Actually I think they are there to keep the wheel centered while running.
When I ran without them the wheels would go through varying periods of
vibration that were not speed related. Often after hitting a bump the
vibrations would magically stop or start. Since all these vibrations were
removed by adding the plastic hubcentric rings I know the rings were the
solution. And yes my wheels nuts were torqued the correct amount.
My theory is that even with the nuts torqued there is some up/down movement
of the wheel relative to the hub when driving at speed. The rings prevent
that slight movement.
Regards,
Alan Pozner
On Thursday, August 19, 1999 5:33 PM, Loren Williams
[SMTP:Loren@kscable.com] wrote:
>
>
> Alan Pozner wrote:
>
> > I'd like to disagree about the plastic vs metal point you made. I have
after
> > market street alloys with plastic hubcentric rings. They are an
extremely
> > tight fit to the wheel (so tight that I thought they were the wrong size
and
> > ended up inserting them with the aid of a rubber mallet ). The
difference in
> > vibration before and after was extreme. From barely driveable to no
apparent
> > vibration. So plastic rings are very worthwhile (IMHO)
>
> Hmmm... perhaps the rings are merely there to position the wheel
> correctly prior to torquing the lugs? Without the rings (be they metal
> or plastic), the wheel could possibly shift ever-so-slightly,
> essentially causing an out-of-round condition.
>
>
>
> --
> Loren Williams | Homepage - http://home.kscable.com/shad
> '94 Saturn SC2 | Wichita Region SCCA - http://www2.southwind.net/~scca
|