Hubcentric Ring Quality?

I need to buy another set of hubcentric rings for my track wheels. I see the prices for these things are all over the place, from $9 including shipping on e-Bay to $39 plus shipping from various vendors.

I have heard that they aren't really even necessary and that the lugnuts actually do the centering. If that's the case, is there any reason to spend a lot on these things or is the quality pretty much the same across the board?

They are really more for ease/precision of installation, and once your lugnuts are on, there shouldn't be any load on them. The ones that came with my new wheels from Tire Rack last week were just plastic and I trust them.

My nice aluminum ones from Tire Rack are fused to my rotors. I need to get some new ones as well.

The plastic ones that came w/ my Konigs (from Discount Tire) fell apart after an HPDE. They don't like heat, apparently.

How do you specify/figure out which ones you need? "I have a 99 Civic Si with Konig Villians--gimme rings" ???

gamby wrote: How do you specify/figure out which ones you need? "I have a 99 Civic Si with Konig Villians--gimme rings" ???

You can find the size here, but they're at the high end of the price range.

http://www.justforwheels.com/index.jsp?cat=hubcentric&sub=how

JDM don't have rings! Seriously, when we got some wheels from SSR Japan as part of a sponsorship deal, they didn't bother with the rings. I ran the Targa on those wheels without rings. Never missed 'em, even when hitting speed bumps at 80 mph. We ran the wheels without rings on the Track Dog for the Open Track Challenge. Never missed 'em.

My Subaru's 16" ATP rims came with plastic hub-centric rings. The wheels were once used on a hillclimb WRX. I never had any problem with them except one likes to fall out when I take the wheel off the car.

One thing that is kinda nice about the rings that came in my new wheels is that they have a little retaining circlip so that the rings don't fall out of the wheels in storage or stick to the hub. I don't suppose I really have anything useful to add to this conversation, but I have never seen this feature before and I kinda like it. Is this standard nowadays or specific to Tire Rack or TRMotorsports wheels?

I think the rings are supplied by the wheel manufacturers. They're always different. The plastic ones that came stock with the Kosei K1 used to melt, there's actually an optional aluminum upgrade.

The first set that I ever saw came from Tire Rack about ten years ago and they came with the circlip. The circlips seemed to fall out frequently.

Here's the story behind my original post. About 5 years ago, I bought two sets of Konig Rewinds. I mounted a set of track tires on one set and I put the other set in my basement. I never even took thm out of the boxes. The set that I had the track tires on didn't come with rings and I never though much about them. No problems.

This year, I decided to mount a set of street tires on the other set of wheels and found a package of rings inside one of the boxes. That got me thinking about the other set that worked fine on the track for four years without rings. I really don't think they're necessary, but I ordered a set of the cheap ones anyway.

Woody wrote:

gamby wrote: How do you specify/figure out which ones you need? "I have a 99 Civic Si with Konig Villians--gimme rings" ???

You can find the size here, but they're at the high end of the price range. http://www.justforwheels.com/index.jsp?cat=hubcentric&sub=how

Dangit, Keskins aren't on the wheel menu! I still think my problem is the chrome wheel bolts, tho. (full story on the black Rado Reader Ride page)

Woody wrote:

gamby wrote: How do you specify/figure out which ones you need? "I have a 99 Civic Si with Konig Villians--gimme rings" ???

You can find the size here, but they're at the high end of the price range. http://www.justforwheels.com/index.jsp?cat=hubcentric&sub=how

Christ--Tire Rack gave me a set for free...

$37.95 for plastic ones??? lol

I bought 4 60.0 -> 57.1 rings for my Works from DTD for $15 shipped I believe.

Even though I knew the measurements I needed, Tire Rack wouldn't sell me any rings since they don't sell Work wheels.

I have both, plastic and aluminum ones (off ebay). The plastic ones I've used for over 15 years now. I only had one set melt on me at the Mini-Road course at Carlisle Fairgrounds.

The aluminum ones did fuse once to my rotors, but I just put a small amount of Anti-Seize compound on the back of the rings and they were fine after that.

Personally I would use these things, instead of centering the wheel using the lugs, which I know people always say NOT TO DO. I would be at better peace of mind using a $1.00 piece of plastic than to have my wheel shake enough to loosen the lugs and having a wheel fly off.

Hmm, it would be nice if some kind of motorsport based magazine could come up with scientific data as to why we need or don't need hubcentric rings.

I used to believe they were of little use. I'd cross tighten my lugs and be fine. I've realized that being a hair off and not being 100% centered can be very easy to do though.

I now run the super cheap ones from Discount Tire. For the price... just no reason to Not... get them.

captainzib wrote: Hmm, it would be nice if some kind of motorsport based magazine could come up with scientific data as to why we need or don't need hubcentric rings.

x2! And some advice for competing with spacers, etc. I've been taking the fancy wheels off and going back to stock when I run it off the street.

I used to work at a rim and tire shop and my job was to macine up or find the appropriate rings for each set of rims we sold (we sold a lot of rims). It would really depend on the vehicle and the rim manufacture how important the rings were. Things like volvos and subarus would frequently develop a shake if there rings were not a good fit or the were left off. Cars like mustangs, camaros, etc, we wouldn't bother with and nobody ever complained. A good set of rings would also allow us to use 4x98mm wheels on 4x100mm cars or 5x114.3mm rims on 5x115mm cars. Also, belive it or not, some rim manufacturers were not very good at making sure the bolt patterns or centre bores were completley accurate, so If I chucked the rim in a lathe and made sure the beads were running true, I could machine in a new centre bore and use the appropriate ring to fix the problem.

I would recomend plastic rings and just get extras incase they melt. Once it's torqued down, the rim won't move even if the ring melts away.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

captainzib wrote: Hmm, it would be nice if some kind of motorsport based magazine could come up with scientific data as to why we need or don't need hubcentric rings.

x2! And some advice for competing with spacers, etc. I've been taking the fancy wheels off and going back to stock when I run it off the street.

If you are an SCCA member the latest issue of SportsCar magazine explains the need for centering rings for hubcentric rims. I guess I will have to read it tonight.

EvoRoadster wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

captainzib wrote: Hmm, it would be nice if some kind of motorsport based magazine could come up with scientific data as to why we need or don't need hubcentric rings.

x2! And some advice for competing with spacers, etc. I've been taking the fancy wheels off and going back to stock when I run it off the street.

If you are an SCCA member the latest issue of SportsCar magazine explains the need for centering rings for hubcentric rims. I guess I will have to read it tonight.

Aaah, I'm late with my membership dues again. I'll check and see if one of my buddies have it. I did some figuring the other day..if I'd renewed on time ever since I joined SCCA, I'd have been a 20-yr member in 2006.

I believe we've answered that question at least twice in the last 10 years since I've been here. I'll see if I can find the o-fficial answer.

Short answer: run 'em if you can find them reasonably priced, they make mounting wheels easier, especially if you've got bolts, not studs. I prefer aluminum ones, but they can get fused to the steel if you live in a crappy climate or if they're too tight. Smear some grease on them or loosen up the ID tolerances a bit so they come off when you need them to.

The aluminum rings that I have for my Enkeis were slightly too small for the MINI and kept getting stuck on the hub. 5-minutes w/ a dremel fixed that.

I was about to say there was an article in Sport Car magazine too :) Funny how we're thinking like them.

Can someone post a copy of the SportCar article about hubcentric rings.