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About done with trying to find wheels

4K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  marksbug 
#1 ·
About the only wheel that I found and liked is made by Axe....CS Lite in hyper black. How hard is it to change out our hubs for a 5x112 instead of the awful 5x110 that we have? If I'm spending $800 to redrill wheels, I might as well put that toward putting new hubs on this awful setup they used.......
 
#3 ·
redrill the hubs instead
And the rotors.

Alternatively, you can buy wheel adapters for almost any 5-lug pattern you want, but then you need to re-calculate your offset. There are quite a number of us Auto-Xer's that run the rear wheels off of the C6 Corvette. Plenty wide, light, cheap, and readily available for any bank account. Plus there is no need for further machining should you need to replace something in the future.
 
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#4 ·
I've thought about wheel spacers, but my father's older Mustang convertible (84 IMSMC) had the 4 bolt lug pattern and they put 5 bolt on them in mid 90's and I remember nothing but issues with them. He had to tighten the wheels every 100 miles...it was awful. He actually lost a wheel on it because it came loose. I'd rather just find a hub that fits and has a 5x112 pattern and replace the rotors too. Everything out there that fits our cars looks so trucky or blingy or cheap that it's hard to find a rim I like. Or they're machined or are black and machined aluminum. I'm tired of the 5 star pattern too. I find one and it's only available in 5x108 or 5x114...it's ridiculous. One rim I found comes in 5x108, 5x112 and 5x114....another comes in 5x110, but the center bore is too big or the offset is like 20. You'd think for as many cars out there with the 5x110 that it would be easier to find wheels. So far the only one I've found is the Axe CS Lite in hyper black and they're hard to find in the 5x110, but I did manage...problem is with that is that they're $325/wheel vs. the normal price of $200 everywhere else for the 5x112. I'm not paying an extra $500 for wheels!!
 
#7 ·
But my point of replacing is that this opens up a whole lot more possibilities for different rims down the road. As far as redrilling....I don't want 5 other open holes in the wheels or mismatched spots. And I refuse to tighten my wheels every 100 miles like my father had to do with his mustang...it's just not worth the headache or the annoying looks.
 
#9 ·
I have never known spacers/adapters to come loose anymore than the wheel itself when properly installed (i.e. - never.) Albeit the difference in diameter between the spacer and rotor hat would drive me crazy in your picture Bill. As I machined mine myself I matched all the diameters between rotor hat and wheel seat and had them anodized black so they aren't as noticeable.

Swapping to a hub with a 5x112 pattern is not as simple as you're trying to make it. I don't believe the kappa unit bearings can be separated, so it would need to bolt to the knuckle, and use the same or a very similar tone ring signal if you still have ABS/ESC and want it operational. Then it needs to match the center bore of the wheel you choose (or be smaller and make/buy another adapter,) be available with the same spline as the solstice drive axles, have some sort of prevision for retention of the front bearing pre-load if it isn't designed in like the solstice ones, and be more or less the same overall length so your axles engage properly and the wheel centerline ends up back where it's supposed to laterally.

And then you'd still have to drill your rotors anyway.

For what you are trying to accomplish, you may want to look into PCD Variation Nuts, AKA "wobble nuts." Use at your own risk.
 
#12 ·
I have never known spacers/adapters to come loose anymore than the wheel itself when properly installed (i.e. - never.) Albeit the difference in diameter between the spacer and rotor hat would drive me crazy in your picture Bill. As I machined mine myself I matched all the diameters between rotor hat and wheel seat and had them anodized black so they aren't as noticeable.
the reason for the need for the spacers is i changed the 62 Corvette OEM kingpin front suspension to a R&P independent IFS. Unfortunately the front track width of the new IFS was narrower than OEM and looked strange.... so, i was fortunate enough to find the machined billet spacers that are in the pictures and it brought the track out to where it needed to be. Oddly, the spacer studs are metric; so i have USS studs on the rear disc brakes and metric studs on the front disc brakes.....

i don't know why it has doubled the one picture

Bill

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Vehicle Auto part Car Motor vehicle Engine
 
#10 ·
The other non-approved way is to take up that pesky 2mm (about 0.080") by simply lozenging the holes in toward the hub 0.040" per hole (best done in a computer operated milling machine).

But then the best way to do that safely is to convert to nuts with oval washers (like the old Cragar Uni-lug wheels) and machine the wheel for them.

 
#13 ·
I have never used spacers on a car. But have had 2 inch spacer on my FJ Cruiser for almost 14 years now. The number one problem with using them was that the bearings would wear prematurely. I have 188K on the truck and it has done most of the tough off road trails west of the Mississippi. Roubicon, Kokopelli, Pancake Rock, Black Bear, Poughkeepsie and many many more. Never a bearing problem, nor have they ever came loose.

I have had problems finding wheels I like. Have been looking since I bought the car going on 6 years ago. Hate what I call the squished spider look. I just hydro dipped the stock wheels, carbon fiber. Have not found anything I would want to change them to yet. Doubt I ever will
 
#14 ·
Anyone with wheel knowledge.....with these fit?

18"
5x110
35 offset with 8.5" width (or can go 40 offset with 9.5" width)
72.1 center bore

Not sure if the offset is too large that it will rub anywhere....
 
#15 ·
What size tire do you plan on running? Is your car lowered?
Our bore is 65.1mm so you'll need some 72.1>65.1 hub centric rings.
The 35 offset is a bit much but if you will run a 245 tire and the car is not lowered it will basically be flush with the fender, take a ruler to your stock rims/tires and see how much an extra 20mm will look like.
 
#19 ·
Eventually the chrome starts to peel and will create air leaks. I have to put 5-10lbs of air in mine every 3 days and there is nothing they can do for it.
 
#20 ·
These are the 2 that I'm looking at....I would rather have the AXE over the ESR because of the color. Both are very similar. My other option is gloss black...which I could do with my black stripes....
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#25 ·
We have a really good local wheel company that reconditions just about any sort of wheel - I even entrusted them with my magnesium alloys off an Italian car and they managed not to drop them in the wrong tank. But there are lot of fly by night outfits too, that scrimp on the chrome and possibly on the prep.

Why don't you contact the local biker clubs and ask who they use. As a group, they tend not to deal with businesses that have a lot of come-backs.

There are some manufacturers that will not sell new cars with plated wheels in the salt belt (which I take it includes you). Jaguar, for instance, refuses to warranty wheels on a new car if it leaves the area where it was originally sold with plated wheels (a friend bought a new Jag in California and brought it to Canada and the wheels had issues about a year later. Jaguar Canada declined to warranty them).

I wonder if you could have your wheels tanked and stripped of chrome and then polished and sprayed with a sealant?
 
#26 ·
Dude...wrong forum to be asking about Mercedes stuff...where's admin???
 
#27 ·
redrill the hubs& rotors. there I fixed it.!!! and you end up being able to still use oe wheels if ever desired, and the hubs will also be lighter. it will not weeken the hub. many hubs are full of holes. many racecars are like swiss cheezze, although there made form a better grade of swiss cheeze than our cars are made form. on another note I did tour a swiss cheeze factory a few years back...quite nice time there to see the cows walk by in the am then go to the cheeze shop up the hill to buy fresh cheeze ,yogurt& milk. I redrilled a set of vw drums for a friend to put model "A" wheels on his rat rod bug. most any machine shop can do it. ( dont let bubba down the street in the gas station do it, they need a mill and the right equipment,dro and brains to do so.)
 
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