Hey all, I have this weirdest problem... I'm usually running 17" OZ Superleggeras on the street, and I use my stock oem 16" for R tires. So tonight while I was swapping out my Oz's for the stockers, I found that my driver side rear wheel won't go flush to the hub. All other 3 wheels fit in just fine as usual!

Before you go am I using spacers, or putting the front wheel in the rear axle, or got something weird jammed in my wheel/hub, I have checked and rechecked and there's nothing wrong.

I've swapped wheels a million times before, what's going on??

For some background, I have been getting some clicking from the rear end when initially getting off the line (after the car has been sitting for a while), which the dealer has never been able to fix. I was wondering if my axle nut has worked itself so loose that the spindle sticks out so much that prevents me from mounting the wheel on??!

Also, I swapped my OZ's back in and it mounts just fine too...

What is going on?!

Much thanks!!!
Les

 

Also I should add that I've jacked the car up high enough and checked that there's a good inch on clearance between the tire and the ground.. so that rules on the tire being caught on the ground.

Thanks again!

 

grease them nuts for that clicking

 

I know you have checked and rechecked, but maybe you should look for the hubcentric ring that might have been leftover from the Superleggera? (if they are needed). Only thing I can think of, since it's happened to me a few time mounting and unmounting my volks.

 

Excellent diagnosis.
Those rings can stay on the hub when you take off an aftermarket rim. Have a look.

 

It's the only thing,I can think of.!!!

 

I had a similar problem once when swapping out streets for R-compounds. Seems my co-driver had not quite seated the wheel when he started tightening the lugs. It caused a slight bur on the wheel that would not allow it to sit on the hub correctly. Luckily, another competitor had a round file and we were able to remove the bur to get the wheel to seat properly again.

If your hubcentric ring is not there...run your finger around the inner part of the wheel where it slides onto the hub...you may feel a bur.

 

Well, I'm proud of myself: I, too, thought of the hubcentric ring diagnosis (before reading the other responses). I had the same problem once with Superleggeras on my STi.

A useful way to double-check this would be to compare the Superleggera from the offending hub with one of the others -- very carefully. A missing ring is sometimes easier to see OFF the wheel than ON the hub. HPH

 

The clicking is probably the axle bolt. Tell your tech to tighten the bolts to 220ft/lbs.

 

2.slo,

If this is the first event of the year (damn, I bailed out because of weather), there might just have some rust built up over the winter around the hub lip enough to not let the OEM wheel go in smoothly. OEM wheels usually have tighter fit to the hub than hubcentric rings with aftermarket wheels. That happened to mine and I just had to sand off the rust before the OEM wheel could go in smoothly.