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How do I Choose the Best Truck Hubcaps?

Dan Cavallari
Dan Cavallari

The first and most important step in choosing the best truck hubcaps is to find out which truck hubcaps will fit your truck. Hubcaps come in a wide variety of styles, shapes, and functions, so you must decide which ones will fit your truck before purchasing. You must also decide what the primary purpose of your truck hubcaps will be: some hubcaps are designed purely for aesthetics, while others are designed to protect the lug nuts from grit, dirt, and road salt. Still others are meant to protect components within the wheel, such as the brake calipers. Think carefully about the function of your hubcaps before purchasing.

Check your wheels to find out how many lug nuts are securing the wheel to the vehicle. Some trucks feature five lugs, while others feature six or more. The number of lugs your wheels feature may determine which truck hubcaps will work with your wheels, as many models attach to the wheels by securing a built-in spring or fitting around each lug. Truck hubcaps designed for five lugs will not fit on a six lug wheel, and vice versa. The size of your wheels will also determine which hubcaps will work best for you; hubcaps that are too small will not protect the entire wheel and may not attach securely to the wheel, and hubcaps that are too large most likely will not secure to the wheel at all.

A pickup truck.
A pickup truck.

Some hubcaps cover only the lug nuts at the center of the wheel, while other truck hubcaps will cover the entire outside of the wheel. Choose which design works best for you; caps that cover the lug nuts and center of the wheel are designed to protect the lug nuts from dirt, grime, and road salt, thereby preventing them from seizing up. Hubcaps that cover the entire wheel are designed to protect the lug nuts as well as the rest of the wheel and even the internal components of the wheel, such as the brake calipers. Choose the hubcaps that fit your needs, and remember that caps that fit over the entire wheel are usually more noticeable, so choosing a visually appealing design may be more important.

If your truck is more of a show vehicle rather than a utilitarian one, you may want to choose chrome hubcaps, spinner hubcaps, or other, more visually appealing styles. Chrome hubcaps are very popular because they are shined to a high gloss that draws attention to the vehicle. Spinner hubcaps are more of a novelty that also draw attention to an already flashy vehicle.

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    • A pickup truck.
      By: Len Green
      A pickup truck.