My new wheels came in over the weekend, and I couldn't wait to install them.

Well, the hubcentric rings fit fine on the passenger's side of the car, but for some reason they didn't want to fit on the driver's side. It seems like there is a buildup of rust that wouldn't let the rings fit on the car. Is there any downside to only using two of the hubcentric rings? I drove the car and I had no shakes/vibrations, and everything fit flush.

Side question, my wheels came with a lock/lug nut adapter? I am not really sure as the label on the box of this adapter was scratched off. Any idea as to what this is for?

Thanks for looking!

 

1. I use non-stock wheels on my race car, and don't use the "hub-centric rings" which came with them. I am told by other racers that nobody uses them, and there's no reason to do so. So far, that has been true. And if racing doesn't require them, I doubt very much that street driving does. I strongly suspect that they exist only for ease of mounting, and perform no actual function in the operation of the car.

2. The adapter is for the lug nuts made for your new wheels, which may be significantly different in how they mate to the wheels than the stock lug nuts.

 

Thanks for the info! Do you think by driving with only the rings on the passenger side wheels, I am hurting anything? I read the write up by xviper saying how they weren't needed, but I wasn't sure if I am damaging anything by only using 2..

The adapter thing got me confused, because my wheels didn't come with lugs, I got a set of Rays short lugs instead. Oh well..

Thanks again!

 

No, I don't think it makes any difference. The wheels are kept in place with the lug bolts/nuts, I think it's very unlikely that the plastic ring adds anything of importance, or would cause a problem if you only used two of them.

It may be that the grooves for the lug nuts in the new wheels are narrower than in the stock wheels, so that a standard socket won't fit in there without scoring the surface of the wheel, so they gave you something which will solve that. Or it could be a mistake. I'd just give them a call and ask.

 

My understanding is that hubrings are a necessity on cars with wheel lug stud bolts like BMWs. I think it depends on the wheel and lugnuts whether or not you need hubrings on the S. Some wheel/lugnut designs (conical?) make hubrings unnecessary.

 

I suspect that "necessity" means only that it makes it much easier to get the lug stud bolts into the hole, because it's centered on the hub already. I can't imagine that there's any safety issue with leaving the rings off.

 

Thanks again for the help! Yeah I tried the lug adapter with my rays lugs and it was way too big (I actually ended up scratching a little bit of my new wheels trying this ) I was able to put the wheels on fine without the adapter. Oh well.

 

a hubcentric ring is used to make aftermarket wheels with bigger bores fit the vehicle as it had the same exact bore....they are mainly used to make sure the wheels is sitting flush on the hub and eliminate vibrations that may occur. But if you dont have any vibrations without them, then you dont need them...