hub & wheel centric spacers questions~

[aznpoopy]

just had a chat with fred goeske of wheeladapters.com. i'm looking to get 25mm spacers for my s14. he asked me if i wanted the hubs wheel-centric. i've searched around a bit but i didn't find a satisfying answer (besides ppl saying get them from wheeladapters - dont get cheap knockoffs.)

im not super educated in wheel spacers, so (forgive me if i am wrong) - i figure this means there is a shoulder/ring thing on the spacer similar to the thing on the hub that extends into the wheel. so would it be possible to get a wheel centric spacer that fits stock wheels and run a hubcentric ring on the wheel for it to fit properly over the spacer? to be honest i have no clue what wheels i want to run on this car yet, so if this were possible it would be the best solution.

i understand hub-centric spacer, but could someone explain the wheel centric concept that fred was talking about? he also offers spacers without wheel centric spacing... how would that work? the stress of the wheel would be placed solely on the four studs that extend from the spacer? is that even safe?

oh i also asked about 4 to 5lug wheel adapters. he said it was a terrible idea and nobody should ever run those on a car. he said he personally would never sit in any kind of performance car with a 4 to 5 lug adapter as it is really dangerous. this guy seems to know his shit so i found that interesting.

[Andrew Bohan]

to be honest i have no clue what wheels i want to run on this car yet

imo and many others', wheel spacers are a band aid for wheels with the wrong offset. since you don't have wheels yet, just get ones with the right offset.

[240Stilo]

I have 17x8 +35 wheels on all corners. All with 1" spacers (25.4). Rear studs come out past the 1" spacer so it carved into the wheel about 1-2mm deep. With bolt on spacer I suggest you make sure they clear the rear studs. 1" cleared the front but not the back. Wish I could have had a 30mm spacer for the rear. The new measurements to my wheel with spacer now become about 17x8 +10. Looks good for my S14.

BUT, if you can help it....start off with a good offset wheel. For example 17x8 +10 like the pic shows or to go 17x9 and still have it sit like it is in the pic go with a +23 offset if you can find that exact size or a couple millimeters off. The pic is on stock alignment and rolled fenders. Rolling fenders is just a hammer and blow torch away so don't get discouraged.

[orion::S14]

Quality spacers like H&R are hub centric (they will center themselves on your hub...

And they are wheel centric, which means that they have a lip on the outside of them that will center the wheel onto the spacer, just like it centers itself onto the hub w/o the spacer...

Both is best.

Many spacers are hub centric and NOT wheel centric...the spacer is centered on the hub, but they rely on the nuts to center the wheel when it's bolted to the spacer.

- Brian

[aznpoopy]

thanks orion... that's the info i was looking for. so i can run a hubcentric ring on a aftermarket wheel to fit on a hub + wheel centric spacer. lol this is getting pretty complicated but i have a good idea of what i need to do now.

240stilo - good tip on the studs... i didnt even think of the clearance. i have to go measure my studs.

holic - def good pointer. i picked up a couple sets of oem and cheap aftermarket wheels for now... but ill probbaly end up getting fn01s like every other 240 person ever.

thanks for the help guys.

[Tubed4evr]

Alright maybe I can clarify what hub-centric means. The term hub-centric refers to how the wheel is centered on the axle during mounting. On a hub-centric system, the wheel rests on the hub while you put on the lug nuts. Hub-centric and lug-centric only concerns the mounting of the wheel. It has nothing to do with the way loads are distributed during operation. That said, when choosing a spacer your best best is to go with a hub-centric spacer (atleast for a 240) to ensure you don't have balance problems that can come from improper wheel mounting.

A wheel-centric spacer has a lip on it that acts as a "false hub" for the wheel to rest on. This picture shows a pretty good comparison of wheel-centric vs. non hub-centric spacers. (http://www.wheeladapters.com/images/Wheeladapters02.jpg) Notice the spacer on the right has the lip for the wheel to sit on and the other spacer has a flat face.

So bottom line: Tell Fred you want them wheel-centric.


Ryan

P.S. I started writing this before all the great info was posted. Good job guys.

[aznpoopy]

thanks for the clarification tubed. i appreciate it. :)

[CoasTek240]

wheel-centric it is

[Flybert]

I run lug centric and it's fine. Just make sure you use a torque wrench when putting on your lug nuts.