# Why don't police cars have hubcaps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917 "2009-01-12T15:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917/21 "2009-01-14T16:49:22Z")
“Center caps”. I see. Thanks for all the info, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![zwede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ac91a4/32.png) [@zwede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwede)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917/22 "2009-01-15T17:41:24Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Lots of Police vehicles in California have aluminum wheels. I know for a fact that the Volvos the CHP ran for a while had aluminum wheels, I did the pre-delivery inspection on them. > Here is a [Dodge police car](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://image.automotive.com/f/miscellaneous/dodge-challengers-shootout-with-ford-crown-victoria/7824665%2Bw500%2Bcr1%2Bre0%2Bar1/2006-dodge-charger-police-interceptor-stagejpg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.automotive.com/6222429/miscellaneous/dodge-challengers-shootout-with-ford-crown-victoria/index.html&usg=__qfOnsQ8llwayBq568jXpp8gGWtA=&h=314&w=500&sz=24&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=23fsBl2eivvhFM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrown%2Bvictoria%2Bpolice%2Binterceptor%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN) with aluminum wheels. > And here is a [Crown Vic](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Ford-Crown-Victoria-police.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ford-Crown-Victoria-police.jpg&usg=__dykXjCLvlwDdI5nobJhuwlsD89c=&h=1356&w=2508&sz=211&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=YytxnT0T6W3HyM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrown%2Bvictoria%2Bpolice%2Binterceptor%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN) > And here is a Crown Vic with a [hub cap](http://dereksemmler.com/images/ford_pi.jpg) (Not a full wheel cover) Interesting. I guess times are changing. I should have said “usually don’t have aluminum rims”. Around here (Dallas) I can’t recall ever seeing a police car with aluminum rims. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917/23 "2009-01-15T18:16:07Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It was answered correctly in post 8 Post #2, too. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917/24 "2009-01-15T18:20:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Post #2, too. 😛 It is not fair to everyone when you insert a post like that after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917/25 "2009-01-15T19:20:52Z")
It’s been answered: because they go flying off during high speed cornering. The worst offender of all time was the early 90’s model Chevy Caprice. Take a sharp corner at a higher rate of speed and DING… **ding** …ding… **ding** … **ding**! Suckers would fly off across the road. Happens on Crown Vics too, just not as bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-cars-have-hubcaps/480917.md?page=1)