Center Caps - Put The Finishing Touch On Your Car

Car manufacturers have a lot of branding options when it comes to making 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. These are called wheel center caps, and sadly, they tend to be a minor casualty of the various bumps and scrapes that cars get into as a normal course of operation.

If you've got a car that's missing a wheel center cap, it looks a little bit odd - the wheels are mismatched, the lug nuts may or may not be exposed, and it looks a little bit unfinished. Fortunately, there's a thriving after market of replacement caps that can be purchased and put on your car. These can range from original factory replacements to custom wheel caps built around a theme. It is the little details that make a car look finished, and one of the best ways to improve the resale value of your car is to replace the wheel caps - it's something that most people subconsciously react to as a sign for 'well cared for vehicle'.

Some people will do some digging and discover that several different sizes of wheels have common cap mounting points; there's something of a sense of humor required to put a Cadillac Escalade center caps on the hubs of a VW Jetta, but they will attach there. Most manufactured wheel caps are made from chrome moly alloy, some are made from extruded aluminum or stamped stainless steel.

Beyond buying factory replacements, there are companies that will sell custom wheel caps - these can be decorative in a lot of ways. Some use licensed logos (like the logo of a favorite sports franchise or college campus), others are more artistic, covering religious or musical themes. Others can be personalized; it's possible to get wheel center caps done up (usually in ABS plastic) with nearly any kind of artwork you desire, say your initials, or a message you believe in. (We've seen SUVs with "Holding back glaciers" on theirs....)

If you're buying a custom set of wheel center caps, it's important to know the diameter of your tires, and to know how the caps attach before you buy. Fortunately, there's a lot of information available online on this - you can look up your model of car, find the size of the tires, and find out if they're a four, five or six nut attachment system, or if they're a screw on wheel center cap or an appliqué system.

Remember that in addition to decoration, wheel center caps also protect the nuts that hold your wheel on the car from corrosion; this can be handy when you have to pull a tire. Nothing is less pleasant than prying rusted off lugnuts in the rain when you have to change a flat - so keep that vital protection function in mind.