Most car owners are quite oblivious to the parts that go into, on, and around the vehicle. While most parts have their own technical names, people commonly generalize those names that can create a lot of confusion, such as with hubcaps and wheel covers. Most car owners think they are the same, but they are actually quite different.
Hubcap
The real part of a hubcap on your car is covering the hub portion of the wheels. This is the part where the wheel is mounted on the hub and the nuts are attached or screwed on. The hub caps generally do not cover the entire wheel. They actually fit in this region of the center axle and range from 2 to 10 inches in diameter, depending primarily on the size of the wheel.
The hubcaps are designed to easily attach to the wheel or hub area by snapping into place. This type of system has been around since the dawn of vehicles in order to provide easy access to the nuts that hold the wheel in place. Some hubcap systems used additional plastic lugs that would fit and thread onto the bolts, however the threads on the plastic wear out and cross easily. When the threads break, grip is lost, causing the hub cup to jump off the wheel.
Today, the most popular model found in stores uses a snap or circular wire, tension, and clips to hold the hub cap flush with the hub. This forced fit prevents the hubcap from breaking off and flying off.
Vehicle wheel covers
This is where the confusion falls to a lot of people, as the wheel cover is very different from the hub cup. Unlike the hubcap which covers only part of the wheel, the wheelcap actually extends and covers the entire wheel.
Many modern vehicles will invest in quality wheel systems, such as pickup trucks that use precision-cut magnetic alloy wheels designed not only to be rugged but also aesthetically pleasing. However, most other cars are designed from an economic point of view. Many of these inexpensive vehicle options are designed with simple steel wheels. These are inexpensive and easy to produce in line assembly.
While plain steel wheels are easy to produce and fit most vehicle styles, they tend to be extremely unappealing. For this style of wheel, a hubcap would not sufficiently cover the overall design. This is where the wheel cover becomes a popular choice.
Wheel covers come in a variety of styles and are made from quality metals with intricate designs to simple plastic that serves the sole purpose of covering your wheel … and not much else.
While hubcaps have been a part of American automotive culture since the early 1900s, wheel caps have only been around since the early 1950s, when they debuted on American-made vehicles. As technology always advances, Honda improved the design in the 1980s to make it a design that is still used by automakers and car enthusiasts to this day.
