| This article is dedicated to the humble evolution of the | | | | snowstorms! |
| car rim center cap. Another name for the car rim | | | | The newer versions (1970-80s) of center caps often |
| center cap is wheel center cap or hub cap or dog dish | | | | used fake plastic lug nuts. The latter can be screwed |
| or wheel cap or plain center cap. Automakers came | | | | down to the real lug nuts. They also hold the hub and |
| up with the concept of center caps or hub caps | | | | the wheel center caps together. However, there is a |
| because they needed something to cover and protect | | | | problem with this system. |
| the car wheel's hub portion. The hub portion of a car | | | | There are plastic threads attached to these center |
| wheel is that portion where you screw down the lug | | | | caps which get entangled very easily and become |
| nuts. | | | | criss crossed. As a result they can't put any pressure |
| The size of a car hub can vary a lot. Generally 2 | | | | on the cap and so the center cap can easily fall off |
| inches to 10 inches is the normal size of the diameter | | | | and jounce along the road beside your speeding car! |
| of a car hub. It was in the early years of the 20th | | | | Many times, people have mistakenly thought these |
| century that hub caps came into use. In the early | | | | wheel center caps lying on the roads as UFOs that |
| years of its inception, the hub caps were fitted into | | | | have landed on the freeway! |
| place like a snap through the use of clips that were | | | | The early origins of the ubiquitous hub cap can be |
| built on the caps' rear side. | | | | traced back to the hub cap that was required to |
| And how did these caps stay in their places? These | | | | protect and cover the center cap from dust and keep |
| caps used a force fit system that helped them to stay | | | | the grease in. These first autos which used the hubcap |
| put in their respective places. The problem with center | | | | (the technically correct term), were built of wooden |
| caps that are held on to place by clips is that they get | | | | spokes and resembled a wagon wheel or a buggy. |
| easily dislodged by a good bump and get flung off | | | | Thus the hubcap doubles up as a dust cover and |
| when you hit a speed breaker with great momentum. | | | | protector of grease. Its purpose was purely functional |
| Many times it has been seen that a hub cap has fallen | | | | during those times and even during the late twenties |
| off from your car wheels and is bouncing down the | | | | and early thirties during the period of steel wire spoke |
| road while you speed off! Imagine your consternation | | | | wheels. After the thirties, these caps were used for |
| when you have to stop the car and run back to fetch | | | | ornamentation. |
| the hub cap in scorching heat or pelting rain or in | | | | |