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Hubcaps - sometimes referred to as wheel trims or wheel covers - are used to hide basic steel wheels, and are often considered the poor man’s option when it comes to modified cars.But in this article I will make the case that alloy wheels for road cars can be over-rated, and that standard steel wheels with hubcaps are the best kept secret in the modified car world. I know this is a controversial claim, so please allow me to persuade you with this list of 10 reasons why you should consider changing your mind about basic steel wheels and aerodynamic hubcaps...

1. Steel wheels aren’t actually that heavy! 

Steel is inherently a stronger material than aluminium, and in order to make aluminium wheels withstand automotive applications, the material must be much thicker than the material used in steel wheels. This negates some of the weight advantages that alloy wheels are supposed to have.Steel wheels on the other hand are usually produced from steel plate less than 2mm thick. So although this is counter-intuitive, steel wheels are often not much heavier than alloy wheels, and in many cases they can even be lighter. They may not look as cool, but that’s why this video is all about hubcaps. 

2. Steel wheels vs alloy wheels 

Even the cheapest, lowest quality alloy wheels are more expensive than steel wheels and hubcaps.Clearly In high performance applications it DOES makes sense to design light weight alloy wheels using exotic materials and production processes..But many low end alloy wheels offer no appreciable advantages on regular cars. The reason they are popular is for the way they make the car look. But cheap alloy wheels can be prone to cracking and even exploding during impacts.Steel wheels on the other hand absorb impacts much better and tend to bend rather than shatter in these situations, therefore offering a much better value proposition. And with the money saved on overpriced alloys, there will be more resources to allocate elsewhere in your build.

3. Lots of alloys are ugly 

Ok, this is going to be a bit controversial, and while a lot of this may come down to personal preference, in my opinion the vast majority of modern alloy wheel designs are pretty ugly. Any alloy wheels that look great tend to be replicas of classic wheel designs that have been around for decades. But original alloy wheel designs (whether OEM or aftermarket) have become far too over-embelished these days to be considered "elegant".I will admit that the majority of hubcap design are also ugly, and this is because they tend to try and replicate the busy designs of alloy wheels.The secret to a great looking wheel or hubcap is the old adage: “less is more”.It is my opinion that hiding the lugnuts on any wheel is an aesthetic advantage. But I also believe that not having spokes is also an aesthetic advantage. Most of my favourite hubcap and wheel designs are mostly just plain discs with the exception of subtle air vents to manage airflow for brake cooling. In recent years there has been an undeniable resurgence in BBS turbofan-style wheel covers, and this gives me hope that although this topic is highly subjective, the trend is real, and that the aero style wheel is coming into vogue. 

4. Quick to change 

One minute or less is all it takes. If you're the type of car enthusiast who has multiple sets of wheels and likes to swap them onto your car periodically, you’ll know that changing wheels is a pain. It can take anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour depending on what equipment you have.You also need to have a different set of tyres for each set of wheels, and they take up a lot of space when stored (which might be at a premium depending on the size of your garage). But having multiple sets of hubcaps takes up next to no room, and you can swap hubcaps in a matter of seconds. Don’t underestimate how cool it is to be able to completely change the look of your car almost instantly. 

5. Hide your puny brakes 

I completely understand that after spending 3000 bucks on a set of huge calipers and discs, you are going to be proud to have them visible through the spokes of your alloy wheels. But what if your car has puny discs - or even worse - pathetic little drum brakes?Well in this case having an aero style hubcap will hide your inadequacy and put you back on a level playing field with the brembo boys.Hubcaps can still look aggressive with stanceThere is an old saying which states: “wheels can make or break the car”.But being able to afford expensive wheels is only half of the story. The width and offset of the wheels is critical to get right, not to mention the ride height and the size of tyre you fit. When all of these things come together perfectly it can literally make any car look aggressive (which most car enthusiasts tend to like).So my message here is that it is actually the stance that makes or breaks the car, and having fancy alloy wheels is not the critical part at all. I would personally much prefer a car that has hubcaps in conjunction with an aggressive stance, as opposed to ill-fitting alloy wheels and big arch gaps. The truth is that you don’t need expensive alloy wheels to turn heads on the street. 

6. Nobody wants hubcaps. 

As I write this article I feel like I am in the minority in my love for aero hubcaps. But that means that I can buy really cool old hubcaps for cheap. If everyone got on this bandwagon then we might see prices for old 80s and 90s OEM hubcaps go up. But as it stands at the moment I feel that hubcaps are the best kept secret in the modified car world. I therefore might be working against my own interests by trying convince you that hubcaps are cool, but I feel like it is my duty to spread the good word. 

