Wheel Caps

What are Wheel Caps?

Wheel caps are essential vehicle components, serving aesthetic and functional purposes. These small but vital accessories can enhance the appearance of wheels and protect the hub assembly, lug nuts, and bearings from dirt and debris.

Plastic injection moulded wheel caps, often referred to as centre caps, are circular or dome-shaped covers that fit over the centre of a vehicle's wheel, covering the hub assembly. They are primarily used to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the vehicle's wheels, but they also offer functional benefits.

1. Aesthetics: Wheel caps come in various designs and can be customised to match the vehicle's style or branding. They provide a finished, polished look to the wheels, making them visually appealing and uniform with the rest of the vehicle.

2. Protection: Wheel caps protect the hub assembly, lug nuts, and wheel bearings from dust, moisture, and road debris. This helps extend the life of these components.

3. Safety: Wheel caps also contribute to vehicle safety by preventing foreign objects from entering the wheel assembly, which could potentially lead to accidents or damage.

The Wheel Cap Manufacturing Process

1. Design and Prototyping:

   • The process begins with the wheel cap's design, taking into consideration the vehicle's brand and style.

   • CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software is used to create a 3D model of the cap.

   • Prototypes may be developed to test the design for fit and aesthetics before scale production begins.

2. Material Selection:

   • The choice of plastic material for wheel caps is crucial. It needs to be durable, lightweight, and cost-effective. Common materials for injection moulders include ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) and polypropylene.

3. Mould Manufacturing:

   • A mould tool is created from the CAD design before the tool impressions are machined out of steel or aluminium. The finished injection mould consists of two halves, allowing molten plastic to be injected into the space between them.

   • Depending on the size and dimensions of the component, a multi-cavity mould may be preferred. A multi-cavity mould creates multiple components per moulding cycle due to being manufactured with multiple identical mould cavities. Moulding, for example, six, eight, or twelve products per cycle, increases efficiencies, and cost savings can be achieved.

4. Injection Moulding:

   • The selected plastic material is heated until it reaches a molten state within the barrel of an injection moulding machine and is then injected into the mould cavity at high pressure.

   • The plastic takes the shape of the mould cavity and cools down, solidifying into the desired wheel cap shape.

5. Ejection:

   • The moulded wheel caps are then ejected from the mould, usually by some form of automatic means. This could be ejector pins in the mould construction or via an external automation setup.

6. Quality Control:

   • Each wheel cap undergoes inspection for defects, including dimensional accuracy, surface finish, and colour consistency.

7. Post Processing:

   • Additional processes like painting, chrome plating, or other finishings can be applied to the wheel caps for an improved finished aesthetic.

8. Packaging and Distribution:

   • The finished wheel caps are packaged and prepared for distribution to automotive manufacturers, dealers, or retailers.

Wheel Caps at a Glance

-          UK-MADE

-          VARIETY OF FINISHES

-          BESPOKE DESIGNS

Wheel Cap Applications

Wheel caps are mostly used for aesthetics and improved safety by OEM brands and are manufactured in very high volumes via injection moulding.

However, there is also a growing market within the modified sector to personalise wheel designs via wheel cap replacements. These aftermarket designs can add a distinct look to your vehicles, and with our low MoQs, we are ideally suited to short and medium-volume runs, as well as full production runs for OEM brands.

Many different vehicle types utilise wheel caps, such as cars, trucks, motorbikes, trailers and even farming equipment, industrial vehicles and more.

Experience the Great Central Plastics Difference

When you choose Great Central Plastics, you gain a reliable partner committed to delivering exceptional results that can guide you throughout every step of your manufacturing journey.

Our expertise in bespoke injection moulding, cutting-edge technology, wide material selection, and customisable finishes ensures that your unique requirements are met with the highest levels of sustainability, precision and excellence.

With minimum order quantities as low as 100 for bespoke wheel caps and automotive badges (depending on final design), the Great Central Plastics team is flexible, experienced and ready to discuss your automotive moulding project.

Contact us today to discover how our bespoke injection moulding services can bring your vision to life.