to buy new lug bolts. After dropping that much coin on a new set of fancy wheels and tires, every penny helps…the problem is, the stock lug bolts are U-G-L-Y (you ain’t go no alibi – you ugly). Audi designed a solution to this from the factory, equipping most vehicles with lug bolt covers or caps that go over the end and make them blend in.These caps come in a very neutral dark grey (pictured below) and look great on any silver or gunmetal wheel as they virtually disappear…but when I switched to black wheels, they stood out like a sore thumb. My initial instinct was to spray paint or plasti-dip my lug caps black, but I questioned the durability of that solution and quite honestly just never got around to it…then I managed to lose one, putting me back to the drawing board. Like nearly anytime I need something new, I turned to my good pal Jeff Bezos who runs a small e-commerce website called Amazon to see if he had a product for me, and sure enough he did. Even better, they only cost $13 for a set of 20 and comes in black or chrome, so you can match them to your wheel’s finish with ease:

Before – Grey OEM Lug Caps that Stick Out
After – Black Lug Caps that Blend In 🙂

As you can see in the before & after, these little caps make a big impact. You wouldn’t think it’d be so noticeable, but especially up close you can see that the OEM lug caps are quite the eyesore against matte black wheels. I’ve had them installed for about a month now, and am glad to report that they fit snugly and haven’t been thrown off, even with a daily highway commute that tests their strength regularly. The finish is also holding up very well, and quality wise I can’t think of a single thing to complain about. When buying a part for $13 I expect the quality to suffer, but for a simple bit of plastic I can’t really find anything bad to say about them…and with Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping, it sure beats going to the dealership, paying much more for OEM parts, then trying to spray paint them and hope it holds up.

They also came with an extra lug cap removal tool, which is nice. Anyone who has ever removed the OEM lug bolt covers know it’s virtually impossible without the extractor tool, and that extractor tool (which looks like a giant set of tweezers) is VERY easy to misplace. The extractor tool that comes with these wheels is a little different – it’s metal, which I like, but the “arms” aren’t as deep and it makes it difficult to reach the caps with the design of my HREs. Thankfully I still have the stock extractor tool, so this is more of a backup tool for me anyway…still, a nice plus for something that only costs $13.

Please excuse the rust on my Girodisc 2-piece rotors – as you can probably guess, I just finished washing my car prior to taking these shots, so this is just surface rust that goes away after driving around the block. The point is to show how much better these blend in. While ultimately I’d love to pick up a set of titanium lug bolts or even do a stud conversion kit, this is a great solution to keep costs down and style points high. What do you think, good buy or goodbye to the black lug bolt caps? I know where I stand.

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

3 Comments

  1. These are all over eBay, I think I paid $8 For my first set. Then I got another set for the BMW 650i 437 M rims, same size and everything. One bit of advice, wipe a drop of RTV on the inside prior to installing, they do have a tendency to fall off, the sealant will keep them in place until time for service.

  2. Interesting. The reason I picked these is that all of the reviews said they wouldn’t have problems flying off, whereas a lot of the cheaper ones do. I didn’t put any kind of sealant down, but if I lose any I’ll definitely do that for next time…

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