7. Understated (sleeper look) 

This goes back to the earlier point regarding styling, which I accept is subjective and will vary from person to person. But a lot of people like the “sleeper look”. This is for enthusiasts who are not interested in “flexing”, but instead derive pleasure from surprising people with how fast their unassuming-looking car performs. While an aggressive stance is a big part of what attracts me to a car, I do respect the sleeper look. One of the great things about hubcaps and banded steel wheels is that you can marry these two philosophies together and have wide tyres with hubcaps, therefore keeping your high performance capabilities under the radar. 

8. Aerodynamic benefits 

There is certainly a trend at the moment towards OEM flat-faced aero wheels, but rather than purely being a fashion statement this is largely borne from an increasing prioritisation of aerodynamic efficiency as car manufacturers try to make their cars more fuel efficient… you could say that this is a classic case of “form following function”, and that is a hallmark of good design. I believe the aerodynamic wheel is here to stay, and this certainly bolsters my argument for hubcaps because the exact same look and functionality can be achieved with wheel covers, but at significantly less cost. 

9. Expensive wheels are stressful to own 

Have you ever come back to your pride and joy only to be horrified that somebody has stolen the wheels? Or have you ever accidentally scraped your expensive wheels off a kerb and died a little inside?I can tell you that it is liberating to not have to worry about stuff like this. Stress kills, and you enjoy life more in the absence of stress… that is a fact! 

In Summary: 

So there you have it… 10 good reasons why hubcaps are a better option than you think. I hope the points I made were somewhat compelling, and that you will look at hubcaps now in a different light.. I believe that as aero wheel design becomes more mainstream, many car enthusiasts will begin to recognise that a very accessible car modification has been overlooked for too long. Thanks for watching guys, Please subscribe for more thrifty automotive content. Speak soon.  

Heres a quick thought experiment. Imagine it's the beginning of the 20th century, lets say 1902. People still use horses for transport, and life is very slow and boring. Information travels slow and not much good ever happens. you're just an average young man, let's say a blacksmith or a steelworker.

But what if this young guy stumbled across a DeLorean and travelled into the year 2025. Imagine him walking down the street, mouth open, eyes wide, seeing what to us might look like a plethora of shitboxes, but to this time travelling dude they would all be sleek, super futuristic spaceships on wheels. Then you take him for a spin and his head almost explodes! He cant believe the speed, the roadholding, the acceleration, the braking! And this is a daewoo matiz we are talking about. Then you tell him the car could be his for the price of a woman's haircut!

What im saying people is that when it comes to the life of a car enusiast we are living through a golden age. The abundance of automotive technology has created a situation where you can buy a ridiculous amount of steel, glass, leather and clever engineering for next to nothing. I don’t know about you guys, but i’m addicted to buying cheap cars. Here’s my top 10 reasons old cheap cars are better than fancy new cars Cheaper to buy. 

1. Cheaper to buy

This shouldn’t need much explaining. Theyre MUCH cheaper to buy in the first place, and that means you just buy the car outright, no monthly payments. Buying a car that drives well, has good tyres, airbags, seatbelts, power steering windows, heating, aircon and a sound system for a few hundred euros is a serendipitous side effect of 100 years of mass production . You might have to look past a few little defects, but if you buy wisely that wont be a problem for us because we old timers can fix a lot of these things ourselves. I once bought a beautiful silver supercharged mercedes slk manual for just over $1000. That was a $50,000k car new! What a steal! 

2. Easy to fix

While a cheap 10 year old car will be electronics-heavy and potentially  difficult to fix, the wide array of super basic 90s shitboxes are an unstoppable forces of nature.Simpler and therefore more reliable The average person could fix their car 30 or 40 years ago on their driveway with a few spanners. Nowadays everything needs to be coded in by the dealer!. Lets be honest, most people couldnt fix their way out of a wet paper bag these days anyway, but also, this coding bullshit iis a scam. What? You cant just connect a battery without coding it in using proprietary software? Thats the kind of shenanigans that makes me dislike newer cars sometimes. 

3.  More low-key/modest 

To most people, owning an expensive car with a new reg plate is partly driven by the presteige that comes with ownership of a luxury marque. The newer and fancier the car, the greater the perceived success of the person. So what does driving a $500 jalopy say about you? In my opinion: who cares. Sure, driving a 24 year old handpainted nissan micra wont earn you much street cred. But running an older car can be done on a shoestring because you own it outright, leaving you with more actual disposable income to spend, as opposed to your neighbour with the brand new pcp financed car outside the door paying $500 per month while eating porridge 3 times a day.. Plus you have now saved a load of money which you can use to purchase a slightly more prestigious shitbox for your “weekend car”. 

