hub centric rings

[warbstrd]

I was going to take my snowflake rims off my 86 vw quantum syncro wagon and put them on the terc so I called 1010tires for the correct hub ring size I needed and they said factory wheels from another car arent designed to use hub rings. only aftermarket wheels can use them. so I need to buy after market wheels. I then asked him if I could use wheels that were the same hub dia. and bolt pattern as mine. he said yeah , but fatory wheels cant use hub rings period. is that true?

note: these are not my rims. same design though.
these are the rims i want to use

DSC_0017-714646.jpg

[Petros]

What do you mean by "hub rings"? Spacers, or are they adapters?

There are a number of factors that affect this, one is the wheel off-set, and the thickness of the hub rings, and the design of the hub and suspension geometry on the car. If you move the center of the contact patch of the tire on the road outward or inward, you will affect the steering, and even the safety at high speeds. It can also put loads on the hub that it was not designed to handle, though I do not see this as much as a problem since it would not break, but just wear the bearings out faster.

I think the idea is what ever combination of wheel offset and ring thickness, should land the center of the tire contact patch in the same location relative to wheel hub. This can be determined by measuring the stock wheel off-set from the center line of the tire, and compare it to your new installation. They should be as close as practical or you could end up with a car hard to keep in a strait line on a rough road or at high speeds.

Good luck.

[warbstrd]

What do you mean by "hub rings"? Spacers, or are they adapters?

Hub Centric Rings
http://www.1010tires.com/hubrings.asp

it allows a wheel manufacturer to make one wheel with one bolt pattern (or many bolt patterns on same wheel) to fit the hub on many cars. so instead of making many 4x100 bolt pattern wheels to fit many hubs they just have to make one 4x100 wheel and use a ring or adapter to fit many hubs.

I just thought you can use them on factory rims also. I'm not too worried about the offset difference. the vw hub is 57.1 and ours is 54.1.

how do i change the hub dia. to 57.1. as anyone done that? i dont want to spend 500 dollars on wheels when these are free with the same bolt pattern and close enough offset and in 14 inch.

The only part the ring plays is to center the wheel on the hub, correct? i may just order the aluminum rings and see if it works.

[Petros]

Now I know what you are talking about. I have a set of Honda wheels with studded snow tires, these have a larger hub center dia than the toyota, but they bolt up just fine. the wheel nuts center the wheel on the hub instead of the center hub. You do not need them with the stock wheels because the hub of the wheel matches the hub of the car. If the wheels are accurately made, with the bolt holes concentric with the center of the wheel than you do not need them.

Put them on your car and spin the wheel, see if there is any run-out or out of center movement at the rim, if not you do not need them. Or you can just try them out on the car, if there is no vibration or shimmy, you do not need them. I think the only reason to have them, if the wheel is accurately made, would be so it is easier to bolt up the wheel.

[danzo]

I agree with Petros - just slap on the VW wheels and they should be OK. I have put factory BMW wheels (57.1mm hub) on my Tercel and they worked just fine. The "lug centric" method is not the best way to mount wheels, but oftentimes it works. 1010 tires says you need to buy another set of wheels. Lemme guess - they sell aftermarket wheels? BTW, most spacers on the market are also combo hub centric adapters.

I think the early GTI wheels would look very cool on a T4wd. I had an '81 Rabbit and then an '87 Cabriolet and those wheels were one of my favorites to put on those cars. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[teranfirbt]

The holes for studs are RARELY concentric enough with the center hub to be used to center the rim. The only real problem with OEM wheels is they don't have a lip on the inside for the ring to ride in that prevents it from coming out... If there is some kind of lip, you could probably make/have made a set of rings if you know someone with a lathe and some aluminum.

[warbstrd]

well, bought a sandblaster and took off all the old crappy paint. Now the rims look grayish silver, no shine. So now all I gots to do is to spend days shinning them up. oh, i almost forgot, have to spend $170.00 dollars to repair 2 of the rims.

will post pictures tomorrow