I am seriously considering buying a second hand set of rims off a MG ZR to fit to the good ladys MX5 mkII. PCD, number of studs, ET and tyre size is ok the only slight issue is the centre hole diameter.

The MG (Rover) ID is 56.1 and the Mazda is 54.1.

So, to spigot ring or not?

My feeling is that they only centre the wheel whilst you do up the nuts, where as some say they transfer the weight from the studs to the hub.

Can this really be the case? It seems that most spigot rings are plastic - these surely would stand the duty required of them.

I know there are quite a few previous threads on this but none really seemed to reach a conclusion for or against.

Your bestest arguements please - thanks.

Paul

 

bttt

 

There will be enough play in the wheel for it not to centre correctly if you do not use the spigot rings.

As you say they do little/nothing once the wheel is on and torqued down but you will struggle to get it 100% centred without and the car will drive like it has badly balanced wheels no matter what you do.

This is from experiance as on my old Golf I had a missing spigot ring and had my wheel balanced 3 times before I found out one was missing, once replaced it was spot on.

 

Do the tapers on the nuts/studs not pull the wheels into line?

 

Yes the taper on the studs will centralise the wheel , I have run rally cars with spacers on them , and the wheels were only centred on the wheel studs ,I didn't have any problems at all
Cheers Ian

 

The plastic rings do help centralise the wheel prior to torquing up the wheel nuts/bolts.

They aren't necessary but are an aid to idiot proof it (so to speak) for those people that just bang the wheel on a **** up the nuts without regard to seating. Without them you need to finger tight each opposing wheel nut, giving the wheel a shake inbetween to make sure its seated centrally, then nip the wheel nuts up to the correct torque afterwards.

 

I think it may vary from wheel to wheel. The wheels I have on my bug at the moment were imposible to balance without them, would allways get the shakes between 75-80.

Once I hunted/found for the correct size spigots, got them re-done and the shakes were gone.

Most tyre places I spoke to recomemded them as they said it put unwanted extra stress on the bearings ??

 

For info my Golf wheels had flat wheel bolts not tapered so would not have pulled as true as the Subaru ones, I'd still rather have them though.

 

i hae seen wheel wobble problems when they are not used.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

The problem I have is that the thickness of the rings I would need is only 1mm. Perhaps I'll just try without and if I need them I'll get some made.

Cheers

Paul