General Can I take my wheel trims off?

[Gman88667733]

My panda has the bolt on wheel trims. My partner managed to mangle one of them up and the rest were tatty anyway, if I take the wheels off and remove them and put the wheels back on, is this okay? I assume it is as they are just plastic, but just wanted to check.
Thanks

 

[chris3234]

Just fine the bolts don't actually even touch the wheels bolts the tapered end screws in to the wheel before the head touch's the trim you can test is as they will move forward and back a little with the wheel torqued up
(At least on the ducatto ones ive seen)

 

[Jockcl500]

If you want to remove the trims without taking the wheels off, don't touch the bolt nearest the tyre valve, only remove the other 3 bolts and the trim will come off.

 

[Gman88667733]

Thanks for that!
The main thing I meant was, it doesn't affect how tight I can do the wheel nuts up if I take the trim off, does it? The nuts are still long enough to fully tighten without the trims in place?


Edit - so it's okay to do this without jacking the car up?

 

[chris3234]

Thanks for that!
The main thing I meant was, it doesn't affect how tight I can do the wheel nuts up if I take the trim off, does it? The nuts are still long enough to fully tighten without the trims in place?


Edit - so it's okay to do this without jacking the car up?

Nope no effect at all the bolts matting face didn't even contact the trims just the head part of the bolt

 

[Jockcl500]

Thanks for that!
The main thing I meant was, it doesn't affect how tight I can do the wheel nuts up if I take the trim off, does it? The nuts are still long enough to fully tighten without the trims in place?


Edit - so it's okay to do this without jacking the car up?

If you don't touch the bolt nearest the valve then, no jacking or other issues.

 

[varesecrazy]

If you don't touch the bolt nearest the valve then, no jacking or other issues.

Gman88667733 read the forum..

I covered this in detail recently.. tyre place had fitted trims incorrectly !!

The no.jacking method only works (easily) if the trims have been fitted correctly..


Read the other thread..

Any questions : 'I'm here all day'

 

[varesecrazy]

My panda has the bolt on wheel trims. My partner managed to mangle one of them up and the rest were tatty anyway, if I take the wheels off and remove them and put the wheels back on, is this okay? I assume it is as they are just plastic, but just wanted to check.
Thanks

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/479275-wheel-nut-tourque.html?p=4523486

Covers all you need

The trims are formed with 3 full mounting holes..and a slotted one to be adjacent the valve stem (there is often a slightly wider rectangular aperture on the trims outer rim..to clear the valve )

 

[Jockcl500]

@Gman88667733 read the forum..

I covered this in detail recently.. tyre place had fitted trims incorrectly !!

The no.jacking method only works (easily) if the trims have been fitted correctly..


Read the other thread..

Any questions : 'I'm here all day'

The notch for the tyre valve on the trim is nearest to the larger bolt hole, which allows the wheel to stay fitted while the trim is removed or fitted, Fitting the trims incorrectly will not make any difference, other than possibly damage to the tyre valve.
Personally I would avoid a garage that can't fit a wheel trim properly, they would not be trusted to wash, let alone anything else on my cars.

 

[varesecrazy]

Wish you'd typed that 3 hours ago

 

[DaveMcT]

Prime and paint the wheels in silver and you wont need wheel trims. Search eBay for a centre cap trim to dress up the crummy looking hub retaining bolts.

 

[Gman88667733]

Thanks chaps. Changing the front pads at the weekend anyway, so the wheels will now be coming off. Got to take the rear drums after that... They were last stripped in 2017 according to the service history I have.

 

[rmjbn1]

Prime and paint the wheels in silver and you wont need wheel trims.

+1
Yes, do it! I did this (only in white) soon after getting my Panda. A wheel balance weight was pushing my plastic trim away from the rim, giving me that wobbly-wheel look. Can't live with that
Join the steel wheel revolution

 

[Gman88667733]

Changed the front pads today. The old ones looked so old, they were really stuck into their holders and the outside label/coating of them were melted, all 4 of them. They still had a reasonable about of material left, but they were squealing on hard braking.
With the wheels off, I could see that the front springs are getting on a bit, a few areas of flaky paint on them. Also the rubber gaiter for the shock absorber (I think) didn't seem to be doing much at least on the driver side, it moved freely up and down. I've had a look online and second hand complete struts are about £30 each side. So that may be one of the next jobs, as well as the rear springs.

 

[Gman88667733]

Also, there was a slight grinding sound of pad on disk as I span the wheel after putting it all back together. Is this just because the new pads haven't really mated to the surface yet? It didn't really spin particularly freely, it stopped after a few turns. It drove fine when I took it out, no noise when braking or moving.


Edit - worth noting that the brakes haven't had any sort of servicing since 2017 according to my records (that was the rear brakes) everything with the front brakes was very much rusted and stuck. I suppose the callipers could be sticking maybe? But Mpg is good currently and the wheels never feel hot.

 

[DaveMcT]

The wear lip on brake discs can make a rubbing noise when new pads are fitted. For what Panda solid discs cost, you might as well fit pads and discs at the same time.

 

[Gman88667733]

The wear lip on brake discs can make a rubbing noise when new pads are fitted. For what Panda solid discs cost, you might as well fit pads and discs at the same time.

I know, I should’ve done the discs as well really.
I think I definitely need some fresh brake fluid too, the pedal has always been a bit spongey, and still is the same now.
The fluid almost looks a bit milky in the reservoir.

 

[DaveMcT]

Open the bleed nipples when pushing the brake piston back. This expels the old fluid.

Pump the master reservoir down but don't go too far as low levels can allow air to suck in.

Top up carefully to avoid mixing the fluid.

Pump it though until the flow is clean.

Repeat at all brakes taking care to keep the reservoir full.


Ideally replace each bleed nipple but coat the threads (end to end) with a good high solids copper grease. Keep the sealing tip clean of course. This will protect the threads from seizing up. Some will say this risks contaminating the brake fluid. However if you don't shove the stuff into the caliper female thread, any excess will be pushed out as the bleed nipple screws in.

 

[Gman88667733]

What I did want to ask, was that when the front was jacked up and the wheel was off, I had to start the engine to rotate the caliper so I could see a bit better. When I started the engine, it all started rotating as if it was moving. The car was in neutral obviously. It was only the one side that was jacked up. Why would this be? Not sure if the opposite side did it too as I had no need to start the engine on that side.

I've never had this happen before? Revving the engine a touch seemed to make it all spin faster too.

 

[DaveMcT]

What I did want to ask, was that when the front was jacked up and the wheel was off, I had to start the engine to rotate the caliper so I could see a bit better. When I started the engine, it all started rotating as if it was moving. The car was in neutral obviously. It was only the one side that was jacked up. Why would this be? Not sure if the opposite side did it too as I had no need to start the engine on that side.

I've never had this happen before? Revving the engine a touch seemed to make it all spin faster too.

It's the differential. Stop one side and the free side will rotate. To be honest all you had to do was put the gearbox in neutral.