Talk:Hubcap

--Umm...How exactly is the Chrysler Building responsible for immortalizing hub caps? This article doesn't explain it and niether does the Chrysler Building article.

Uh, aren't these more properly wheelcovers, whereas the hubcap is a dust-cover for the axle bearing? I'd recommend this be moved to Wheelcover and a redirect to it created under Hubcap. Blair P. Houghton 21:00, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I've never heard of wheelcover. Is it an americanism? Arcturus 21:15, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I've never heard of wheelcover either, and I'm American. My dictionary, Webster's NewWorld Dictionary, Second College Edition, 1982, doesn't have "wheelcover". Under "hubcap" it says

"a tightfitting metal cap for the hub of a wheel, esp. of an automobile"

Dbenbenn 21:23, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Google test: 6800 for wheelcover [1], 213000 for hubcap [2]. Dbenbenn 21:56, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Apparently a wheelcover is something that covers a spare tire [3] or a steering wheel [4] Dbenbenn 21:59, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Okay. Make it Wheel cover instead of "Wheelcover". Wheel covers [5] are often mistaken for hub caps. A hub cap is the dust-cap for the axle bearing. Many cars have a small hub cap that's hidden under the wheel cover along with the lugnuts and the rim. It's usually a dirty little cup-shaped thing. Some cars without wheel covers have large hub caps with chrome and logos and whatnot. In some cases the hub cap and wheel cover are combined into one unit [6] (that site also shows "wheel discs", probably a precursor to the wheel cover; huh...you learn something new every day researching for the wikipedia). At any rate, the entire online auto parts industry now uses them synonymously, because they're trying to make a sale to a guy who works on his own car, not improve his diction. So now we need one article (Wheel cover) and two or three redirects and/or articles with See-also sections pointing to it (Hub cap/Hubcap, Wheel disc). Blair P. Houghton 23:19, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

"Wheel cover" − "steering wheel cover" gets 162000 Google hits [7], and some of those are for things other than hubcaps, such as spare tire covers. Hence, I think the article should remain at "Hubcap". Certainly I'd have nothing against redirects from the pages you mentioned, Hub cap, Wheel disc, and Wheel cover. Dbenbenn 02:19, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I shoulda thought of this sooner: go over to NapaOnline.Com and put "hub cap" and "wheel cover" into the search box. Google can't tell you the truth; it can only tell you what the people on the internet think is the truth; and the truth about the word "hub cap" is that it has become confused with "wheel cover". If the Hub cap link has text in it at all, it should be about hub caps and not wheel covers; and anything about wheel covers should be over under Wheel cover Blair P. Houghton 06:14, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Okay, you have a point, napaonline.com appears to use "wheel cover" and not "hubcap" [8]. But the truth is that most people use the word "hubcap" to refer to the thing pictured in the article. Consider what dictionary.com has to say about it: wheel cover versus hubcap. Wikipedia is supposed to be descriptivist, not prescriptivist. Hence, I still think the article should remain at hubcap, with a redirect from wheel cover.

But you can certainly edit the article to say something like "what most people call a hubcap is more properly termed a wheel cover. A proper hubcap is the following...". You could write about how the meanings of "hubcap" and "wheel cover" have changed over time; how they've gotten confused, or whatever. Do you have a source for this point of view? Dbenbenn 07:33, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

They are known as hub caps or wheel trims in the UK, so I've added in wheel trim into the article. --Happynoodleboy 14:48, 6 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a great article on the history of the American hubcap. It might help. History of American Hubcaps--Needferspeed 17:00, 26 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

hubcaps for bicycles?

"This guy freaks out when the judges tell him his invention sucks, in the end he needs to be escorted out by the security" http://www.makemelol.com/media/271/Crazy_Guy_Reinvents_the_Wheel/ I'm curious, is there really already this kind of thing to add to bicycles, to help keep automobile drivers aware of the presence of a bike? (I am presuming that is the reason he was talking about saving lives, etc.) 199.214.27.209 18:14, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This article is incorrect

This article seems to confuse hubcap and wheel trim which are compleely seperate things. A hubcap only covers the centre of the wheel and is a functional peice designed o keep the wheel where as a wheel trim is what coverse the wheel for decorative purposes. this article is therefore completely wrong and needs a re-right and a new article on wheel trims. (Morcus (talk) 01:51, 15 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]

A hubcap is a cap that covers the entire rim that is meant for decorative purposes only.

A wheel cover is a cap that covers the entire wheel with no holes or gaps with exception to the air-valve hole. Its purpose is to keep dust and dirt away from the wheel parts.

A trim ring is a ring that fits on the outer portion of a rim. This is also a decorative part but can also guard the wheel from curbs if necessary.

A center cap is a cap that fits in the center of the rim and does not attach or touch the outer rim. These are meant to keep dust away from the lug nuts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MRhubcapCOLORADO (talk • contribs) 17:24, 15 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Steel wheels

There needs to be an article about the Steel wheel, to complement this. Currently, it's a redirect to something about cards, which isn't exactly useful. "Styled steel wheels" (as this article puts it) are only covered from one PoV in the Rostyle wheel article. That article needs to be made generic.--Rfsmit (talk) 21:33, 1 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hub Cap versus Wheel Cover

On the painted steel wheels that were standard on most American cars starting in the 1930's or 1940's, a hub cap covered only the hub (the center) of the wheel, including the lug nuts. A wheel cover covered the entire wheel except for about an inch of the outermost rim.

Since at least the 1960's, cars that came from the factory with wheel covers have had black wheels under those covers, regardless of the color of the car. I can think of two posssible reasons for this:

It is cheaper to paint all the wheels the same color than to paint them to match the cars.
A black rim blends in with the black tire and is invisible until you get very close to the car. If the bare rim is a bright color, then it will be plainly visible between the tire and the wheel cover.

For example: the first photo in the article 1960 Ford is a 1960 Ford Sunliner convertible. It has a white body, a red interior, and red wheels with wheel covers and wide-white-wall tires. The bare red wheel-rims are clearly visible between the chrome wheel covers and the wide-white-walls of the tires. (The white-walls on these tires are so wide that white wheels would actually be less visible than either black wheels or the red wheels that are in the photo.)

In the 1980's or 1990's, carmakers began using plastic wheel covers on some cars. These too have black wheels under them, regardless of the color of the car. Once again, I can think of two posssible reasons:

Whatever the decade, it is cheaper to paint all the wheels the same color than to paint them to match the cars.
Many of the plastic wheel covers have slots or other openings in them. Black wheels are less visible through the slots than any other color would be.

All of this is based on my personal observations, not on any published source that I can cite. That's why I am putting it here instead of in the article.Ftfrk61 (talk) 18:28, 13 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hub Cap versus Wheel Cover (continued)

Something I forgot to write in my first entry: a plastic wheel cover covers the entire wheel, including the outermost rim. None of the wheel is visible unless the plastic wheel cover has slots or other openings, as described above.Ftfrk61 (talk) 14:21, 19 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wheelcovers (one word) versus Wheel Covers (two words)

In the accessible part of my car brochure collection, I have 2 brochures that use "wheelcovers" (one word) and 15 brochures that use "wheel covers" (two words). I also have 3 brochures, all for Oldsmobiles, that use "wheel discs". Those 3 brochures are the only ones I've ever seen that use "wheel discs".FFPC161260 (talk) 12:03, 26 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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