Hub centric vs lug centric

[Gerald Pierce]

Since I bought my new wheels about 3 years ago, I have had vibration issues around 65-75 mph. Sometimes worse/sometimes better. Changed tires, had them balanced, had them force balanced, and still have issues.



had a roadtrip in mid december to VA Beach from Jacksonville, vibrations at 67-70 immediately after a balance. On the way back south, got so bad I stopped in NC and had them rebalanced. It was worse. Got back to Jacksonville, they rebalnced and said they were good, but since my wheels were lug centric, they torqued the lugs with the vehicle in the air. If they are torqued on the ground, it could be the cause of my vibration. Have not been above 65 yet to see if it is better, will try it next weekend when I am able.



WTH? Is this normal? True? Is there something I can buy (special lug nuts?) that will help the wheels center on the lugs better? It rides great around town, but when I travel, the ride really gets annoying.

 

[Chad Merry]

I had the same issues but it turned out it was worn out front hubs.

 

[Ani Jagadish]

When I switched out my wheels they did lug centric and I had really bad vibrations. Took it back and had them put hub spacers on them and it has corrected the problem. I would recommend having them done with all 4 wheels, they will sometimes say you only need to have the front done but go ahead and get them for all wheels.

 

[Gerald Pierce]

are these the spacers you are refering to th same as the ones everyone uses to correct the difference in width of tire tracks between front and rear?

 

[Travis Munday]

Your stock lugs should already be of the conical seat type, needed for lug centric wheels. With lug centric wheels, there is a more specific procedure that needs to be done to prevent vibrations, including tightening the bolts down with no weight on the vehicle. One thing I always do is tighten the lug nut by holding a wrench on it and spinning the wheel, helps center the lug in the lug hole.



Ideally, you'd get hub centric adapter (like <a href="http://bernardembden.com/xjs/hubcentric/index.htm" target="top">here</a>) to convert the "one size fits all" center opening on the aftermarket wheel to the proper center bore size to fit over your hub.

 

[Ani Jagadish]

What he said, there not wheel spacers which will kick you wheel out towards the fenders.

 

[Gerald Pierce]

Got it. I'll see what I can find. Maybe I'll go raise he!! at TK Performance and see if they will give me a good deal, they should have done this at nstall imho, I have spent a fortune trying to get the tires balanced and I'll bet this has been the problem all along.



Below is a link to a page I found if anyone else wants info on these.



Thanks!!!

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

From race car and tracking experience Hub Centric is better. I have Hub Centric on my SVT Focus Track car. On the race car didn't need them. Then again we are running Fiske wheels. Man those things are way too expensive.

 

[Travis Munday]

Fikse's are some of the best you can buy though, SST, lol. Of course, since each set is custom made, they won't come cheap.



I'm interested though, why didn't the race car (M3, right?) need hub-centric wheels? Perhaps I'm overlooking something obvious.



SST has a point, hub-centric is considerably better then lug-centric, but cost for hub-centrics is a bit prohibitive for most people, and lug-centric with adapters is cheaper.

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

Tiger - sorry, my bad. Some wheels need the hub centric rings to go over the rotor hub. With the Fiskes it didn't need them because of them being custom made for the car. The sad thing...LOL we have two sets of Fiske's. Classic design all silver and a set with the face in white to match the body color. Even more sad, one of the white wheels will need to be fixed again and possibly replaced.



Also keep in mind I'm not a mechanic...LOL I let all my friends do that stuff or our race shop if they don't have time.

 

[Travis Munday]

Now that makes more sense. I've heard good things about Fikse. An old boss of mine raced M3s (and Ti) and would only use BBS or Fikse wheels (or OEM BMW).