Plastic vs metal hub centric rings

[teckk]

Is there any real difference other than longevity ?

[J.Owen]

if used in salty conditions or left in for a long time, the metal have a tendency to get stuck to the wheel or hub. They are less inclined to crack, however. In either case, if wheels are removed and cleaned at somewhat regular intervals, you shouldn't have an issue with either.

[AudiSport12]

I've had plastic rings for 15-20k miles. Rotated the wheels twice already and havent noticed anything wrong with them.

[Audibot]

x2. They have a bit of the rusty color on them when I first take them off from the hub, but then I just brush/wipe them off again and good to go. No problems on my car and that's been 20k.

[p0isin]

My plastic rings have always worked fine.

[Jhad]

only have used plastic rings.. no issues

[chris@fifteen52]

I will only use plastic. They are much cheaper and easier. I had a new set of metal ones that I put on some wheels just to roll on to a show and try and sell. On the way home got a flat and the hub ring had fused to the hub in a day. And with it on there I could not get the spare on either. It took a long time to get that off on the side of the road. Basically had to cut/scrape it off with a screw driver. Plastic I could have cut through in a pinch. Plastic are less than $10 and I just got 2 sets when I got my new wheels.

[kennynguyen]

+1 on plastic. Both seem to work fine, but the metal ones are prone to rusting/fusing to the hub or wheel.

[//S POWER]

Use Permatex anti-seize compound to prevent it from rusting/fusing to the hub/wheel


[]S POWER

[chris@fifteen52]

Use Permatex anti-seize compound to prevent it from rusting/fusing to the hub/wheel


[]S POWER

I did. Wire brushed it first and anti-seize. I think they were just closer to 57.0 than 57.1

And even cracked the plastic work fine. They are not load bearing just place holders.

[Contained]

I was weary of using plastic at first, but my plastic hub rings have been going strong for about 10k, so unless you're tracking the car and are worried about them melting there is no need for metal (IMO).

[teckk]

lol cool thanks guys for the all the help, reason i asked was because i picked up a set of wheels and wasnt to sure about what size they were (66.5 or 66.6) and my friend sent me a link to a set of metal rings on ebay and so instead of possibly buying the wrong size i went to a local shop who had 67mm rings that fit but they were plastic it ended up working better that way. He also suggested reboring them but that was like a extra 400 bucks and a 2 day wait time but i think ill pass on that for now

[//S POWER]

.....I had a new set of metal ones that I put on some wheels just to roll on to a show and try and sell. On the way home got a flat and the hub ring had fused to the hub in a day. And with it on there I could not get the spare on either. It took a long time to get that off on the side of the road. Basically had to cut/scrape it off with a screw driver.....

Who made the metal HCR? It could be a poor material and it wasn't heat treated properly.
I used BBS HCR for the BBS RS and never had problems what so ever.


[]S POWER

[schmiesus]

I've been selling wheels since 2001 and plastic rings along with. The hub ring does nothing but center the wheel when bolting up. Once its bolted down the rings aren't doing anything. Their job is to centre to eliminate vibration. Plastic rings are cheap and you can go through 6 sets of 4 before you even come close to the cost of metal ones which provide you with no added benefit and probably a lot more headache.

[Rastboostin]

I have plastic on my TSWs, no problems here, other than the fact that the idiots who installed them initially didn't feel like mentioning they didnt have any and put on my wheels without the rings. Car would shake violently upwards of 50mph.

[teckk]

Thanks for all the help on this issue, now that thats settled Im also doing a stud conversion because the wheels that i have wont fit my stock lugs. The supposed issue is that theyre step down studs which basically means the first couple of threads are 14x1.5 and the rest of the stud goes down a size into 12x1.5 and the shop i got the hub rings from says that they may be dangerous to run... Anybody have any insight as to why or are they just full of shit ?

[teckk]

any input ?

[Axis]

Metal with anti-seize IMO

Dont know about the lug issue thought.