Trim member for a vehicle wheel

In combination, a vehicle wheel and a trim member adapted for application to the outboard face of the wheel, said wheel being of the type having a central bolt-on flange adapted to be secured to a wheel hub by at least three fasteners in the form of nuts threaded on studs which are spaced circumferentially around a circle concentric with the central axis of the wheel, said trim member having a central body portion adapted to concentrically overlie said bolt-on flange and hub and having retention means thereon adapted to releasably engage said fasteners for retaining the trim member against displacement in an axially outward direction on the wheel, each of said fasteners having a circumferentially extending recess therein which forms an axially inwardly facing shoulder on the fastener spaced axially inwardly from the axially outer end thereof, said retention means comprising a resiliently flexible ring, means mounting said ring on the inboard face of said central body portion of the trim member such that the ring is concentric with the central axis of the wheel when the trim member is applied to the wheel, said ring mounting means including means on the trim member forming a plurality of circumferentially spaced, radially extending slots lying in a flat plane perpendicular to the central axis of the trim member, said ring having portions thereof extending circumferentially through said slots and being retained thereby against axial movement relative to the trim member, said ring having circumferentially spaced segments adapted to seat in said recesses and frictionally engage said shoulders to retain the trim member on the wheel, said ring being dimensioned in relation to the circle defined by the recesses on said fasteners as to require it to flex radially through a predetermined extent to seat said circumferentially spaced segments in said recesses and to cause said segments to apply a radial force against the fasteners when seated in said recesses, said slots having a radial extent in relation to the dimension of the ring to permit the ring to flex radially through said predetermined extent freely without restriction from said trim member when the trim member is applied to the wheel, said trim member also having a plurality of circumferentially spaced abutments thereon arranged to engage the fasteners when the trim member is applied to the wheel as to restrict the extent of relative rotation between the wheel and the trim member, each of said segments being of arcuate contour and having a radius of curvature substantially greater than the radius of curvature of each recess in the fastener so that the radial force applied by the segments against the fasteners is substantially unaffected by relative rotation between said ring and the wheel.