gleninsandiego

I have a set of aftermarket vintage Vectors I am playing with. The center opening does not fit tight around whatever you call the metal protruding from whatever it mounts on like the factory ralleys and, i think, the factory alloys. There is a small gap around it. (see pic below). Thus the rims are held in place by the lugs. How big a problem is this? I have had people tell me it is and others say it isn't. I want the car to be safe and I have little money invested in these rims.

Thanks

Glenn in San Diego

Durango_Boy

When that center hole fits over the hub properly, it's called hub-centric, meaning that the hub itself will center the rim and support the weight.

When it doesn't fit, as most after market wheels don't, then the lug nuts center the wheel and support the weight. This is called lug-centric.

Yes, your setup will work under normal driving conditions, but if you push your car to extreme driving and handling situations, you can stress and break those smaller studs.

You have a few options. You can sell those rims and find a set of hub-centric rims, or you can remove those stock small studs, drill the holes, and install larger diameter studs.

There is a specific jig you can use to drill each stud hole so they are perfectly centered, and there is a specific stud size that's preferred. I don't recall exactly so someone else might chime in with that info.

Like I said, if you drive the car normally you'll probably be fine.

Hadez

I agree with the above...also you have this to consider.

1. you can get custom hubcentric metal rings that sit in the center bore of your wheel centering the wheel around your hub taking some of the load off the stock studs

2. you probably need to buy the bulge acorn style luck nuts. these have a fat bottom that help to center the wheel more correctly. Also you need to make you tighten the lugs using a star pattern with correct torque. This will make a huge difference also.


The kind of wheels you have there are called lugcentric = lug nuts center the wheel not the hub. I have this style of wheel as well as many others do. I swapped to 1/2" studs for safety as I auto-x and it is amazing the difference in feel of strength with the thicker studs. I also had custom centering rings made out of stainless steel but don't have them installed since I don't have any problems and the 1/2" studs will do the job nicely.

KapsSA

Shouldn't those wheels use the mag style lugnuts that extend through the hole about a 1/2"(or at least the thickness of the flange)? The stock Corvette lugs seem wrong for that application and are probably unsafe.

gleninsandiego

You all have excellent eyes and are wise as well!!!

I currently do not have the right lug nuts for the car. I definitely need the mag style lug nuts that extend through the hole. I used the Corvette lugs just to take the picture. In fact, the rims don't even have tires mounted on them right now. I am still debating whether or not to even use them. I like the old school look and got them for next to nothing, but didn't want to use them if they were not going to be safe.

Another problem with these rims is that they are 8.5 inches wide with a 3.75 inch backspace. Thus they stick out further than the rally or the stock mags. Here is a pic looking forward from the drivers side back of the car.

GUSTO14

Glenn,

As has been mentioned before, most wheels are either HUB-centric, or LUG-centric. HUB-centric centers the wheel using the fit of the hub in the center of the wheel, while the LUG-centric uses the tapered seat of the lug nut hole and the tapered end of the lug nut to center the wheel. Many wheels are both HUB-centric and LUG-centric, such as the Corvette rally wheels that came on many C-3 Corvettes.

The aluminum slotted wheels that were available on the C-3's, are HUB-centric only. The wheel is centered by the hub and the lug nuts have a slight interference fit, but really just lock the wheel in place against the hub. (Some of these actually have a pretty snug fit between the shoulder of the lug and the rim.)

The Vectors you have should have a machined ring inserted over the hub that will center the rim on the spindle. If you do that you will essentially have the same fit as the optional Corvette alloy wheel. When combined with the correct lug nuts (the Corvette alloy wheel lug nut may fill the bill here just fine if the fit is snug enough), you will duplicate the fit of the Corvette alloy wheels. I would not recommend using this wheel as it is, without centering rings.

Car Craft magazine built a wide-body C-3 back in the 70's as a project car that was awesome for it's time and they used a set of these Vector wheels on it. These wheels looked terrific on the C-3 convertible they built.

By the way, if you look at the Corvette, alloy wheel lug nuts, you will notice that they have both a shoulder that fits into the lug nut hole of the alloy wheel and a tapered seat at the very end.

Anyone care to guess why it has both?

Good luck... GUSTO

gleninsandiego

Thanks to all for the input.
After rummaging around more last night, I stumbled onto a European forum that had automotive engineers going back and forth about this. The hub centric rims definitely make it easier to initially center the rim. But the question then becomes, does the hub provide any support for the rim while the car is driven? Most claimed the answer to be no, that the friction between the wheel and the drum caused by the clamping down of the lug nuts did the job. Otherwise, if there were any looseness at all there would be impact fatigue produced at the hub / wheel interface. There were several examples of severe duty wheels that had no hub wheel interface at all, such as older VW bugs that are used for dune buggies (I actually have one) However, there were also examples of hub centric wheels that had a taper on them that snugged down tight on the hub when the lugs were tightened. All agreed that the proper lug nuts and their tightening were critical no matter what the design.

Does anyone know what issue that Car Craft vette was in? I would like to see it. Do you know how they dealt with the wheel sticking out so far?

Glenn

68L71

I am putting TT II on my 68 and I got the lug nuts recommended my American racing. They are not the mag style that has a collar that extends into the hole. What are people with TT II doing about this?

gleninsandiego

Could you explain this in a little more detail? My other option if I don/t use the Vectors is to get some TT II, so I am interested in how they work. Are the TT II's hub centric or lug centric?

Glenn in San Diego

gleninsandiego

Also, I just noticed your mags in your avatar. What type and size are those and how do they fit?

68L71

The TTII have a conical seat for the lug nuts, they are lug centric. Because the TTII have the conical seat I guess they do not have the shoulder extending into the hole. I was confused thinking of the old mags in my avatar that did not have conical lug holes and used shouldered lugs. I sold those old mags they where 15X8 not sure on the backspacing, but they had some small spacers to keep them from rubbing on the calipers.

Does anyone use rings with the TTII’s to make them hub centric? What keeps them in place?

noonie

Most of the OEM aluminum wheels these days are conical seats and it's about time, The Mag/shank style were a real pain sometimes.

Here is a link form Alcoa website for the Wheel Industry Council install instructions. It explains the differences.

http://www.alcoa.com/alcoawheels/nor...uidePoster.pdf

For those that aren't familiar with Alcoa Wheels, they are the strongest around, hot forged aluminum. You see them on many over the road trucks like Peterbuilt etc and a lot of dually conversions are popular these days.
They also make them for pickups, vans and Jeeps in the bigger sizes.

Almost got a set last week. A stock van oem steel wheel is rated for 3200 lbs and the Alcoas are rated for 3800 lbs. I think they know their wheels.

I'm Batman

My AR wheels are conical-seat, lug-centric. I upgraded to 1/2" studs when I had everything apart. Problem solved, the big studs aren't going anywhere.

I never have understood why GM upgraded Corvette to 3/4-ton truck sized wheel bearings after '68, but left the dinky wheel studs until the C4s came out.

housegarage

GUSTO

So the the lug nuts would work with the spare wheel.

Pete

GUSTO14

Correct!!!

73, Dark Blue 454

The engineers at Chevy made our cars hub-centric for a reason. Not only is it safer, but many have reported balancing problems with lug-centric "universal" type wheels.

More here: http://www.prestigewheel.com/Catalog/HubRings66_67.pdf