[WhiteEunos]

Today I got my new wheels - Watanabe RS 14", 6.5, +9.5ET

I don't have tyres yet but I 'dry' fitted them to see if they were ok. The hub on the wheels are larger than the hub on the car - is this an issue? I know some people run vinyl hub spacers on Rota's as the hub is supposed to take the load of the wheel and not the nuts.

What's the view here? Are hub spacers vital or will they be okay without them?

 

[marlon the great]

pix would be nice

 

[WhiteEunos]

They just need a polish, tyres and they're ready to go! And some camber adustment as well..

 

[Greg G]

You sleep with your Watanabes!!!

 

[WhiteEunos]

What better to cuddle up to on a cold lonely night?

 

[JDMC]

The hub on the wheels are larger than the hub on the car - is this an issue? I know some people run vinyl hub spacers on Rota's as the hub is supposed to take the load of the wheel and not the nuts.

What's the view here? Are hub spacers vital or will they be okay without them?

I don't use hub centric ring w/ my watanabes, they fit my hub perfectly.

 

[adian]

I made a set of aluminium hub centre rings for my Watanabes. It doesn't cost too much, and any half-baked machine shop should be able to machine the parts to your required dimensions.

Do run with the hub-centre rings. The load of the wheels should rest on the hub spigot, not on the studs. Without the centre rings, you'll also get judder at high-speed, as the wheels will never be properly centered when you put them on.

 

[retrorocket]

Today I got my new wheels - Watanabe RS 14", 6.5, +9.5ET

I don't have tyres yet but I 'dry' fitted them to see if they were ok. The hub on the wheels are larger than the hub on the car - is this an issue? I know some people run vinyl hub spacers on Rota's as the hub is supposed to take the load of the wheel and not the nuts.

What's the view here? Are hub spacers vital or will they be okay without them?

those look suspiciously like the set I sold to "dude" alex on this forum !!?

... your GF will be seriously pissed if she finds those wheels on the bed :shock:

I didn't get any hubcentric rings with them when I bought them ( used ) but you can get them direct from R S Watanabe in Japan if they are required for correct fitment - I never got round to fitting them so I cannot help ...

I have just placed my order for my ne R S Watanabe's :

F - 16 x 8.5 offet -6
R - 16 x 9.0 offset -13

these do require hubcentric rings and will be supplied, if you email them in English they will reply in the same ...

 

[dude]

retrorocket they certainly are, they have done a full circle and are now back in scotland again!!

i never got round to fitting them as i couldnt afford to get tyres as i had just bought the red one and it needed an new exhaust so i sold them to fund it.

i have read somewhere that hubcentric wheels have little effect as the nuts holding the wheels in place are strong enough or somthing *looks*

 

[retrorocket]

running wheels without hubcentric rings ( when needed ) is very dangerous as the load of the car is carried on the wheel studs and not spread over the wheel centre spiggot as it was designed to do ...

if the studs rail you loose your wheel and you can imagine the results :shock:

the hubcentric rings effectively sleeve down the over sized hole of the after market wheel to sit correctly on the hub spiggot

some people may disagree with me but making sure your wheels stay attached to the car is fundimental to me, it is not as straight forward as getting a matching PCD stud pattern and width/offset suitable for your car hub seat diameters should also be considered when choosing buying wheels ...

 

[dude]

just been reading it and it would appear that they are needed, not sure where i read it from before :S

anyway here is a supplier of rings n the uk thay may be able to help.

http://www.performancealloys.com/orings.asp

 

[WhiteEunos]

Thanks for the advice - it seems that it won't cost much at all to get a set of adapters, so it's better safe than sorry.

 

[JDMC]

Not sure how these particular Watanabes were ordered, but normally when you place an order with RS-Watanabe they are very specific concerning car specifications. Hub bore on my Watanabes were built to fit my hubs to spec.. hence no need for hubcentric rings.
This is the biggest advantage of purchasing a wheel directly from the Mfg. You get a wheel manufactured specifically to fit your car. Hubcentric rings are designed to help a generic spec?d wheel compensate for the discrepancies between different hub specs in order for that wheel to fit a number of applications.
In this situation, if the used wheels do not fit the hub as they should emailing RS-Watanabe for fitment is a good idea being that you can tell them the current hub spec of the wheel. If not as adian said, a local machine shop may be able to help.

 

[WhiteEunos]

These wheels were bought used (new ones would cost many times more).

 

[jesseclee]

Hub centric rings are not needed. Many people run without hubcentric rings with no issue whatsoever. I've run without them for the last 3 sets of rims, and I've never had any issues. In fact most aftermarket wheel makers just give you plastic hubcentric rings. If it was really loadbearing, do you think they would make it out of plastic?

Just mount the wheels carefully to make sure everything is centered.

 

[asianrice02]

hub ring suck. if you ever plan to put some stocker back you need to take the hub ring out. sometimes the plastic/aluminum will be caked to you hub. wd40 hammer and screw driver to take them off if you having a hard time. i see them extremely useful on lug bolts that come on euro cars.

+1 I don't run hub rings. i bolt on my wheel in the air. the lugs center them up. just remeber to torque them up.