Hub centric rings for wheels with larger center bore

[superj]

Some people may not know what hub centric and lug centric means for wheels and vehicles so i took some pics when i put my hub centering rings on this morning.

We are going to discuss hub centeric here.

In my other post about about back spacing and offset, i mentioned center bore diameter as something you need to watch when buying wheels. If the bore diameter of your new wheels are smaller then your truck's hub diameter of 93.1mm, than your wheels will be a no-go. The wheel will not physically mount to the axle hub.

But, if the center bore of your new wheels are larger than 93.1mm, you are in luck because they make these very inexpensive rings that fit onto your axle hub and fill in the space between your wheel's center bore and the axle's mounting hub surface.

You can get plastic or aluminum center bore spacers and most online tire places say to get the plastic ones instead of aluminum as you can get disimilar metal corrosion that will make your spacer and wheel stick very tightly to your truck and sometimes you have to get a mallet to get it all apart.

I watched a video by wheel manufacturer konig that talked about hub spacers because i had never used them before today so i wanted to see what the wheel designers said about them.

This is the video:


So i had already purchased aluminum spacers from amazon before i watched the video because i had also already mounted my cool vision wheels and tires and had been driving on them for a few hundred miles. What i noticed and what made me get the centering spacers is that i had a very very slight shimmy from 82-86mph. I only found this out when i drove to san antonio and back friday, about a 300 mile round trip. I knew it wasn't a balance issue because out of balance issues show up at very specific speeds, roughly 62-68mph.

When i installed my wheels and tires, i mounted the wheel and very specifically hand tightened the lug nuts in a specific star pattern while rotating the wheel assembly and than tightened slightly more in the same pattern and finally torqued the lug nuts down in the specific pattern. I have always mounted wheels to vehicles using specific tightening sequences because that is what i was taught back in the early 90s by my dad and have never had shimmies or wheels come off while driving.

So anyways, i got some hub centric spacers and mounted everything, still following my tightening sequence.

So the wheels feel and look just fine. I haven't taken the truck out yet but i will later and come post back.

Here are the pics

This is my axle mounting surface. I took a very rough measurement to show the size. If you end up needing spacers, your truck is 93.1mm as your inside diameter requirement.

Here is my wheel's rough inside diameter. These wheels are actually a very common 106.7 center bore which also fits toyotas, dodge, and chevy so fyi, if you see wheels for sale from a private seller and their vehicle was one of those, its very cheap to put them on your ranger, like i did.

Here are my nice aluminum centering rings.

Wire brush the surface your rings sits on

They fit right onto my truck hub and also fit perfectly into the wheel bore, exactly like the video dude was talking about. Sweet!

And here they are on amazon
https://a.co/d/0im1Js1B

Really, that is all you need to know about hub centering rings. They have a small important job in their life and will keep you safely driving

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[NM Mike]

Another good and informative post.
Lets say for the sake of argument, that after installing the centering rings and your xxx brand wheels that you realize that you now need a wheel spacer to prevent rubbing. Do you leave the centering rings installed and now get a 106mm to 106mm spacer of the desired thickness? Or do you remove the centering rings and get a 93.1mm to 106mm spacer?
I would think that the fewer the number of parts between your hub and your wheel, the better. Less chance of uneven lug torquing, less b imbalance possibilities etc…. Do wheel spacers come with the option for one bore size on the hub side and Another for the wheel side, like the centering rings do?
I’m not looking into doing this, just throwing this out as a discussion point.

 

[superj]

I agree, fewer nunber of
Parts so get the 93.1 to 106.7 adapter/spacer but i am not sure if they make those

 

[spellchek]

Nice write-up. I know some people think they are unnecessary, but I have always used hub rings with aftermarket wheels and have never had issues with vibrations, shimmying, etc.

I live in a region where there's snow and salt on the road, so I prefer the plastic ones to prevent corrosion/sticking, but if you prefer the aluminum rings, a super thin layer of anti-seize before mounting them can help.

Also, this is probably just nit picking, but I prefer to snap the rings into the wheel bore before mounting, as opposed to placing the rings first on the axle hub surface. I've always worried that unless your axle hub was pristine, whatever corrosion/debris was on there could push the ring out and cause it to act more like a spacer. As you can see in the OP's pic, the hub rings sit nicely inside the wheel bore, just below the mounting surface lip, so it shouldn't interfere. In reality it probably doesn't matter much, as the clamping forces from the lug nuts are so great that everything will probably just get squished in there just fine, but just my own personal preference.

https://us.hubcentric-rings.com/ is a great website if you need to find a difficult-to-find size ring, or need a custom one.

 

[Dino Jockey]

Agree with above. Hub centric rings are a good thing. Have used them on several tjs, jks, and jts. Never an issue.

 

[Peter949]

My personal experience. I was planning to get rings for my KMC rims but I decided not to when my vendor told me I didn't have to. So, I decided to skip them and it worked out. Might not work for every case and I was going that route until he said I didn't have too. If you have any doubts get them but this is just my experience.

 

[Deepsea619]

My Vossen wheels came with these. I was wonder why. Great thread.

 

[josephp732]

Over the years I have ordered many wheels/tires sets from Tire Rack and Discount Tire (now the same companies). They always shipped with plastic hub centering rings. It's pretty rare to find an aftermarket wheel that has the same wheel bore size as your OEM wheel/hub.

 

[superj]

Well, the truck ia at discount tire getting the new tire pressure sensors installed and getting rebalanced.

The rings did not take care of that little shimmy, by the way.

And, i went back to my amazon list and thought i bought the same tire pressure sensors i used last time but the guy thinks i got the wring frequency, so we will find out. I may have gotten the frequency my wife's jeep uses instead.
I bought the ones for her jeep's new wheels/tires about the same time i got mine for xlt wheel/tires.

1330 will be when i find out

 

[DirtDerrick]

My Vossen wheels came with these. I was wonder why. Great thread.

Like magic 🪄

 

[superj]

i got the wrong sensors

what a bummer. my son said the other guys at discount were saying what a cool truck but terrible tires, ha ha ha. he told them the tires just happened to be on the wheels he got on marketplace for cheap so thats why the tires are those ones

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