Design Details: Plastic Wheel Covers Edition

Kinja'd!!! "Amoore100" (amoore100)
08/27/2015 at 21:12 • Filed to: Design Details, Wheel covers, Volvo

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On Design Details this week is the age old argument of wheel covers. Plastic ones, to be exact. As enthusiasts we have always lambasted the look of a plastic wheel cover, preferring the clean look of a blank steelie. However, for most non-enthusiasts, putting a decorative cover over the filthy black wheel is a high priority. If you had to have plastic wheel covers, which would you choose? (And no posting pictures of old Mercedes metal hubcaps; the topic is plastic wheel covers!)

Personally I felt that Volvo did a decent job with them in the 80’s, so much in fact that as a gullible little kid I took them to be alloys...

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It looks like Volvo has kept the tradition of respectable wheel covers, as these were the ones that came on a ‘05 S/V50...

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So what do you think?

What are the best plastic wheel covers ever made?


DISCUSSION (18)


Kinja'd!!! My citroen won't start > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 21:18

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Kinja'd!!! OPPOsaurus WRX > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 21:19

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you can use the horizontal divider instead of doing the k a n j a thing. its the dots between two lines


Kinja'd!!! TheOnelectronic > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 21:19

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In all seriousness I’d have to go with those first volvos you posted. I love that “Vented disc” look on wheels.


Kinja'd!!! jkm7680 > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 21:19

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These bolted on and had a centercap covering the lugs to prevent them from falling off. They also looked great.


Kinja'd!!! Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 21:26

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Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 21:27

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Mercedes had great hubcaps int the 70s-80s


Kinja'd!!! wafflesnfalafel > My citroen won't start
08/27/2015 at 21:33

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hey - that’s cheating


Kinja'd!!! Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 22:08

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Similar to broken Citroen:

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Kinja'd!!! jjhats > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 22:12

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The only ones I cared for were back when hub caps were aluminum or tin. I have never and will never like the look of cheap plastic hubcaps. My personal favorites:

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Kinja'd!!! Amoore100 > jjhats
08/27/2015 at 22:13

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Well I figured that good plastic examples would be harder to come by, that’s why I specified plastic ones but I’ll give you a pass :)


Kinja'd!!! Amoore100 > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
08/27/2015 at 22:19

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Oh, right...these are some of the coolest wheels ever...there was another variant but I can’t find it on GIS right now...(edit: never mind, Citroen posted the other ones I was speaking of...)


Kinja'd!!! Amoore100 > OPPOsaurus WRX
08/27/2015 at 22:21

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Nice suggestion. I will try it on Used Car Face-Off tomorrow...


Kinja'd!!! Amoore100 > TheOnelectronic
08/27/2015 at 22:22

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I’m hoping the ones you pictured are not a ‘good’ example...although it is better than some others...


Kinja'd!!! If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Amoore100
08/27/2015 at 23:05

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I like these ones from the early 300Cs, they hide the fact that they’re wheel covers very well, you can’t tell until you get up close. They’re even more convincing in chrome.


Kinja'd!!! Amoore100 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
08/27/2015 at 23:28

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I always admired those wheel covers...any wheel cover where it’s hard to tell that there’s a steelie underneath it wins in my book...after all, if it doesn’t do that, what’s the point?


Kinja'd!!! anon-sxmcyecofnu1eocpqsk9iq > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
09/08/2015 at 00:11

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Wait, those are hubcaps?

My whole life is a lie.


Kinja'd!!! Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > anon-sxmcyecofnu1eocpqsk9iq
09/08/2015 at 00:17

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Yes, though that is any alloy underneath, IIRC.


Kinja'd!!! anon-sxmcyecofnu1eocpqsk9iq > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
09/11/2015 at 01:07

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Yeah, clearly there’s metal underneath, but I thought the whole thing was a single piece.