i have azenis mounted on my old 14" wheels for autocross. a month or so ago i got 17" ssr integrals for the street. they came with black rings that make the wheel hubcentric (that's the right term?).
so i go to an event a few weeks ago and bring my 14s with me to change at the site. i take off a rear wheel, and the centering ring is seized to the hub. i run the event on the 17s with kumho 712s mounted.

prior to my last event, i used some of the PB penetrating catalyst to try and loosen them. i had to use a screwdriver as a chisel and hammer it between the ring and hub to get them off. i noticed when i put the 17s on with the ring, it was difficult to get them centered... the wheel would seem to want to rock on the ring. when i just put the wheel directly on the hub, much like my 14s, it just rested on the hub evenly.

since i don't drive much during the week, and i was lazy after getting home, i have just left the 14s on all week. i called tire rack today and asked if i really needed to use the rings. the guy i spoke with said that the rings were needed so when you tighten down the lugnuts the wheel is even. if i dont use them, i'll get vibrations he said.

i told him about the problem, and asked what i should do to insure that the rings don't seize again, given how often i'll be changing wheels. he said the wheels aren't designed to be taken on and off (i'm not lying).

is he right? will i really run into problems not using the rings? neither my 14" alloys nor my 15s with snow tires have these rings. they only seem to make the wheel more difficult to get to sit straight on the hub, and they are a pain to get off. the ones i have aren't smooth anymore, so i'd have to order a new set for $20. given that i don't drive much during the week, should i be ok putting them on without the rings?

what exactly is the advantage/disadvantage of hub/lug centric attachment?

thanks in advance for your help,
phil

 

You might be better off posting in either tech or raodracing/autoX for some answers...


I wish I knew the answer for ya...

 

the wheels came with the metal ones... but my chiseling them off scraped some of the black covering off making them not so smooth.

what do they really do? why do i need them?

thanks,
phil

 

You need to have the rings on the wheels. If you don't run with them on you risk having your wheel act as if the lug nuts are loose, causing serious damage to your wheels like the holes for the lugs getting bigger, tires may start cupping, you could break the wheel studs. There is a reason why things like that are made it isn't just to get $40.oo more bucks out of the consumer it's because wheels can fit different cars with the same bolt circle but may have different hub bearing sizes, like aftermarket wheels that fit on a 3rd gen Volkswagen Golf will fit on any honda car with a 4x100mm bolt circle but the size of the hub rings are different.

 

Maybe try a little anti-seize on the rings ? Might keep them from "welding" on.

Chris

 

Who did you talk to at the Tirerack?

 

where can i buy some hubcentric rings? are they one universal size? thanks!

 

Are these rings only for 17"+ rims?

 

The hub centric rings are made to fit any aftermarket rim reguardless who made or what size they happen to be. I have a set on my old skool Chromadora Magnisium wheels and thier 15". The wheel mfgrs. make the center of the wheels the same size so the hub centric rings will fit. The rings outside diameter are all the same size it's the hole in the middle that is different to fit different size hubs.