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A hubcap, wheel cover or wheel trim is a decorative disk on an automobile wheel
that covers at least a central portion of the wheel. Cars with stamped steel
wheels often use a full wheel cover that conceals the entire wheel. Cars with
alloy wheels or styled steel wheels generally use smaller hubcaps, sometimes
called center caps. Alternatively, wheel cover refers to an accessory covering
an external rear-mounted spare tire (also known as a spare tire cover) found on
some off-road or survival-type vehicles.
History
The first hubcaps were more commonly known as dust or grease caps. These caps
threaded onto the center hub on the wood, steel, or wire wheel. These were made
from the beginning to 1932. Pre-1915 were all mostly made of brass that was
nickel plated. The 1920s were all mostly aluminium. Grease caps off of the wire
wheel brands such as Houk, Hayes, Frayer, Dayton, Buffalo, House, Phelps, Pasco,
Rudge Whitworth, Budd, and Stewart are some of the hardest to find. When a
customer went to buy the wire wheels, the make of the vehicle would be stamped
in the center. In the 1927 to 1928 time, the first snap-on center caps were
being made on the wire wheels. After 1932, most every car had a snap-on style
center cap on the middle of their wire, steel or wood wheels. Wire wheel center
caps in the 30s had a spring-loaded retention clip system that has been used on
many hubcaps and center caps on every style of car and truck to present day.
Steel wheels in the 30s had retention clips mounted to the wheel that snapped
into a lip in the back of the cap. Wood wheels were a special option. The caps
on these had a large chrome base that mushroomed up to another smaller chrome
base that would have the emblem on the face. The "stem" up to the second base
was usually painted black to make it look as if the top base was floating. These
caps were usually made of brass, steel, or aluminium. In 1935 the first full
wheel covers were being produced to fit over the entire wheel except for a small
bit of the outer lip. Cord and Hudson were the makers. Cord made a plain chrome
wheel cover that had a smooth top and holes in the side. The Hudson wheel cover
was flat with a lip half way to the middle and the center would say "Hudson",
"Hudson Eight", or "Terraplane". This configuration differs from the "knock-off"
spinners found on some racing cars and cars equipped with true wire wheels.
While the knock-off spinner resembles an early hubcap, its threads also retain
the wheel itself, in lieu of lug nuts.
When pressed steel wheels became common by the 1940s, these were often painted
the same colour as the car body. Hubcaps expanded in size to cover the lug nuts
that were used to mount these steel wheels. These hubcaps were typically made
from chrome-plated or stainless steel. The next development was, as an option on
more expensive cars, a chrome-plated trim ring that clipped onto the outer rim
of the wheel, in addition to the center hubcap. Finally came the full wheel
cover, which of course covered the entire wheel.
By this time, specialty wheels of magnesium or aluminium alloy had come onto the
market, and wheel covers were a cheap means of imitating the styling of those.
Plastic wheel covers (known in the UK as wheel trims) appeared in the 1970s and
became mainstream in the 1980s. Plastic has largely replaced steel as the
primary material for manufacturing hubcaps and trims, and where steel wheels are
still used, the wheels are now generally painted black so the wheel is less
visible through cut outs in the wheel trim. On modern automobiles, full-wheel
hubcaps are most commonly seen on budget models and base trim levels, while
upscale and performance-oriented models use alloy wheels. Modern aluminium alloy
wheels generally use small removable center caps, similar in size to the
earliest hubcaps.
Characteristics and design
Often a hubcap will bear the trademark or symbol of the maker of the automobile
or the maker of the hubcap. Early hubcaps were often chrome plated, and many had
decorative, non-functional spokes. Hubcaps were immortalized in the Art Deco
styling of the spire of the Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan.
Part of the lore of hubcaps is that on bad roads they have a tendency of falling
off due to hitting a bump. Center caps, however, fall off less frequently than
older full wheel covers, which were often quite heavy. In the southwest of the
U.S., and in Mexico, there were lots of automotive garages whose walls were
decorated with all sorts of hubcaps that had fallen off in the vicinity; they
were often for sale. This problem persists today in spite of the many different
retention systems that have been engineered. Hubcaps generally use either
clip-on retention, where some type of spring steel clip (or plastic clip in the
case of plastic hubcaps) engages a groove in the wheel; or bolt-on retention,
where a threaded fastener retains the hubcap, or a plastic washer attached to
the lug nut itself holds the hubcap on. Honda and, to a lesser degree, Hyundai
tend to use the latter system. Clip-on hubcaps tend to pop off suddenly when the
wheel impacts a pothole or curb stone, while bolt-on hubcaps are more likely to
vibrate loose over time, and tend to rattle and squeak. To prevent loss, many
owners attach plastic wheel trims to the wheel itself using an electrical zip
tie, which are sold in a silver colour for this very purpose. Enterprising
manufacturers also sell a small kit consisting of spare zip ties, a pair of
cutting pliers and latex gloves to allow a trim thus secured to be removed
easily in the event of a puncture.
In the U.S., during the age of custom cars (1950s–early 1960s), decorating one
car with the wheel covers from another was common. Two very desirable wheel
covers were those of the 1950 Cadillac (called the "Sombrero") and that of
the 1953 to 1955 Oldsmobile, which resembled a huge, three-tined spinner.
Aftermarket suppliers included the "Mooneyes" brand (named after the firm's
founder Dean Moon) hubcaps and wheel covers that were some of the first
independently offered for hot rods and custom cars.
Another variant of the wheel cover is that commonly manufactured by the German
wheel making brand BBS. These are attached on to the wheel first, then bolted on
as if the driver/mechanic is bolting the wheel to his car in the manner of
changing their wheel. Commonly made from aluminium, they are designed to
distribute airflow, therefore generating down force depending on the shape. Thus,
these wheel covers are functional rather than merely decorative. Although they
have been used since the 1970s, a carbon fibre variant has found its way into
Formula One when it was used by Scuderia Ferrari whom BBS supply its wheels to.
Non-rotating hubcap
A non-rotating hubcap retains the same orientation even when a vehicle is in
motion. This allows for messages or advertising to be placed on the hubcap and
be read even while a car is moving. Non-rotating hubcaps with advertisements may
be found on race cars, taxis, commercial vehicles, industrial machinery, buses,
and golf carts.
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