The other day we saw a car that that had shiny black wheels and they were trimmed in bright red. Claire said, “those are mighty fancy hubcaps.” Of course people around our age do usually refer to the part of the car’s wheels that you see, as hubcaps — of maybe if you’re a little younger, you call them wheel covers.
But are they called hubcaps or wheel covers? Is there a difference? And do cars today have hubcaps or wheel covers?
The wheels and tires on cars have changed a lot since I was young. I remember that all tires had tubes inside them — that’s the thing that held the air. But then someone came up with the tubeless tire, and there aren’t many, if any, car or truck tires that have tubes…. I think bicycles still have tubes in their tires. Until I was well into adulthood, almost all car tires had “whitewalls.” I remember when you washed the car, you had to do the tires because the whitewall always got dirty — I think SOS pads were the preferred tool for cleaning them.
But anyhow, today most all cars come with what’s called alloy wheels — rarely do we see “wheel covers.” Most wheels still have hubcaps, but they look a little different than what I grew up calling hubcaps.
“Modern” cars, for a long time, used metal wheels — the part without the tires. When steel wheels were the thing, manufacturers used hubcaps to protect them from corrosion. Steel is susceptible to rust, especially when being covered with debris from the road — and salt in the winter. But hubcaps didn’t cover the whole wheel — they were only used to cover the center part — the part that attaches to the wheel hub. That’s the part that contains the bolts that the wheel attaches to. Hubcaps only cover that center area, and the early one were simple and looked like a plate.
Today’s alloy wheels still cover that area with the bolts but the modern term is center caps — not hubcaps.
Now on to wheel covers — these cover the whole wheel and are usually only used for steel wheels and only serve a cosmetic purpose. Even though they cover the wheel, they don’t really offer much protection from dirt or debris.
So what’s the point of all this? As usual, there is no point — I just thought it was interesting the way automotive technology — and terms — have evolved over the years. I guess just like everything else, as things change it creates confusion over terminology
But — if you were paying attention as you read, I have now set you straight about hubcaps, wheel covers and wheels.
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