Wheel Center Caps: Not Only Needed But Fashionable
Car manufacturers have a lot of branding options when it amounts to getting cars look like they’re part of a specific manufacturing line; the car’s logo or the company’s logo appears on a lot of places. One of them is on the center of the wheel. This is named a wheel centre cap, and sadly, they tend to be a minor casualty of the numerous bumps and scrapes that cars get into as a normal course of operation.
If you’ve got a car that’s lacking a wheel centre cap, it appears a little bit odd – the wheels are mismatched, the lug nuts may or may not be exposed, and it looks a little bit incomplete. Luckily, there’s a flourishing after market of substitute center caps that can be bought and put on your car. These can extend from original factory substitutions to custom-made wheel caps made around a motif. It is the little points that make a car look complete, and one of the easiest ways to improve the resale value of your car is to put back the wheel caps – it’s something that most people subconsciously respond to as a sign for ‘well cared for vehicle’.
You don’t even have to match your wheel centre cap to your make of automobile, since many wheels have similar mounting points common between different manufacturers. It may be ridiculous to place Toyota center caps on the rims of a GEO, but it’s perfectly achievable. Most mass-produced wheel caps are made from chrome moly alloy, but you are not restricted to only chrome as some are made from extruded aluminum or stamped stainless steel.
Beyond purchasing factory substitutes, there are companies that will sell custom wheel caps – these can be cosmetic in a lot of ways. Some use authorized logos (like the logo of a favorite sports franchise or college campus), others are more artistic, embracing religious or musical ideas. Others can be individualized; it’s feasible to get a center cap done up (usually in ABS plastic) with about any kind of art you desire, say your initials, or a message you believe in. (We’ve spotted SUVs with “Holding back glaciers” on theirs…)
Keep in mind, though, that if you’re purchasing a custom-built set of wheel center caps, you’ll need to know the diameter of your tires, in addition to how the caps mount. Since there’s a great deal of information available on the web about this, it shouldn’t be too much trouble. Simply look up the model of your automobile, obtain the size of your tyres, and determine if they’re a four, five or six nut attachment system, or if instead they’re an applique or screw on wheel center cap system.
Remember that in addition to decoration, wheel center caps also protect the lugnuts that hold your wheel on the car from corrosion; this can be critical when you have to pull a tire. Not much is less pleasant than prying rusty lugnuts off in the a downpour when you have to change a flat – so keep that vital protection function in mind.