Hey guys, I just put some winter wheels/tires on my brothers car.

The new wheels have a larger center bore, so theres a bit of gap between the wheel bore and the hub. Now these are the common steel wheels people use for the winter, so there is really not much depth to them.

I'm wondering that if I buy steel hub rings for them to eliminate that gap, nothing is going to hold them in? I have some rings on aftermarket wheels but they have a lip thats held in on the inside of the rim. You can see the lip in this picture:



So do they make specific ones for steel wheels that don't have "depth" to hold that lip in?

Thanks!

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So in other words if you used those aluminum rings on the steel wheel, the wheel would be pushed outwards and not sit flush because of the flange on the spacers? If that is the case, they do make plastic spacers and you can trim off the flange but I have no idea how to secure them if the steel wheel has the typical open-face where the ring can simply slide off of the hub and fall out.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 12-03-2011).]

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: So in other words if you used those aluminum rings on the steel wheel, the wheel would be pushed outwards and not sit flush because of the flange on the spacers? If that is the case, they do make plastic spacers and you can trim off the flange but I have no idea how to secure them if the steel wheel has the typical open-face where the ring can simply slide off of the hub and fall out.

Pretty much exactly what I'm saying. I was thinking that if I bought slightly oversized plastic or even aluminum ones, I could press them into the steel wheel bore? Hopefully the press fit would be enough to hold them in?

I just looked on another forum where, ironically, the guy has the same issue. He is running steel wheels and bought the plastic rings a tiny bit smaller. He then sanded them to actually snap on to the hub. He also said that he removed his wheel after driving around without the rings and the wheel has actually grooved his wheel studs at the base so I would say these are very important to use. The plastic ones are here:
http://www.1010tires.com/hubrings.asp

The plastic ones are supposedly EXTREMELY hard.....not some soft plastic.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 12-03-2011).]

Just bought some cheap plastic ones off of ebay for 14 bucks. See if I can shove them in there.

Do you have a link to that thread you mentioned?

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: He also said that he removed his wheel after driving around without the rings and the wheel has actually grooved his wheel studs at the base

Unless his steel wheels were flat where the lug nut goes, and he had put the lug nuts on backwards, I don't see how this would even be possible.
With the angle in the hole of the wheel that slides over the stud, and the bevel on the lug nut, there should be no way the wheel will ever make contact with the studs.
Now if the lug nuts were not tightened down all the way, maybe, but you would feel that pretty quick.

Kevin

quote Originally posted by doublec4: Do you have a link to that thread you mentioned?

Ironically, he bought his from Canadian Tire
http://forums.redflagdeals....centric-ring-805713/

Needing centering rings depends if your steel wheels are hub centric or lug centric. You need to determine that first.

quote Originally posted by jelly2m8: Needing centering rings depends if your steel wheels are hub centric or lug centric. You need to determine that first.

What would I look for?

quote Originally posted by doublec4: What would I look for?

Lug Centric means that the interface between the lugs and the wheel is tapered to create a precise location of the wheel vs. hub. This setup always uses tapered lugs, and requires some care in the tightening process to ensure a properly centered wheel (you can't torque down 1 lug nut before having all the others snug and it helps to have the wheel unloaded while tightening).

Hub Centric means that there is very tight clearance between the wheel and the hub to properly center the wheel on the hub. This setup can use tapered or flat lugs, and it is difficult to screw up the tightening process.

Pretty much every OEM GM product uses both hub centric and lug centric at the same . The hub centric centers the wheel so you cant screw up the tightening process, but once the lug nuts are tight, they support the load on the wheel, not the hub (unless the lug nuts come loose). I assume it is because people are unreliable... tightening a

I have ran the same model wheel on 2 of my fieros - one with centering rings the other w/o (purchased for a celica with a smaller hub bore, so I removed the ring) and neither has ever had any balance issues. I just have to take more care when tightening the wheels w/o the concentric rings.

The concentric ring should not be seeing any load. It is a locating device, not a load bearing one... which is why many of them are plastic now.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 12-04-2011).]

Thanks for the info!

Would a ball/acorn lug also do the same job as a tapered/conical lug for a lug centric wheel? Thats what he has on there now.

quote Originally posted by Lambo nut: Unless his steel wheels were flat where the lug nut goes, and he had put the lug nuts on backwards, I don't see how this would even be possible. With the angle in the hole of the wheel that slides over the stud, and the bevel on the lug nut, there should be no way the wheel will ever make contact with the studs. Now if the lug nuts were not tightened down all the way, maybe, but you would feel that pretty quick. Kevin

I have had, and worked on lots of cars where the threads at the bottom of the studs were worn off from a wheel moving around on it. Thats not to say nuts werent loose at some time. Some people will drive with loose lugs and never know it till the wheel comes off. Just yesterday I watched some girl tooling down the freeway at 70mph in and Explorer jabbering away on her phone. She had a completely flat right rear tire that was smoking. I got away from her fast.

quote Originally posted by doublec4: Would a ball/acorn lug also do the same job as a tapered/conical lug for a lug centric wheel? Thats what he has on there now.

Any Cone Face or "Conical Seat" Lugs will work But Lug Centric have some Rule. Fiero, like most cars and truck, uses Cone face lugs from factory. Cone is on the Face that meets the Wheel, which has a cone indent to mach the cone on the lug.

Lug centric likely won't work with most wheel types that needs washer on lugs.

If you really have Ball face, "Spherical Seat," and wheel expect Cone Lugs... Or the opposite, Cone lugs and wheel expect Balls... Bad JuJu. Even when the lugs a tight to spec, wrong lugs can come loose. (Spherical Seat can work in lug centric setup, same rules, but Ball lugs needs wheel to fit.)

See my cave, Tire/wheel in suspension section.
and www.elementauto.com/tag/conical/ or www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/154 for lug type.


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[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 12-04-2011).]