smgevo

iTrader: (1)

I am curious as to why several sets of hub rings don't fit exactly flush with the wheel's mounting pad. I have both the hard black ABS version as well as the aluminum ones. Both of these have a slight raised fitment so when the wheel is installed against the hub pad, there is a .05+ space as the wheel rests against the lip of the ring not allowing complete contact of the wheels mounting pad and the car's hub surface.

The black ABS ones have a flat lip around the outer edge that prevents the ring from slipping into the bore recess and grabs the outer edge. These fit nicely, but again don't allow a complete flush fit for the wheel. The metal rings don't have a lip, but flair out enough so there is a small edge exposed preventing them from falling into the bore and preventing complete contact of the wheel/pad.

Anyone else spend time to observe this? I have no vibration problems, but it does seem odd that this design element is present. You would think a hub ring would sit entirely inside the center bore. Adding a spacer will only complicate the observed possible design problem.

Begs the question as to whether or not these are really needed. I think they are and this is a hotly debated question. Even if the wheel nuts are properly torqued, I feel more of the weight of the wheels are "resting" on the studs when not using a hub ring vs resting on the center flange when using a hub ring.

Comments either way are welcome.

Hiboost

iTrader: (9)

I noticed this on my hubcentric rings and wheels too and have trimmed the rings down with some light sanding so that it wouldn't be a possible cause of vibration when I was using spacers. They are vibration free without spacers and seat perfectly now, I think the only reason they are slightly big is because they need some pressure to keep the plastic center cap snug with the wheel mounted. I'm going to test with spacers again and try and figure out what I did wrong before.

smgevo

iTrader: (1)

Some rings come with a wire clip that surronds the interior indent of the ring, like some center bore caps to help retain them in place. I removed them as they don't always seat properly with the wire tension clip in place. I guess this is so you don't loose the ring or it does not fall out of the wheel, or the tire guy doesn't forget to re-use them.

smgevo

iTrader: (1)

Here are some pics of ABS and metal ones. You can see the pronounced lip on the plastic one. Metal lip is much smaller. Neither allow complete flush fitment to the wheel pad. The metal one has less contact area for the hub and more bevel.