This might sound like an odd question, but last weekend I competed with my 2008 XKR Portfolio convertible in the Driven Class at a Jaguar Concours d'Elegance event and had points deducted for not having stock tire valve stem caps. My caps were chrome and came with the car when I purchased it used. The judges said they were supposed to be black.

Does anyone know what color the tire valve stem caps were on the Portfolio when it came from the factory and have a picture and/or data sheet that shows them? I don't think the deduction affected my placement, but I am curious.

Thanks

 

Plain black plastic generic caps should suffice. I doubt that there's a Jaguar-specific black plastic valve cap.

Car manufacturers don't use metal tire valve caps because they can corrode onto the thread and become difficult or impossible to remove. You can prevent that from happening by wiping a small dab of Vaseline around the threads before installing the cap.

Plastic caps don't react with the valve stem threads and can't corrode.

 

Could those judges have been wrong, and the OEM caps be silver? I believe this photo is from the Press Release for the 2009 XKR Portfolio. I enlarged it but couldn't make it big enough to tell if the caps are black or silver. Can anyone enlarge it enough to tell?



Good article. Scroll down to the Photo Gallery.
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/jaguar...n-ar52624.html

 

It sure looks black to me, with a little glint of light from the inside hole for the stem.

 

Mine did come with black caps. But the chrome caps I now have were an official factory option, directly from the “Accesories” brochure.

 

I had four of those genuine Jaguar chrome caps with a "Growler" embossed on the cap. All four were stolen over the next couple of years so I bought another set from Jaguar and all those were stolen as well. I now have a set of black plastic caps. People just love Jaguars.

Richard

 

Standard valve caps on XK's without TPMS are black plastic. Vehicles with TPMS are fitted with grey plastic caps. I think chrome caps on a 2008 are likely to have been dealer fitted before delivery rather than from the factory.

The 2014 XK Accessory Brochure lists optional black nuts and five different styles of metal cap.






I can't find an earlier version of the Accessory Brochure to see when these were introduced.

Graham

 

That @GGG …. made me walk into the study to search for the earlier Accessories brochure… just to discover… IT’S GONE!!
Thanks for highlighting my misfortune.

An interesting note, the “Vehicle Personalization Accessories” for the S-Type shows many more options and doodads than the XK ever did…. Ditto for the XJ.

Incidentally, the R-Type logo caps are best… which is why they are on my car.

 

Knomad we would suggest you read the rule book (which will be on your side). That said ,as suggested, there were/are approved accessory caps that would pass. As you did not show a picture of what you have it can be assumed they 'brought attention' due to their look. It is your job to prove your case to the field judges but you may also protest, but you have a limited window to do so. The protest procedure is covered in the rule book. Just out of curiosity how many points were deducted for this? We could not find a by line deduction for that sin. As far as the protest process it is non confrontational and has cleared up a lot of issues over the years. The host club is responsible to get you your score sheets in a timely manner--make sure they do. You might also contact the chief judge and discuss the issue with them.