View Full Version : Hubcentric rings
A few years ago i put aftermarked wheels on my '81 GTSi.
3 piece Compomotive TS 17 x 8 front and 17 x 9 rear with Michelin Pilot Sports 225/45 ZR 17 front and 255/40 ZR 17 rear.
Athough i'm very pleased with the looks of the wheels, i love the 288 look and the performance of the tires there always was one thing not right.
From 120 km/h up there was a little unballance in the steeringwheel.
Dispite having balanced the wheels several times at 2 different places, although getting less, the unbalance never totally disappeared.
A few weeks ago i dicided to put spacers on my car, to order these i had to know de diameter of the hub.
To my amazement the front- and rearhub differed in size.
So i investigated further.
I found that on the 308 gt4, GTB/S, GTBi/Si the fronthubs are 57 mm and the rear hubs 67mm.
On the QV and 328 front and rear are 67 mm.
My wheels where made for the 67mm hubs so in the front they didn't center on the hub buth on the bolts.
That again can lead to some unballance.
So i've orderd some hubcentric rings to mate the wheels to the fronthubs.
Now how did Ferrari do this since the spare wheel and normal wheel had to fit on the front and on the rear.
The rear center rings are about 10 mm high, the front about 20 mm.
All OEM Ferrari wheels of that era had the first 10 mm. of the wheel center fit the 67 mm hub and then the rest to fit the 57 mm hub. (see picture of the spare wheel.
Wheel without and with hubcentric rin
Ring on hub.
Now the hubcentric ring fits snugly on the hub.
I had to tap it a little with a small hammer to get it in place.
The wheel glides over it easily.
It's actually way more easy to fit the wheel now it's centered correct
On the sparewheel you can see how Ferrari did this.
The first 10 mm are for the reaer hub the rest fits the front hu
Now i'm not sure if this hase solved the problem cause the 308 doesn't ride right now.
I've pulled both coolingfans and ordered aftermarked ones (will write on that in my other post about cooling fans)
Since i had to wait for the fans i took out the fusebox and relais to change those (will write on that in a seperate post)
Now i have to wait about two weeks befor everything comes in
nofear02
14-08-2007, 22:23
FANTASTIC JW! You not only can mecanic on the car, you are even a little Sherlock Holmes! Now you must be thrilled to give it a testride, but you have to wait :). Thnk very much for taking the pictures and uploading it with text! Very interesting. Good information
That this never gave you a HUGE problem JW! When the frontwheels actually won't fit on the hubs, how can you mount the wheels well then? Normally the wheels are 'leaning' on the center (on the hubs) but in your case they are only resting on the bolts! Can't be good for your bolts either, when so much force comes just on that 5 bolts! Not bended? And the holes where the bolts are getting in? Are those still straight? Normally a wheel is stable around the hub, but here the wheels could have turned slantwise (if your bolts bended).
I think it's quite a wonder that nothing serious went wrong!
Why aren't they making the aftermarket wheels you have on the same way Ferrari does? Isn't that allowed? Has Ferrari a patent on that system (with the two different hud-sizes on the wheels)?
And: Is that system applied on ALL wheels or only on the spare wheel? If not, other guys here should beware of this! Because if they're getting their wheels of, they should put them back on the same place, and not change front and rear wheels!
Hope that your problem is solved now!!
That this never gave you a HUGE problem JW! When the frontwheels actually won't fit on the hubs, how can you mount the wheels well then? Normally the wheels are 'leaning' on the center (on the hubs) but in your case they are only resting on the bolts! Can't be good for your bolts either, when so much force comes just on that 5 bolts! Not bended? And the holes where the bolts are getting in? Are those still straight? Normally a wheel is stable around the hub, but here the wheels could have turned slantwise (if your bolts bended).
I think it's quite a wonder that nothing serious went wrong!
Why aren't they making the aftermarket wheels you have on the same way Ferrari does? Isn't that allowed? Has Ferrari a patent on that system (with the two different hud-sizes on the wheels)?
And: Is that system applied on ALL wheels or only on the spare wheel? If not, other guys here should beware of this! Because if they're getting their wheels of, they should put them back on the same place, and not change front and rear wheels!
