centre bore adapter rings

[ahyeah]

Where can one purchase rings to allow fitment of larger 66mm center bore Audi wheels on our 57mm hubs? I've never used them before, any concerns when running these?

[Paul@SupremePower]

Where can one purchase rings to allow fitment of larger 66mm center bore Audi wheels on our 57mm hubs? I've never used them before, any concerns when running these?

Neuspeed supplies them for some of there wheels but you can get them other places.
I’ve never had any issues using them.

[ahyeah]

Thanks. And I'm just looking for a 66<>57mm hub centric ring? The searches I've done lead to 70+mm rings. Couldn't find them on ECS's site either, fwiw.

[jasonsowers]

Local Vw & Audi dealers carry them. All 4 are $10 from the dealer last few times I have bought them from them.

[Potatohead_RS3]

Pretty common thing for most aftermarket wheel shops.

[Zephyr007]

Thanks. And I'm just looking for a 66<>57mm hub centric ring? The searches I've done lead to 70+mm rings. Couldn't find them on ECS's site either, fwiw.

Here's a couple of ECS links for what you're looking for I think.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-taper-pr.../c6655710alkt/

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...ur/ap666571~k/

[Shaka]

Where can one purchase rings to allow fitment of larger 66mm center bore Audi wheels on our 57mm hubs? I've never used them before, any concerns when running these?

http://amzn.to/2yVZzkH

I've purchased these before on Amazon with great success. There are also plastic versions if you prefer-- Amazon has lots of good examples, and Prime too if you're a subscriber to that!

[GordonC]

Honestly, if you are careful to ensure that the lugs are properly centered in the holes when the wheel is tightened, center hub adapters are not necessary. Further, plastic ones melt if you get a lot of heat in your brakes (doing track days, for example), and metal ones corrode to your hubs and cause a lot of hassle. On various Audis and Miatas, I've run aftermarket wheels without hub center adapters for 20 years - the only problems were with the corroded hub center adapters when I used them. Nowadays, I never bother with them.

Note, they provide no wheel centering function - that's entirely provided by the lugs. Wheels are lug centric, not hub centric. All the force holding the wheels on is the friction force generated by the clamping force of the lug bolts, the lip of a hub center adapter does nothing. The ONLY function of a hub centering adapter is to make it easier to tighten your wheels with the bolts centered in the holes - once the lug bolts are tight, the hub center adapter rings provide no function.

[WAF]

Honestly, if you are careful to ensure that the lugs are properly centered in the holes when the wheel is tightened, center hub adapters are not necessary. Further, plastic ones melt if you get a lot of heat in your brakes (doing track days, for example), and metal ones corrode to your hubs and cause a lot of hassle. On various Audis and Miatas, I've run aftermarket wheels without hub center adapters for 20 years - the only problems were with the corroded hub center adapters when I used them. Nowadays, I never bother with them.

Note, they provide no wheel centering function - that's entirely provided by the lugs. Wheels are lug centric, not hub centric. All the force holding the wheels on is the friction force generated by the clamping force of the lug bolts, the lip of a hub center adapter does nothing. The ONLY function of a hub centering adapter is to make it easier to tighten your wheels with the bolts centered in the holes - once the lug bolts are tight, the hub center adapter rings provide no function.

This.....makes perfect sense I agree.

[DQBRS3]

Here's an aluminum option: https://www.amazon.com/66-6mm-Circui...iglink20461-20

[a4000]

Prepare for a bunch of vibration if you don't use the rings.

[Potatohead_RS3]

This.....makes perfect sense I agree.

It's not technically wrong, but it's not really right in practice either. I can take a rowboat to Hawaii if I want to also, but why? There are far better options.

For one, it's extremely difficult to get the wheel exactly centered without a hub ring. You're talking about a 50 lb assembly trying to get it within 1/2mm or so. If the wheels were meant to be centered with the lugs they would use a shank style lugnut which is found mostly on trucks. Secondly, the first time you hit a pothole with any authority, it all goes out the window. Hub rings simply make the same job far easier.

[GordonC]

Prepare for a bunch of vibration if you don't use the rings.

