Center caps rattling!!

[discbrks]

Even thought the ol' girl has 397K on her, I'm trying to find & fix all the ticks and rattles that drive me crazy. The most annoying noise right now is coming from the left front wheel center cap. I can hear it when I roll the window down. Is there a way to tighten them up? I have the factory Ford alcoa-type wheels. I haven't pulled it off to look yet, but I was hoping someone else had encountered this.

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

I have the same type of clicking coming from the left front wheel. Mine is 4x4, and the clicking and rattling is coming from a worn U-joint. Since yours is 2wd, you should check the bearings. I also have American Racing aluminum wheels and the center caps have a bit of movement in them, causing them to rattle. Bending the lip a bit should help that rattle, I just haven't done it yet...

Gary

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Even thought the ol' girl has 397K on her, I'm trying to find & fix all the ticks and rattles that drive me crazy. The most annoying noise right now is coming from the left front wheel center cap. I can hear it when I roll the window down. Is there a way to tighten them up? I have the factory Ford alcoa-type wheels. I haven't pulled it off to look yet, but I was hoping someone else had encountered this.

All of my factory center caps rattled, so I put some elctrical tape around all four of the fingers and it seemed to help. Be really careful putting them on, I put one finger in the slot, line up the other twonext to that finger, then use a bent hook tool (wire coat hanger works just fine too) to push in the last keeper before pushing the center cap on. The dufus who had my wheels prior to me decided to just keeping pushing the centers on over and over again without making sure the last finger was inserted into the slot until he bent/cracked most of the fingers. I hate it when people booger stuff up before I get it. Did I mention those center caps are freaking expensive?

 

[GREASE FIRE]

Even thought the ol' girl has 397K on her, I'm trying to find & fix all the ticks and rattles that drive me crazy. The most annoying noise right now is coming from the left front wheel center cap. I can hear it when I roll the window down. Is there a way to tighten them up? I have the factory Ford alcoa-type wheels. I haven't pulled it off to look yet, but I was hoping someone else had encountered this.

is that 397K miles on the original engine? if so you may hold the record on this forum, or at least be close to it.

 

[towcat]

is that 397K miles on the original engine? if so you may hold the record on this forum, or at least be close to it.

that's avg for here.
there's quite a few guys with more miles on their motors.
I had one hydro on me at 650k. It had a leaking head gasket for 200k and no oil changes for 2 years(roughly 140k).

 

[FordGuy100]

I had one hydro on me at 650k. It had a leaking head gasket for 200k and no oil changes for 2 years(roughly 140k).

Thats crazy, especially no oil changes for 100K+ miles.

 

[gsgIDI]

Hi,
This may sound silly, but when I was younger Im telling my age tin foil was put inside the caps to get them to stop making noise. Maybe it was to take up space so it would not rattle you might try that and see if that helps, used to drive the highway patrol (DPS) nuts here till they changed radar guns. gsgIDI

 

[dakotajeep]

Remove them.....at least thats what I did. I hate flair.....

 

[RLDSL]

Clean them up and slap a few dabs of clear silicone in there and let it sit overnight. They'll be good and tight.
We used to use that trick on chrome hub caps on big tricks all the time.

 

[Diesel JD]

You sure there aren't any rocks or valve stem caps in the beauty rings or center caps???

 

[discbrks]

I snatched off the center cap and found that the wire (spring) that goes between the 4 clips had been knocked out of its groove (does that make sense?). So it was just a matter of sticking it back in the groove and BINGO!, no more noise. Now on to other rattles... such as the passenger side of the dash. But that's a new post.