Is there a way to tell if your aftermarket rims need hubcentric rings or not. I have no idea who makes the used rims I am getting, so I cant ask the manufacturer. When I mount the rims, will it be shifting around or something if it needs hub centric rings. Thanks in advance

ps, I bet Padawan knows, lol

 

:chuckles: This is actually a subject where I disagree with some people. As I had stated in another post, tapered/conical nuts, by the nature of their design, provide a centering action when installing the wheel. I'd imagine that the reason why so many aftermarket wheels use tapered seats is because many of them are not hub-centric, and so they rely on the nuts to center the wheel while tightening. Some will argue that hub-centric rings are necessary to avoid centering problems, but my experience has indicated that this is not the case (and many others will confirm this). Properly sequencing tapered nuts while tightening them will center the wheel, and the rings certainly don't affect its load-bearing properties (considering many are made of plastic). If you feel better running them, or they make your wheel changes quicker/easier, then by all means pick some up, but they aren't "necessary" on a wheel with tapered seats.

I should also point out that even with hub-centric rings (or OEM hub-centric wheels), there is still a small amount of "play" when the bore is fit around the hub (i.e. the ID of the wheels' bore is larger than OD of the hub, and this is necessary to allow it to easily slide on/off, to allow for different expansion characteristics of the metals, etc., etc.). The final centering must still be accomplished by the nuts themselves, even on these wheels.

 

Thanks again Padawan, you smell that, your the shizzit