Strut bearing dust cap color

[bnam]

Which years had black caps and which had grey?

thx,

Byas

[Napes]

Not sure when they had black, but all of my squarelites have had grey, two of which (my '75 and my wife's '76, but I'm not sure about the '74 my son had) I know were the original.

Bob Napier

[Beck180]

I am also very interested in this answer. Mine we a terrible rattle can blue when I picked them. I saw a few images with the caps gray, so I painted mine the same.

[cj]

The only time I had seen black strut caps was on a Turbo. It also had black dog dish covers on the back of the headlight.

[ziff73]

My 69 1600 has black. Don't know if they're original, though. One's chewed up...grrr

[alpinaguy]

Early 2002's and 1600's had the black. Not sure the cutoff year but my early roundies have the black.

[TobyB]

everything before 1974 had black in my world... never even seen a grey one!

t

[cbgii]

Have a '73 and the caps are black - look original.

[ClayW]

I just pulled two black caps off of a `72 2002.

My `67 1600 has black caps, too.

[malagalaga]

I don't think you can get the black ones any more. I ordered two new grey ones from BMW... they were a bitch to put on!

[bnam]

So, Black till 73, gray from 74-on, but Black now NLA.

[ClayW]

they were a bitch to put on!

Dab a little grease on `em.

[John_in_VA]

but I've only seen gray ones available since the mid-'80s. I don't like the way the gray ones turn black at the bottom, so paint them entirely black.

[malagalaga]

they were a bitch to put on!

Dab a little grease on `em.

Oh man, I put grease on them, warmed them up, put dish soap on them... maybe I need to work out more.

[Mike Self]

Roundies: black caps

Squarelights: grey caps, sometimes painted/dyed black.

That being said...the black caps have been NLA for many years, so many roundies now have grey caps as they've been the only replacements available.

Also neither cap fits very well on the newer strut bearings as supplied by BMW and others--and if you try to force 'em on they'll split. I made an adapter from a plastic plumbing pipe fitting and a piece of bicycle inner tube (don't laugh, it works) so I can use the OEM dust caps on the newer strut bearings.

cheers

mike