User:Rfsmit/Steel wheel (automotive)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The steel wheel is the current standard type of wheel fitted to most powered vehicles. Like most automotive wheels, they affix to the hub by means of threaded shafts and lugnuts, and this hub is permanently attached to the axle or half shaft. The lugnuts are often covered by a hubcap to improve both aerodynamics and aesthetics.

The number of lugnuts varies with the application. This can be a single nut concentric with the hub to facilitate quick wheel changes in racing, but typically, a road-going car will have four or five lugnuts, while SUVs and trucks can have eight or more.

The wheel is composed of the disc, where it is attached to the hub, and the rim, where the tyre is seated.

Steel wheels are cheaper to manufacture than the wire wheels they superseded, and require little to no maintenance.

Styled steel wheels[edit]

Steel auto wheels may be styled, to preclude the use of hubcaps, or in lieu of fitting more expensive alloy wheels. One example is the Rostyle wheel fitted to European vehicles in the 1960s and 1970s. The third generation Honda CR-V is fitted with styled steel wheels.