[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Agreed!

So here's my understanding of it....

The parts all go back to the wooden wheel.

Any wheel is defined as "a circular object that revolves on an axle and is fixed below a vehicle or other object to enable it to move easily over the ground."

In bygone days this consisted of a hub, spokes, rim (or hoop) and sometimes a protective banding (tire), all of which combined made a wheel.

On a car, there is a tire, rim, hub and the equivalent of spokes (everything inside the rim that connects it to the hub just like on a wooden wheel). All that together makes a wheel.

So, technically, neither rim nor wheel is correct when talking about what just the middle metal portion. The wheel is still the tire plus everything required to hold the tire on the axle, and a rim is the part where the tire is attached (like the banding on a wagon wheel).

On the bright side, no one calls them hoops (which is the same as a rim)

Now, all that said, I use the terms wheel, rims, mags interchangeably for the non-tire portion of the wheel. If I think about it I usually refer to something that needs a hubcap as a rim (steelies), something chrome, bright and shiny as "mags" and anything else as a wheel (basically non-chrome looking hubs.

I typically only refer to the actual tire as a tire, and I refer to the whole as a wheel.

For example, if I have a flat I'll say "I need to change my tire" because it is on the tire that is broken. But if that results in a need to replace the entire unit I'll say "Geez (*&@#*() I have to replace the whole @#(*&)#@$( wheel now".

It is all subjective anyway and everyone pretty much knows what everyone means.

It has taken a conscious effort on my part to not call any rims/wheels/round hard part that holds the tire "mags" for a few years now. You just get a blank stare from anybody under age 50 when you use the term.