Replacement Center Covers

From Fozzee.net

A few weeks back, I noticed that my Jetta was missing the aluminum logo out of the center of the bolt cover on my right front wheel. I wasn't sure what model of wheel I had, so I did some checking and determined what my car was equipped with the "Avus" wheel (Which some people refer to as the AvusII, to differentiate it from the Avus available on the Mk1 Jetta). I didn't notice it at the time, but that site also supplies the center cap part number (which I found with Google, afterwards). The part number is "1J0 601 149(B)".

I did some looking, and found prices ranging from $30 each (Dealer List) to around $17 each (Impex, if I recall). I decided to check eBay, and found a few guys selling used ones, but I didn't really want to go that route (and they weren't much cheaper anyhow. Basically what happens is that the glue holding the badge on gets old and dry, and just lets go. I could have found just the logo part (around $10, ebay), and glued it on myself, but that seemed like effort.

Further searching found a place on ebay selling a set of 4 for around $16 shipped. I wondered what was up, until I noticed that they shipped from Hong Kong. Hmmm... Maybe "fakes" (the seller was clear that they were reproduction/aftermarket)... They looked like the right thing, and the part numbers matched, so I figured "what the heck"... Worst case, I bought the metal badges for $4 each and could glue them onto my existing covers as needed.

Parts showed up on Friday; I tossed one on the car, and took the photos below. The plastic pan seems a bit warped, but the molding is virtually identical. Differences include:

• The font (for the markings on the back) of the OE part is a bit more bold, though the characters seem to float a bit. The replacement parts' text is nice and straight, character to character.
• The color of the plastic is a bit lighter on the replacement part, though this could be a result of age on the OE unit. The painted surfaces are virtually identical.
• The "run data" block on the OE part has a stamping defect, though it seems to be properly filled out. The replacement unit has no data in the boxes.
• The replacement molding has a bit of flashing around the outside edge (on some of the parts), and the design seems a bit more robust overall, with thicker ridges and flanges.

Overall, I'm very pleased, for $4 each. I have a few hundred miles on the new part, and it seems to stay attached to the wheel just fine.

Below are photos for your comparison.