Vehicle wheel

The present invention relates to an automotive wheel and more particularly to a wheel having a decorative member made of a resin.

Many automotive wheels on which tires are mounted are made from a light-alloy such as aluminum and magnesium alloys with a view to increasing fuel economy. These light-alloy wheels are made up of a rim portion and a disc portion, and a further weight reduction is attained by forming vent holes in the disc portion.

By making use of its metallic gloss, the light-alloy wheel generally represents its design only by a wheel main body without using a wheel cap. However, when the designed is made to be represented only by the wheel main body, in the event that a design surface is damaged, the wheel main body has to be replaced, which is uneconomical. In addition, there are some designs which cannot meet the strength that the wheel should maintain, and it is difficult to embody such designs.

Then, Patent Document No. 1 and Patent Document No. 2 propose decorative light-alloy wheel in which a decorative member made from a resin is detachably mounted on a wheel main body. For example, a decorative light-alloy wheel described in Patent Document No. 1, a recess is formed on a surface of a wheel main body including spoke portions, and a decorative member made from a resin is mounted in the recess in a replaceable fashion. In addition, in a decorative light-alloy wheel described in Patent Document No. 2, a decorative cover made from a resin is mounted on the wheel in a replaceable fashion by projecting portions which project from the decorative cover being fitted in through holes formed in spoke portions via elastic bushes.

In the decorative light-alloy wheel described in Patent Document No. 1, however, since the recess is formed in the spoke portions, although it is effective to reduce the weight, the depth of the recess is limited in consideration of strength, causing a problem that the degree of freedom in design is low. In addition, in the decorative light-alloy wheel above, in many cases, a surface of the decorative member is desired to become substantially level with a surface of the wheel main body when the decorative member is partially disposed. In this case, the spoke portions have to be made thinner to an extent equaling the thickness of the decorative member, and since the strength is decreased to such an extent that the spoke portions are thinned, a problem also arises that the degree of freedom in design is decreased.

Patent Document No. 1: JP-A-2003-159901

Patent Document No. 2: JP-A-2005-324799

The invention has been made in view of the situations described above and a problem to be solved by the invention is to increase the degree of freedom in design while maintaining the strength by enabling the decorative-member to be disposed without reducing the thickness of the wheel main body.

A vehicle wheel of the invention includes a wheel main body which is made up of a rim portion and a disc portion and which has a vent hole in the disc portion and a decorative member made from a resin which is held in at least the disc portion and is observed from the vent hole.

According to the vehicle wheel of the invention, the decorative member is provided in such a manner as to be observed from the vent holes. Consequently, the decorative member can be provided irrespective of spoke portions or the rim portion, and a wheel main body does not have to be thinned. In addition, the design of the decorative member appears in cooperation with the design of the disc portion. Namely, according to the vehicle wheel of the invention, the degree of freedom in design is increased while maintaining the strength that the wheel should maintain.

A plurality of fixed portions are formed on the decorative member, and by the fixed portions being engaged with a plurality of fixing portions formed on the wheel main body, the decorative member is desirably held integrally to the wheel main body.

Where the decorative member is held to the wheel main body by the plurality of fixed portions being brought into engagement with the plurality of fixing portions, the movement of the decorative member can be restricted in an ensured fashion while running, thereby making it possible to prevent the damage of the decorative member.

The decorative member is desirably formed into a substantially U-shape in cross section which has a hollow portion. By configuring the decorative member in this way, the rigidity of the decorative member is increased compared with a case where the decorative member is formed into a flat plate-like shape. Furthermore, in the event that a rib is provided which crosses the hollow portion, the rigidity is increased further by the cross sectional shape effect and the rib, whereby the decorative member can withstand stress exerted thereon from the wheel main body while running.

In the event that a construction is adopted in which a fixed portion is formed on a boss portion formed on the rib and the rib and the boss portion are spaced apart from a bottom portion of the hollow portion, it becomes possible to prevent the generation of a sink mark on a design surface which lies on a rear surface side of the bottom portion of the hollow portion, thereby the design property of the decorative member being increased.

In the event that the fixed portions are formed further radially inwards than a circumferential edge portion of the decorative member, engagement portions between the fixed portions and the fixing portions are prevented from appearing when the wheel is seen from the front.

According to the invention, the degree of freedom in design can be increased while maintaining the strength that the vehicle wheel should maintain.