dlb wrote:i can't answer your question about offset but i did recently learn that hub centric rings are not necessary. here's a quote from a guy on the corolla forum:
I raced with non-hub centric wheels. Just slowly tighten the lugs while unloaded, to allow the taper on the nuts to align the wheel and apply a liberal amount of anti-seize between rotor and wheel to allow slip. It usually takes me 6 rounds of tightening to get it proper. finger tight, ratchet until stop, ratchet until stop, torque, torque, drive for a while and re-torque.
and here's a link to some more good info on hub centric rings:
I have hub centric rings for the Vibe. They're aluminum and make it easier to line up the wheel studs with the holes on the wheels. I think they were $20. Don't get plastic ones, they get brittle too easily.
I got them on either ebay or Amazon about a year ago. You have to make sure that the description specifies aluminum because Amazon has a shoddy search function. I'm staring at a set of aluminum valve stems under the "hub centric rings" category with the search query "aluminum hub centric rings".
EDIT: Also, mine are red. That's gotta be like 20 horsepower right there.
So far I have only found two sets of rims that will fit over my brake setup. These Kia Rio 15"s and Miata 15" 5 spokes. The Miata 14" Daisy rims DO NOT clear my caliper. Hard to decide which ones look nicer, maybe the Miata 15"s. I was also thinking about painting my Rios white. But the silver looked better than I expected. With the Miata rims, I had about 1.5mm clearance between the caliper and inside of the rim, where-as the Rios offer 10mm+ of rim clearance. This makes it hard to carry a spare because if I get a flat on the front, I would have to swap front and rear and put the spare on the rear. Both have the 54.1mm center bores too. I don't think I would ever feel safe with non-hub centric rims WITHOUT hub rings. If the impact of a pothole can bend and crack rims, I bet there could also be chance of breaking studs. Not likely though, like cracking a rim, but I have seen other people/cars that had to replace for that. I have never used a hub ring before, hopefully I will never need them.
"The Humble Bee" - Yellow 83 T4WD SR5 6spd
"The Goose" - Grey 86 T4WD DLX Auto (orphan to be saved)
what brake combination are you running in front? I have the larger MR2 front calipers with '92 TErcel rotors with a 3 mm shim under it, and run 14" honda civic wheels (needs it, but without the rings). I may have even put a standard steel 13" wheel on it, and I think I put my set of studded snow tires also mounted on stock 13" steel wheels, never had a clearance issue (though it does look very close).
I had considered that all of the stress from holding the wheels on the hubs runs through the wheel studs without the rings (or the correct size center bore). But I have also seen that for many decades no car ever had a center spud on the hub to engage the rim, so I suspect that is just there to help speed installing the wheels and lug nuts, not so much for added strength. consider that the adapter rings are made of plastic, that would not add much strength if it was expected that loads would actually transmitted from the wheel to the hub through the center rings.
89 MR2 front calipers (inverted), 98 VW Golf Vented 10.2" rotors. No spacers, no shims, no anything extra, all bolt on. Perfect offset and caliper/rotor alignment. Everything else stock.
"The Humble Bee" - Yellow 83 T4WD SR5 6spd
"The Goose" - Grey 86 T4WD DLX Auto (orphan to be saved)
...and yes, I completely agree on the ring. Any force great enough to break studs will surely crush a plastic ring. If this was a danger, why even make them? I just prefer the fact that the hub is there to prevent any deflecting or deforming of the studs. Again, I have heard horror stories of broken studs on a wheel which had nothing to do with wheel impact... All studs completely sheering off because someone broke one over torquing it. It eventually vibrated enough to break other studs. I would imagine a rim with a loose center hub would be much worse. Anyone who over (or under)-touques one stud probably over (or under)-torqued all the studs. So this shouldn't ever be an issue, unless you have broken studs or loose lugs. If the rim always stays seated on the hub, there should be no realistic chance of a problem. The lugs would keep the wheel centered, not the hub center, if the lugs are doing their job. Notice the shape of the side of the lugs that seats against the rim.
Last edited by LeeBiew on Fri Oct 21, 2016 9:17 pm, edited 14 times in total.
"The Humble Bee" - Yellow 83 T4WD SR5 6spd
"The Goose" - Grey 86 T4WD DLX Auto (orphan to be saved)
the VW Golf rotors have a larger center bore. But that didn't bother me because the rotors are not weight bearing. They only have to slow a rotational force. The rims, rather, bear the entire weight of the car and G-forces and suspension impacts.
"The Humble Bee" - Yellow 83 T4WD SR5 6spd
"The Goose" - Grey 86 T4WD DLX Auto (orphan to be saved)