4.  Less touchscreens 

This is a big one. You cant operate a touchscreen without looking or at least glancing at it. Back in the old days all the buttons and switches were chunky, tactile, and in a set location so you could operate them by feel without taking your eyes off the road. It’s not just car dashboards… The advent of touchscreens killed off the popularity of physical buttons and switches in most devices. But its something that we should return to because it makes so much more sense. 

5.  Manual dipsticks and handbrakes 

A dipstick is a thin metal rod that has a series of markings near the bottom so you can check the oil level manually. Simple eh? But about 15 years ago, car companies decided to delete this elegant solution and adopt a digital system with a sensor feeding data to the touchscreen in the cabin. Their idea was to take something extremely simple, and make it complicated for no reason at all. This is ok until your screens fails for some reason and now you cant check the oil manually! In fairness i know you could probably check it with the right OBD scanner, but the point is using a stick to check the depth of a body of fluid is almost foolproof, whereas this new digital oil level sensor system has so many more new potential failure points. This is a bad design philosophy.And removing handbrake levers… dont even get me started! 

6. Better looking 

I dont know if its just because of my age, but it seems to me that cars were just better looking (for the most part) 30/40 years ago. In my opinion some new car designs are so offensive to my eyes (new civic, new BMW with its giant kidney grilles). I cant help thinking cars are not only too complex these days, but they even LOOK too complex, awkward, lacking cohesiveness. Perhaps the problem is that most of the best shapes have already been used, and to realise a truly unique and innovate design is difficult, or almost impossible. Maybe thats why rich car enthusiasts seem to be drawn to older sportscars from boutique retromod companies such as singer automotive, and car companies seem to be making more retro-inspired designs. 

7.  Not stressing about dealer service history 

Cars on the used market have always tended to have higher resale values when they have a full service history. But now more than ever the car companies/dealerships are trying to rip customers off with proprietary systems, CODING IN of components for no reason etc. Extortionate mark-up on otherwise inexpensive parts. Let some other sucker buy a brand new car and let him pay toyota prices or mercedes prices. When I swoop in to buy a car for $500 i dont care if the car has literally zero documentation of servicing and 200,00miles. Ill always go by the condition of the car. And then driving a $500 car means you do your own oil changes, fit tyres, brake pads, maybe the odd clutch or timing belt, and off you go… no eyewatering invoices from the local dealership to contend with. 

8. Second hand parts 

If disaster struck and lets say your gearbox failed on your 2023 bmw M4, youre basically financially screwed. How much is that gonna cost? $10,000? What happens if your gearbox fails on your 1994 corolla xli saloon with 374,000 miles? You go onto facebook marketplace and you buy one for $200. Change the gearbox that afternoon. Job done. The point is that 20 and 30 year old donor cars are plentiful in scrapyards, new cars are generally not.

9. Might appreciate in value 

I mean this one is a bit of a longshot, but maybe the shitbox you decide to buy becomes a sought-after collectors car. Stranger things have happened. When you buy cars at rock bottom prices things can only go up. Nostalgia-based car purchases when a car reaches a certain age can affect values of shitboxes that have been kept in good condition. But seriously, theres still a lot of currently unloved 90’s cars out there that can be bought for cheap. As time goes on I think more and more of these cars will become more sought after for their nostalgia, looks, simplicity, reliability, fixability, and most importantly that famous 90s build quality. 

10. Good for the environment 

The government wants us all to drive new cars because they say new cars are better for the environment. But clearly keeping one car continually on the road for 30 years is better for the environment than producing 15 new cars, all purchased on PCP finance, building up a big debt bubble in the process. Add to that the government incentives to buy electric cars, with their even greater carbon footprint. If you care about mother nature you should drive something old, drive something interesting, and most of all, drive quirky. 

11. Bonus reason 

 This is an extra bonus reason why older cars are better. Its also maybe the best in my opinion: You feel more free from stress when driving a $500 beater. Youre not worried that someone will bang off your door in the carpark for instance, because your car already has a nice “patina” and another couple of dings wont make the car look markedly different.And when you drive a $500 car, you drive it hard, and it feels like youre squeezing the last bit of value from that hidden gem as you scream up the road at 6000 rpm.