Putting the Finishing Touch On Your Ride with Wheel Center Caps

By Terence Rehnquist

When it comes to branding options, car manufacturers have a lot of different ways to ensure that cars are marked as a particular manufacturing, such as placing the company or car's logo on a variety of different places. One of the most popular is the center of the wheel, which is called a wheel center cap. Wheel center caps, unfortunately, take a lot of wear and tear through normal, day to day operation, and can often get bumped or scraped.

When a car is missing a center wheel cap it can look a little strange, as it destroys the uniform look of matching wheels and exposes the lug-nuts; it can also cause a car to look slightly unfinished. If this has happened to you you're in luck, as there are now places where you can go to get replacement caps. Your options range from wheel center caps with factory finishes to customized caps. The little details make all the difference when it comes to how you car looks, and an easy way to add to the value of you car - if you're trying to sell it - is to replace damaged or worn caps with new ones.

You don't even need to match your wheel center cap to your brand of car, since many wheels have similar mounting points common between different manufacturers which allow you to put even a Cadillac Escalade's wheel cap onto a VW Jetta. You don't even have to go with the standard chrome-moly alloy, since caps come now in aluminum or stamped stainless steel.

Purchasing factory replacements isn't even the only option. There are numerous companies out there that sell custom wheel caps, many of which are creative and decorative. Some of these have licensed logos, such as your favorite sports team or college campus. Others are more artistic, musical, or even religious in nature. Since wheel caps can be personalized, nearly any kind of artwork you like is possible, such as your initials or message with meaning to you.

Keep in mind, though, that if you're purchasing a custom set of wheel center caps, you'll need to know the diameter of your tires, as well as how the caps attach. Since there's a great deal of information available online about this, it shouldn't be too much trouble. Simply look up the model of your car, find the size of your tires, and determine if they're a four, five or six nut attachment system, or if instead they're an applique or screw on wheel center cap 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 lug-nuts in the rain when you have to change a flat - so keep that vital protection function in mind. - 31488

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