Aftermarket wheels question

[wireman]

For those of you who have installed aftermarket wheels, I have a couple questions.

From the info I have found the Bronco Sport has a 63.4 mm hub bore.

Did your wheels have that hub bore size or did you have to install hub centric rings to keep the wheel hub centric?

Are the rings pressed in or somewhat loose in the wheel?

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[RSH]

I have Raceline wheels on my Badlands,
The wheels center bore is larger than the Sports hub, I am using hub rings, they are cheap, less than $10.00 for 4, they have a snug fit.
When I first got the wheels installed the vendor did not have the correct hub rings in stock and I didn't use them at first, I really didn't notice a big difference between with and without, I just wanted the best fit for the wheels.
Typically there are 2 material choices for hub rings, plastic or aluminum.
Plastic is fine for most as they wont corrode and get stuck to the hub, the aluminum rings are more for high performance and high heat applications.
Make sure the hub and wheel mating surfaces are clean no matter which way you go.

 

[wireman]

I have Raceline wheels on my Badlands,
The wheels center bore is larger than the Sports hub, I am using hub rings, they are cheap, less than $10.00 for 4, they have a snug fit.
When I first got the wheels installed the vendor did not have the correct hub rings in stock and I didn't use them at first, I really didn't notice a big difference between with and without, I just wanted the best fit for the wheels.
Typically there are 2 material choices for hub rings, plastic or aluminum.
Plastic is fine for most as they wont corrode and get stuck to the hub, the aluminum rings are more for high performance and high heat applications.
Make sure the hub and wheel mating surfaces are clean no matter which way you go.

Any worries about the rings getting lost if doing any service or tire rotations by a shop?

Or do you do your own rotations?

 

[Dude]

Any worries about the rings getting lost if doing any service or tire rotations by a shop?

Or do you do your own rotations?

A guy on this forum recently posted about the issues at the dealership he had with the rings .. the jist of that I think was probably better to remove the rings before taking in for the shop monkeys to mess things up with the wheels

 

[RSH]

If someone is not aware that you are using hub ring's its very possible that they could fall out when mounting the wheel or could be damaged.

 

[wireman]

I'm getting a feeling that if you have service done you probably need to tell the S.A. you have them and advise him don't screw this shit up.

Since they are pretty inexpensive, a 2nd set in reserve might be a good idea.

For those with aftermarket wheels, did you have to buy the hub rings?

 

[Warped9]

A guy on this forum recently posted about the issues at the dealership he had with the rings .. the jist of that I think was probably better to remove the rings before taking in for the shop monkeys to mess things up with the wheels

That was probably me.

In the past I had aftermarket wheels on my 2004 CrownVic, but it was the same garage doing my winter and summer wheel swaps and they knew about the hub rings on my summer wheels so they never screwed up. But last November I had the local Ford dealership swap out my aftermarket wheels on my Bronco Sport for my winter ones and the mechanic wasn't thinking and crushed my hub rings when installing the factory wheels with winter tires mounted on them. It became apparent when the right rear wheel wasn't mounted properly and was wobbling.

The dealership immediately rectified the problem and replaced the hub rings their mechanic had destroyed/crushed. From now on make it a point to remind whoever is swapping your wheels about the installation and removal of said rings. Don't worry about being annoying if it saves you grief afterward. Any mechanic worth their salt should know that aftermarket wheels most likely have hub rings involved and know to watch for and remove them when reinstalling OEM factory wheels (in my case for the winter).

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