[Aku]

Question for you guys in this area of the forum.

I don't own a focus but that has nothing to do with the question anyway.

My car has a hub centerbore of 57.1mm. I have a set of wheels with a Centerbore of 73mm. How important is it to have hubcentric rings or something of that nature to center the wheel? Or can I just slap the wheel on there and use the lugs to center the wheel?

I've heard somewhere (which I don't know if its true or not) That the main load is carried by the hub center and that lugs are too weight to carry the full weight of the car on the wheels. Is this true or am I just being silly for believing that kinda thing?

Reason I'm asking is because the spacers I ordered were the correct spacer size plus had 57.1 to 73 hubcenter adapters cut into them. They have been on order for 2 months and I'm tired of waiting for all the excuses the company has been making. if I just ordered a set of 57.1 straight spacers with the correct spacing will I need to find custom hubcentric rings or can I just slap the wheels on and go?

Any and all advice would be great. Thanks

 

[RyEnd]

Having the lugs going in straight (aka, wheel is correctly centered) becomes an additional factor when you are lug centric. Not having the correct hub to set your wheel correctly centered means that the tightened lugs have to do it for you. Therefore, correct lug torque becomes all the more important.

I wouldn't think twice about doing lug centric vs hubcentric (although, rings are rather inexpensive..) however, mixed in with spacers, I would definitely spring for rings. Not that I have any actual basis for doing so =P

 

[Timmeh!]

bingo!!!

also if you decide to go lugcentric for a while, torque down your lugs in steps. that way the wheel gets centered evenly.

 

[Geezer]

Remember, if you want to convert a non-hub centric wheel to a true hub centric one you should use aluminum centering rings. If you want the hub to carry weight, a plastic ring really is not the most suitable material. That said, many wheel companies will provide plastic ones which should tell you that they rely heavily on the lugs to carry most of the weight. The plastic rings simply center the wheel accurately. As RyEnd said, if you do go with lug centric, do slow and even "hand tightening/torquing" rather than driving things home with an impact wrench and things should be just fine with that option.

 

[emsvitil]

Once the lugs are tightened down, the weight is carried by friction between the flat surfaces of the hub and the wheel...........

 

[TerryB]

When I put on my Enkei's I ratchet the lugs a little bit at a time. You'll know as soon as you drive if they're not centered.