Ok awhile back when I got my wheels on my car I was confused about hubcentric rings, and making a car hub centric so here's my lesson/write up on what I learned.
-Why do you need hub rings?
*When you put after mrk wheels on your car, many times the center bore (see pic) does not fit the hub of the wheel flush. Hub centric rings fill in that space.
*If you don't have a car hub centric you wheels will not set on studs properly and you wheel will not be centered to center bore/hub of the car. Lug centric may work for some applications but is not as good as hub centric.
*If your car is not hub centric you may feel a vibration in the wheels at high speeds 80+ MPH as the wheel in not centered on the bore properly.
-Where can I get them?
*any profession tire/wheel shop should carry multiple size of them. If they don't get out of there and find a shop that does.
-What about the plastic ring melting.
* The plastic ring that both my brother and I have is a very, very strong plastic; kinds of like a Lego (toy) plastic. I've have mine on for a month and the ring is still there. The manufacture of my rings is Konig.
Here are some pics for clarity

Hub ring

Before ring

After ring

 

About the melting issue, how many track days have your rings seen. Have you raced with them on a very hot (100 degree+) day? I am curious if plastic rings would survive the heat and stress of HPDE's.

 

Thanks for the pictures. Did your brother get his wheels on? Were you going to be around this weekend? I think your brother is going to show me his new wheels.

Laters
Aaron

 

There isn't really any stress on the rings. They're just a spacer. They spin at the same speeds as the wheels and brakes, so there isn't any friction on them or anything.

They should last...basically forever.

 

I've cracked a plastic one in said conditions. The conical base partially cracked from the cylindrical part. I believe it was 95+ that day and that it was on a front wheel which would make sense.

-allen

 

Yes, get them if you don't have them. I put 2 wheels of the track at HPDE and a couple laps latter my lugs lossened up. Luckly, I noticed the vibration at high speed, that wasn't there before, and I began to slow down. As the vibration got worse I decided to pit. I just got some alluminum ones from tire rack $6 a piece for my Kosei K1's. I had the plastic ones before but some how they got lost.

 

It's not the stress that's the problem. It's heat. Ever tried to pull off your lug nuts off just after a track session?

My stock wheels get hot, hot, hot from the brakes after 20 minutes of pounding on the binders.

 

I don't understand... how would hubcentric rings have helped this situation?

 

It wouldn't.

 

I have been involved with non-hubcentric wheels on racing cars from Showroom Stock enduro cars to FFords, S2000s and a Ralt-flippen-SuperVee. I will never again waste bandwidth on this because those little ring-thingies just aren't that important. They are there primarily to help prevent the wheel monkeys at your local tire store from putting them on incorrectly.

Torque your damn wheels correctly and the world will be at peace with itself. I have seen more problems from cranking lugs to hog-heaven than from ANY other wheel-related problem on the race track.

Have fun, y'all.

Kirk



[Modified by Knestis, 5:08 PM 9/19/2002]

 

Without a hubcentric ring, how can you make sure the wheel is perfectly centered on the hub when you mount it?

 

Should I have Hubcentric Rings on Regamasters? They seemed to fit fine...

Suprdave

 

na i have Spoons and they fit fine without them

 

The hub centric ring keeps the wheel center on the lugs, without this you could get a little movement especially when you put a wheel off the track. This movement I believe lead to my lugs losening up. I think it also depends on the lugs you are using because I seen some lugs help to center it better then others.


[Modified by rex_boy, 5:17 PM 9/19/2002]

 

You have conical (coned) lugs/seats right? Tighten the lugs gradually (say 1/2 turn each going back and forth) after contact in an evenly distributed cross pattern, the wheel will seat correctly. FRICTION of the wheel face against the hub face once clamped down is what holds the car up, not the wheel resting against the lugs.