I am embarrassed to even be asking this on here...these caps are like child proof lighters....only children can figure out how to operate them...

Last summer I owned a 500 SL for a few months. I drove the car very little..maybe put 400 miles on it during those months, and I never had any occasion to put air in the tires. I then sold the car to a friend.

A few months later he called me to complain that neither he nor his mechanic could remove the valve stem caps to put air in the tires...This car has Lorinser wheels, and chrome valve stems and caps. Apparently when one tries to unscrew the caps, they simply spin, like the threads are worn out. I could see this on maybe one cap, but all four? No...

So my assumption is there is either some sort of locking device which prevents these chrome caps from being stolen, that needs either a tool or some privy knowledge of some trick needed to remove these. As I do not have access to the car as it is now in florida, I cannot fiddle with it myself...I told my friend I would try to find out for him.... Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

Could the locks be "Avani" type locks?

http://www.avanigroup.com/

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5280BENZ
'07 GL450,'03 CL500

MDE3, try contacting Lorinser for information about the valve stems & caps installed on their wheels.

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Fred Hoelzle

I talked to a major Lorinser distributor...who insisted that there were only threaded caps on their wheels...they were not really interested in helping..suggested replacing the valve stems...a good alternative if my friend could remove these ones without damaging anything else.

"Avani type locks"? Not sure if one can tell from this photo but they might well be..although from memory they do not look identical to what is shown on their website....but the caps are round not hexagonal and are not knurled for grip, and they simply spin when trying to remove. The center of the cap appears to depress, so I thought perhaps there is a special fitting for these to fill without actually removing the caps....

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MDE3, maybe it's a child-proof design. Try pressing the center of the cap while turning it.

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Fred Hoelzle