Should I use hubcaps on my car?

Question

I have a 1996 Dodge Intrepid and while I was looking for black rims on craigslist I came across a hubcap. Never hearing of a hubcap ( I'm new to cars ) I looked into it. Now I'm wondering if it will just fit over my tires. They look like these:

http://www.focushacks.com/images/shrink_jack2.JPG

the only thing is they are black. Will the hubcaps go over those? Or do i need something else? Also, are hubcaps not recommended because I've never heard of anyone using them? Because I'm on a low budget :P

Answer 1

I think you are referring to wheelcovers. Hub caps are much smaller and just fit over the center of the wheel. And that is not a tire that you are showing us; that is a wheel. The tire is the rubber that you put on the wheel.

You can but a cheap set of wheelcover at WalMart for about $20.00 and they will fit these wheels just fine.

Answer 2

okay, well your going to have to find out how many inches your current rims are, then you get hub caps, which are plastic to fit onto the right size, there are alot of videos on google about hubcap instalation. hub caps are very common, every modern car that is purchased at the minimal trim level, (that is, with no fancy features such as power locks, power doors, a/c, sun roofs, painted handles /bumpers/molding etc.) are all outfitted with plastic hub caps, which are just there to cover up the black rims you have righ tnow, and make them look a bit nicer. they ar enot necessary, and it is not necessary to change what you have right now, its just something that you might want to do to make your intrepid look a bit nicer.

hope that helps!

i must add, that the gentleman below me is mistaken, his second link is actually of a hub cap, and that it what you would be looking at as a cheap alternative to steel alloy rims. hub caps basically are desinged to mimic the look of a steel alloy rim such as this

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_ima...

where as hubcaps are like this

http://cwguy.com/wp-images/upload/File/2...

so as you can see, they appear to look like the more expensive steel rims, but really they are cheap, yes, usually under 20 dollars at places such as canadian tire and wal mart. hope that clarifies some things.