Is that your experience? As I posted above, I tried hub center adapter rings on a few sets of wheels more than 10 or 15 years ago, and quit using them after 1 or two years... including on a 2007 S4 Avant. After I nearly had to chisel the aluminum rings off the hubs after they corroded on over the course of one winter (putting back on the OEM wheels with summer tires, didn't need the rings), I stopped using them. Never had any vibration problems, with 5 or 6 different cars since then, with a mix of aftermarket wheels for winter or summer use. As long as you are careful to ensure that the lugs are properly centered on the wheel holes when you tighten the wheels, then you won't have any vibration problems. That's my experience, anyway. The only function of hub centering adapters is to make it easier to tighten the wheels with the lugs properly centered, period.

[GordonC]

For one, it's extremely difficult to get the wheel exactly centered without a hub ring. You're talking about a 50 lb assembly trying to get it within 1/2mm or so. If the wheels were meant to be centered with the lugs they would use a shank style lugnut which is found mostly on trucks. Secondly, the first time you hit a pothole with any authority, it all goes out the window. Hub rings simply make the same job far easier.

It ain't that hard to get the wheel lugs properly centered without the rings - I do it 3 or 4 times every year for the past 10 or 15 years without ever having a vibration problem!

The wheels ARE meant to be centered with the lugs, that's why the wheels and lugs have a tapered or ball seat.

Re potholes - not true at all. The actual physics of the wheel face to hub face frictional forces prove that the wheel is not held to the car by shear across the lug bolts (or the lip on the hub center), the wheels are held in place entirely by friction between the wheel face and hub face, that friction generated by the clamping forces of the lug bolts in tension only, not shear (that's what the ~80-90 ft-lbs or torque on the lug bolts is for). I can post the math if you like, but it's solid - I have this from a similar discussion over 15 years ago (and from my mechanical engineering training over 30 years ago ;) )

[Potatohead_RS3]

This is just bad advice. I'm sorry man but you are simply wrong here. You can provide all the math and theory you want but it means nothing in practice. I have quite literally solved hundreds, if not thousands of vibration issues with hub rings. If you have some Houdini wheel install skills, that's cool, most people don't. Why you would tell someone not to use something worth $15 on a $65k car and perhaps $4k worth of wheels and tires is rather bizarre. Plastic melting at the track is a problem for very few people, and in that case use aluminum with a light coating of anti-seize. There is not a single wheel manufacturer in the world that will tell a customer it's ok to use a wheel in a non hub-centric application.

[skylineguv]

Is that your experience? As I posted above, I tried hub center adapter rings on a few sets of wheels more than 10 or 15 years ago, and quit using them after 1 or two years... including on a 2007 S4 Avant. After I nearly had to chisel the aluminum rings off the hubs after they corroded on over the course of one winter (putting back on the OEM wheels with summer tires, didn't need the rings), I stopped using them. Never had any vibration problems, with 5 or 6 different cars since then, with a mix of aftermarket wheels for winter or summer use. As long as you are careful to ensure that the lugs are properly centered on the wheel holes when you tighten the wheels, then you won't have any vibration problems. That's my experience, anyway. The only function of hub centering adapters is to make it easier to tighten the wheels with the lugs properly centered, period.

I'll preface my response by saying that, on the occasions I've run without hub rings, I've never had any issues.

That said, I still use them, and will continue to use them, as a means to aid wheel centering when bolting them on. For my purposes, and this may differ to others of course, the times I'm likely to be getting the brakes up to a temperature consistently high enough to melt plastic hub rings (track and maybe Auto-X), I'd be using a specific set of wheels/tires where, if hub rings were required, I'd use aluminum. It's unlikely in that time that significant enough corrosion would occur to cause issues, especially if a judicious application of anti-seize was used. For all other times, plastic hub rings work just fine. Yes they can get brittle in winter, but I've only ever had the locator tabs break due to this, so the centering function was still effective. They're also cheap enough to throw away every season if needs be.
Just my 2c

[GordonC]

You can provide all the math and theory you want but it means nothing in practice.

I'm a mechanical engineer, not a lawyer - the math and theory mean everything in practice.

Why you would tell someone not to use something worth $15 on a $65k car and perhaps $4k worth of wheels and tires is rather bizarre.

Not bizarre at all. The plain engineering facts are that hub centering rings do nothing once the lugs are tightened. Those are the laws of physics, the ones I'm concerned with. If someone wants to use them, they can do so without hurting much (melting plastic and galvanic corrosion issues aside), but they are not essential or necessary.

There is not a single wheel manufacturer in the world that will tell a customer it's ok to use a wheel in a non hub-centric application.

Yeah, they all have liability lawyers who would never let them say that - but their engineers would certainly say it off the record.

[Micronaught]

Applied Probability and Statistics Have never fixed a car. 😜.