Hub Centric rings: materials, where to buy, and possibly measurements?
 

Last week I put my Enkei 92's on my '85 w/ full GSL suspension setup from an '82, and have noticed that they are slightly noisy above 35 or 40mph. It sounds as if something is slightly out of round, and the guys at Bell Tire said that I may need Hub Centric rings to get the wheels to roll perfectly smooth.

So here are my questions:

1. Where have you bought them from?

2. What material have you purchased? I have found plastic (I'm assuming it's a thermoset, not a thermoplast) and aluminum via google searches, but I'm wondering what everyone has had good luck with (I'm going to assume Aluminum here...)

3. I don't own a set of calipers (I could/should buy a set). What is the ID for a set of Hub Centric rings, and if possible, what is the OD to correspond with the Enkei 92's?

The guy at Bell Tire said that I could come in, they could measure the car, and order them for me, which is what I'm thinking would be the safest thing to do, but I was wondering opinions/looking for information.

Thanks

-Jim

2. ive seen plastic the most, and aluminum. i think aluminum would be the longer lasting of the two. if you're using the proper tapered seat lugnut/studs, then there is not a lot of force on the ring, but it is easy to damage/loose em when you take the wheel on and off.

3. not sure about the measurements, but its not really super critical, in fact if you do any kind of hard driving/racing you want em kinda loose. the last thing you want is the wheel getting bound up and it moves AFTER you tighten the lugnuts, which makes the lugnuts loose which is scary.

so those are the cautions....

it also very well might be, that if you measure the hub really quick and the wheels they have it in a catalog...

How loose are we talking? The sites I've found with rings have accuracy down to the thousandth of a millimeter (.00x mm). What kind of tolerance should I allow? I know I don't want a press fit, so I was thinking between 1 and 2 thousandths clearance.

yeah 1 to 2 or maybe even a little more, would probably be about right.

its funny ive got the same wheels...

Enkei 92's? What offset and what tires are you running?

mine are 15x7 7 offset, with 225/45/15's

+7 offset? How much did you have to roll your fenders to get the 225's to fit? Also, I'm assuming you're running some coil overs?

I rub the fender on freeway onramps with 205/50R15 Potenza RE-11's @ about 50mph w/ RB springs and Illuminas in front/blues in rear. I also rub on the springs @ full lock.

with coilovers in the front, and about -2.5 camber, i didn't touch the front fenders at all, tire tucks, and there is like an inch of room to the spring.

in the rear though, its really tight, if centering the rear end doesnt work, i may have to roll the rear fenders, to the inside its got tons of room, i could do a 15x8 20 in the rear.

I rubbed bad enough on the freeway onramp that i took a small chunk out of my drivers front tire tread and bent my fender lip. I'm going to be buying some metal working tools and bending the inner lip edge up and out of the way so this doesn't happen again.

Finally ordered up some rings last night. Unfortunately they are plastic, as I couldn't find anyone who made Aluminum in the size that I need. The good news: $32 and change for 2 sets of rings + overnight shipping via Amazon.com.

I'll be heading to my Uncle's shop sometime this summer to machine my own rings out of Aluminum. Probably will go with some 7000 series aluminum round stock. I'll post up pics when I get the rings tomorrow, and post some driving impressions this weekend.

FWIW, the Fox Mustang guys who have converted their drum brakes to later model disc brakes have to use a hub centric ring to center the rear rotors on the axle hub. The after market has come through with some inexpensive aluminum rings for this purpose; some guys actually used PVC pipe instead. I had to use the aluminum ones with my .5" spacers on the rear which were designed for the larger hub and the later model wheels. So far, this has worked flawlessly. In fact, given my experience with the rings, I don't see why plastic would present a problem.