Hubcentric rings. Are they truly necessary?

I just want to make sure i have this right in my head.

I am going from wheels w/ a 67mm centerbore to a 73mm centerbore. The new wheels use angled seat acorn nuts. In this case, the angled seats on the wheel nuts will center the wheel just fine, right?

Thanks,

Mike

Nope, you might get it close but you'll feel like you have a (or all) your wheels well out of balance.

^ I disagree 100%. I've had multiple wheels on multiple cars and never used hubcentric rings. I always hand tighten/center the wheels on the car in the air, then torque them down. NEVER had an issue.

Bobzilla wrote: ^ I disagree 100%. I've had multiple wheels on multiple cars and never used hubcentric rings. I always hand tighten/center the wheels on the car in the air, then torque them down. NEVER had an issue.

Then car has been soft enough to not notice it. Or you've been lucky.

I had them on nicely one day, or so I thought. On the dyno it was visibly off and caused enough bounce/vibration that it was very hard to get good readings.

The rings from Discount tire are CHEAP. Just get them.

On a car that anything over 5-8lbs of roadforce you will feel through the wheel? Don't think so.

Lucky? 7 sets of wheels on teh same car. 4 on another. 3 on the Swift. None with hub rings to make them fit. None with vibrations that weren't tire related (had one RE-01R with 56lbs of road force.... that was definately a vibration on a 15x7 wheel)

I have this issue currently on my E30, I have 3 hubcentric rings and I'm missing the right front (from the PO). The wheel is torqued properly and with H&R springs and I have a right front vibration. Move a ring to the right, left is now missing a ring, left front vibration.

But really, sub $15 will get a set of 4 shipped to your door.

Yes. Worth every penny unless you are insanely lucky every time you have to bolt a wheel back on that car.

As a side note - if this is a car that will see a lot of road course racing duty, spend a few extra $ and get the metal ones. The plastic ones melt.

The wheels I used on the Targa Newfoundland (and all the testing leading up to it) didn't have centering rings. Before they were used on that car, they saw duty on the Track Dog race car, which ran up to 1100 lb (!) springs. Never had a problem. We couldn't get rings for those wheels, which were direct from SSR Japan.

This used to be my area of expertise when I was called "Rim God"

The hubcentric rings are helpful if you use:

1: wheel bolts (MB, VW, BMW etc)

2: have small face area lug nuts (tuner lugs or non shouldered lugs)

3: a wheel that was single weight balanced

Beyond those minor issues I have never needed them.

In reply to John Brown:

I don't get it. What does #3 have to do with hubcentric rings? What am I missing?

In reply to Flogger00:

I believe he's talking about static vs. dynamic wheel balancing.

Correct Josh. I have found that a static balanced wheel will create issues on a vehicle/wheel combo that needs hub centric rings.

John Brown wrote: Correct Josh. I have found that a static balanced wheel will create issues on a vehicle/wheel combo that needs hub centric rings.

Any idea why? What kind of issues? I cant get my noggin around that.

All I know is that the MR2 NEEDED centering rings. No amount of torquing or hand-centering did the trick. And no one made centering rings in the size that I needed, ended up going back to the OEM rims.

The wheels I ordered were shipped out with the wrong size rings. There was a VERY noticeable difference in my car after putting on a set of correct hubcentric rings. Unless they outright don't make them in the size you need I can't imagine why you wouldn't want a set.

Haven't used centering rings in a while. The Diamond wheels on the Abomination are lug centric, not hub centric as are the Bassetts on the Jensenator. 90+ MPH speeds in the Abomination showed no vibration or wobble. The secret: proper installation. Make sure the wheel is off the ground, tighten 2 diagonal lugs good and snug, then tighten the other two. This centers the wheel on the studs. They need to be good and snug, around 40 foot pounds, then either zap them with the impact or put the car on the ground and tighten to recommended torque.

I went without them for four seasons with a Spec Miata suspension. Never an issue.

I have an 84 UR Quattro with OZ wheels.. Happened to have it in the shop for a tire balance after an autocross ( Horrible Shake ) and they noticed one of the rings were missing. Rebalanced and the shake went away... I tried finding a Hubcentric ring for those wheels and they no longer make them .. Ouch.. There is a shop in California that will make them to spec for $ 25.00 + Shipping. Ran another Autocross and yep teh shake is back even after we had tried to make a ring ourselves on a lathe... IMO, but the rings save yourself some money on the rebalance.

This really does sound like one of those "Sure you should use a torque wrench but I've tightened head bolts with a strong arm and nothing bad happened" kind of argument.

Some wheels have enough face area and support to get away with it and some don't... but for less than $20 you can usually do it the right way if the application calls for it. Why wouldn't you? I mean... even if you can't find the right ring, any shop with a lathe can make them for a few bucks.

98% of the steel "racing" rims out there are lug centric and they have no problems but they also use 60deg lugs with 1 inch od. so they center very well.

44

tapered lug = lug-centric

pilots are snug on OE wheels to keep the wheel from falling off as the car goes down the assembly line, from the overpaid UAW douche who puts the wheel on the hub, to the overpaid UAW douche who installs the lug nuts.