1. Do I want Aluminum, or the plastic Polysomethingoranother ones? Seems to me that Aluminum would be more sturdy, but would get stuck (corroded) onto the hub and I could never put the stock rims back on.

2. What is the hub diameter on a 1988GT?

Thanks.

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1988 Fiero GT
Cleveland Fiero Club

Somewhere on www.jegs.com there's a two-page listing of concentric rings.

I think this is the Jegs page...
http://www.jegs.com/p/Detro...2543/10002/-1/152701

That's what I was remembering, thanks.

Thanks, I've seen them, and Summit Racing is not too far from me, so I can get them there. But, is aluminum or plastic better, and does anybody know the stock 1988 hub OD?

can you even find plastic ones?

quote Originally posted by Isolde: can you even find plastic ones?

I'm pretty sure the Detroit ones carried by Jegs and Summit are plastic. The plastic ones seem to be more common from my limited online searching today. The aluminum are available though, so I wondered what the consensus was on which is better for the long term?

quote Originally posted by TG oreiF 8891: ... What is the hub diameter on a 1988GT?

All the Fieros (and most small GMs, and quite a few other cars) use a wheel with a 57.1 mm centerbore.
AFAIK, the only ones that will bolt up to our cars (5x100mm) that don't have the same centerbore are Subaru (56.1mm) and Toyota (53? mm).

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Raydar
88 4.9 Formula IMSA Fasback..........................88 3.4 coupe -soon to be something other than red

Read Nealz Nuze! Praise the Lowered!

Thanks Raydar, I just bought some aftermarket rims, so I'll be needing the rings and I am away from the car, so I cannot measure the hub.

Anybody have opinions or experience with the plastic or aluminum rings?

Aluminum is going to experience electrolytic corrosion so is a choice to be avoided completely. That leaves plastic and steel. My choice would be 304 stainless but AFAIK nobody makes them. Given that the only purpose of the rings is to hold the wheel centered until the lugnuts are tightened and the rings don't carry any actual loads I would think plastic would be fine.

JazzMan

What he said ( JazzMan ) , but they do make a heck of a difference when your bolting an expensive set of rims up.

BTW, you can allways find the plastic rings that are a proper fit, and have a trusted machine shop reproduce a set from whatever metal you like.

David Breeze

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Pantera Rebody Kits

[This message has been edited by opm2000 (edited 07-02-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Isolde: can you even find plastic ones?

My wheels came with plastic hub rings. They seem to be fine, and haven't shown any sign of heat damage.
I got the wheels from wheelz*r*us (I think that's right) on Ebay.

quote Originally posted by opm2000: But they do make a heck of a difference when your bolting an expensive set of rims up. David Breeze

As you can see in these pics, the weight of the rim is on the hub. Its a very, very tight fit plus the lug holes are tight, very tight leaving you little room to make an error. If you mess the line-up it will not allow you bolt the wheel on. I know cause I've done it. I'm able to get the rims on quickly now since the rotor hats are chromed. I can see the hole reflections as I'm mounting the wheel.

I purchased aftermarket aluminum wheels from TireRack. They included the correct rings to mate the wheels to the Fiero hubs and are made of aluminum. If there is a concern that the aluminum rings would, by galvanic corrosion, weld themselves to the cast iron hubs/rotors, why is there not the same concern for the aluminum wheels welding themselves to the hubs?

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'88 Formula V6
'88 GT TPI V8

Given an abundance of caution, you could clean up the surface of your hub, where the ring mounts, and apply a wipe of heat resistant anti-sieze before actually sliding the ring on. If you've ever had a brake rotor or such stuck to a hub, you'd be know the pickle you can find yourself in.

I don't know if one is better than the other.

When doing a fitment with a brake upgrade, I'd think aluminum would be best.

When doing wheels, plastic is cheaper, and it's not unusual to wind up buying several different sizes before you find the right fitment. ;>

David Breeze

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Pantera Rebody Kits

quote Originally posted by opm2000: If you've ever had a brake rotor or such stuck to a hub, you'd be know the pickle you can find yourself in.

You can say that again, I've had a rotor stuck so bad to the hub that we actually broke our wheel puller trying to get it off. That was after we broke a good portion of the rotors outer edges off.

quote Originally posted by opm2000: I don't know if one is better than the other. When doing a fitment with a brake upgrade, I'd think aluminum would be best. When doing wheels, plastic is cheaper, and it's not unusual to wind up buying several different sizes before you find the right fitment. ;> David Breeze

Well, I'm doing a brake upgrade and wheels. I need the larger wheels to fit over the new brakes. I'm torn because in my simple mind, metal would be better to have in there for wear, heat resistance, durability, and transfer of load; however, plastic would be better because if the aluminum did stick there, I'll never get them off. It's not like the rotor where you have 4-5 inches of leverage to hit with a wheel puller / sledge hammer, etc. If it were stuck, I wouldn't even be able to get a hold of it.

I think either will work because as pointed out, I can put down some anti-sieze and I should be fine with aluminum, or the plastic should hold up well enough. Since they are cheaper and more prevalent, I think I'll get the plastic ones.

Thanks and plusses doled out accordingly.