Patent ID: 7891744

Claim:
A method for producing a vehicle wheel cover retention system comprising the steps of: (a) providing a vehicle wheel defining an axis and formed from a suitable material and including a wheel rim and a wheel disc, the vehicle wheel including an inner wheel hub area, an outer annular portion and defining an outboard face, the wheel hub area provided with a center hub hole and a plurality of lug bolt mounting holes spaced circumferentially around the center hub hole; (b) providing a wheel cover formed from a suitable material and including an inner surface and an outer surface, the wheel cover extending in a generally radial direction with respect to the axis of the vehicle wheel; (c) providing an external surface feature on at least a portion of both of the outboard face of the vehicle wheel directly adjacent the wheel hub area thereof and the inner surface of the wheel cover, wherein the external surface feature provided on the inner surface of the wheel cover is at least one rib extending from the inner surface of the wheel cover in a generally axial direction with respect thereto and the external surface feature provided on the outboard face of the vehicle wheel includes at least a generally axially extending outboard face surface and a generally radially extending outboard face surface with respect to the axis of the vehicle wheel; (d) positioning the vehicle wheel and the wheel cover relative to one another such that the at least one rib is generally spaced apart from contact with the generally axially extending outboard face surface and the generally radially extending outboard face surface of the external surface feature provided on the outboard face of the vehicle wheel to thereby form a first gap between adjacent surfaces of the at least one rib and the generally axially extending outboard face surface of the external surface feature provided on the outboard face of the vehicle wheel directly adjacent the wheel hub area thereof and to form a second gap between adjacent surfaces of the at least one rib and the generally radially extending outboard face surface of the external surface feature provided on the outboard face of the vehicle wheel adjacent the wheel hub area thereof, the first gap to the second gap defining an indirect flow path; and (e) securing the wheel cover to the vehicle wheel by using an expandable foam adhesive material, wherein the expandable foam adhesive material initially fills selected portions of the first gap and then follows the indirect flow path to then flow into the second gap whereby the expanding adhesive foam material cures and stops expanding before completely filling the second gap and flowing into the wheel hub area of the vehicle wheel.