The term custom wheel refers to the wheels of a vehicle which have either been modified from the vehicle manufacturer's standard or have replaced the manufacturer's standard. Uses Custom wheels are one of the most common ways in which automobile enthusiasts customize their vehicles. Competition-oriented enthusiasts typically switch to lighter, stronger, or larger wheels, while appearance-oriented enthusiasts more often choose larger and more visually distinctive wheels. The most-desirable characteristics of custom wheels vary with owner's goals: Popularity Custom wheels are increasing in popularity year after year. Nearly one-third of all new-vehicle buyers customize their vehicles with custom wheels. Custom wheel spinners for custom wheels then came about in the late 1990s and got extremely popular in the new millennium. The popularity has even grown further by the introduction of larger wheel and spinner diameters such as 18" / 20" / 22" / 24" / 26" and even up to 30" inch wheels diameters. Custom wheel spinners Custom wheel spinners also known as "Tru-Spinners" and "free-spinning spinners" were a decorative kinetic attachment to the center of the wheel of an automobile that would continue to rotate after the wheel had stopped. Many were normal-sized to the center of the wheel and then some were enlarged spinners as the wheel market experienced a demand for larger and larger diameter wheels and spinners. Some would also cover the entire wheel rim on some applications, hence the name "spinner rims". They operated when the automobile wheel stopped rotating the Tru-Spinners would continue to stay in motion spinning. Then once Tru-Spinners had stopped spinning and were in a stationary position, they would not start to spin again until the wheel started rotating and again picking up momentum from the rotating wheel itself. They were designed to independently rotate and spin by using one or more roller bearings to isolate the spinner from the wheel, enabling it to spin while the wheel is at rest. In the early stages of the invention during the mid 1990s, the Tru-Spinners invention was only used on custom cars and on show cars in competitions which continued on into the 2000s. The spinner wheels were invented by American inventor James J.D. Gragg of the United States who was awarded spinner patent, United States Patent #5,290,094 on March 4, 1994 with foreign patents to follow. Later at the turn of the new millennium the popularity grew worldwide and other patents were