Am I alone in thinking these are (expensive) cheap shit?

Eldest has bought a 2007 ST, one owner from new and with FSH including all the receipts.

The previous owner replaced two of the centres, but they are already bubbling round the outside, like melted plastic, even though they seem to have aluminium covers. My guess is that the aluminium is oxidising and bubbling the lacquer coat.

First thought was just to buy new ones but I have two problems with that:
They are almost Ł20 each, and
They seem to fall off or get stolen very easily.

Anyone else noticed this, or have any suggestions on how to refurb or to make them a bit more secure?

 

shit design big time and they are always being stolen

 

if they are anything like the st170 ones they are aluminium which does come away from the plastic backing if you unbend the clips on the back. I painted mine to match the wheels as the same thing happened to them.

 

double sided tape...

 

I took the misses off, was sick of them going missing everytime she parked in town.

 

Still thinking/looking into screwing mine on

 

Dab of silicone works a treat! Enough to deter but still easy to get off!

 

Removed the aluminium covers today and found lovely sparkly silver paint underneath. 2 of these had been replaced by the previous owner (different date-stamps on the back) and the newest ones were the ones in the worst condition for ths oxidisation or whatever it is.

Also found that the earlier ones had a ring of glue to hold the aluminium to the plastic, but most of it had already let go. The newer pair didn't have any glue at all.

The centres are now back on the car without the aluminium trims and with some bath sealant to (hopefully) keep them where they belong.