Hope that your problem is solved now!!!
It never posts a huge problem cause the wheels are centred trough the bolts.
When you tighten the bolts the chamfered edges centre the wheels.
So the deviation is allway small.
Yes it puts a lot of extra strain on your wheel bolts.
But these bolts are very strong, a lot of people drive around with wheels that are not centred on the hub yet post no problem.
Then again it's better to see to this before it becomes a problem.
Alle F wheels for the 308 up to the QV have smaler hubs on the front, all original wheels work like the spare i showed.
My aftermarked wheels are made to fit the 308 QV and 328 but they were sold to me without the rings or a warning although i specified '81 GTSi with my order.
It would have been nice if they where made like the original F ones.
More wheels are made like this, fi a lot of people buy the Superformance 16 inch replica wheels, they have the same issue.
Actually you could still switch the front and the rears cause the rings are tight on the hubs not really tight in the wheel.
(just photographed them in the wheel to show how they fit)
I can even mount the original 390 wheels with TRX tires over the rings, no problem.
I've read that some specify 57,1 mm and 67,1 mm for the hubs, if you had the rings made to mesure like this they would sit tight in the wheels and less tight on the hubs
To most it sounds silly buth there are people that have driven for years and still don't know the right way to tighten the bolts.
After changing a wheel they tighten one bolt after the other and drive of.
This is for a 5 bolt layout.
Put the wheel on your car and tighten the bolts tight enough so you can put the car back on the ground.
See to it that one of the bolts is up. (makes it easy)
Tighten the top, nr1 bolt a little more (not fully tight yet) skip the 2nd tighten the 3th, skip the 4th tighten the 5th, skip the 1th tighten the 2nd and skip the 3th and tighten the 4th.
Repeat this tightening the bolts a little more, then tork the bolts down to the specified Nm. following the same procedure.
Even if you don't have a torkwrench working like this ensures you allways get your wheels centred and tightned the right way
nofear02
15-08-2007, 19:43
Put the wheel on your car and tighten the bolts tight enough so you can put the car back on the ground.
See to it that one of the bolts is up. (makes it easy)
Tighten the top, nr1 bolt a little more (not fully tight yet) skip the 2nd tighten the 3th, skip the 4th tighten the 5th, skip the 1th tighten the 2nd and skip the 3th and tighten the 4th.
Repeat this tightening the bolts a little more, then tork the bolts down to the specified Nm. following the same procedure.
Even if you don't have a torkwrench working like this ensures you allways get your wheels centred and tightned the right way.WOOW JW! Ehhhhh....never knew this! :o That's really good information. Many thanks
It's been almost a month buth i finaly have the 308 back on the road.
The hubcentricrings work perfectly.
No unbalance what so ever.
The steering is tight at any speed
nofear02
13-09-2007, 00:30
It's been almost a month buth i finaly have the 308 back on the road.
The hubcentricrings work perfectly.
No unbalance what so ever.
The steering is tight at any speed.Well done JW! My respect! And gratulations. Hope there will be some nice weather thre rest of the month so you can enjoy your car some before the winter! :) Thnx for posting
i have one question on this,
my 328 is also fitted with 3 piece compomotive, only in 16" but athought the size is smaller than yours they actually come out of the car.
This will probably cause some issue on the yearly apk (say TUV) test.
As your rims are even wider does this not occure on your car too?
however they DO look great!
Hello Steven,
It depends on the offset of your wheels.
I actually put spacers behind mine cause they sat so deep in the wheelarches.
Look at this thread
http://www.f-chat.eu/showthread.php?t=1637
where did you order these rings.
I think i do have axectly the same problem. although perfectly bLnced the seering is a bit shaky at certain speeds.
My tire-guy had them made for me.
I think you first have to measure your hubcentres and wheels.
I have read that just the 308 carb and i models had the smaller hubcentres in the front.
From the QV or from the 328 the hubcentres had the same measure front and rear.
So unless i'm wrong you don't need the rings.
This reply is a bit late but from the pictures it looks like the the
small hub measures 58mm instead of 57mm
Your completely right.
The front hub is 58 mm instead of 57 mm.
Thank you for correcting me even if it is a late reply. :)
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