Wheel hardware at Tirerack

[NissanAltimaGuy]

Can anyone explain what the wheel hardware is that's required for the fitment of some wheels:

1) Lug adapter (4) Required centering ring (20) Required lugnut for vehicle

I get the last line. But what are centering rings and where do they go? Lug adapter? Thanks

[beeristasty]

centering rings are used when a wheel's centerbore is larger than the car's hub. Helps keep the wheel centered (!) - which helps reduce vibrations.

And the lug adapter - well it does what it sounds like it does.

EDIT: The lugs they sent me were standard, so I highly recommend a set of locking tuner lugs to deter theft.
Modified by beeristasty at 12:05 PM 7/12/2008

[LongBeachCoupe]

a HubCentric Ring...

ok so when you put the wheel up to the lugs, it will wobble a little, the reason why is that the hub hole in the wheel is bigger, than on the hub itself...

The hub centric ring fits inside the wheel (made out of graphite, plastic, or metal) and it bridges the gap. Not required, but its really nice to have and they are cheap.. If your shaking at high speeds, this could be why.

Lugnuts depend on the seat of the wheel you are getting, most are the same, but post it here after you pick and ill let you know.

[NissanAltimaGuy]

Thanks guys. Is this normal for new wheels? I'm very wheel/tire ignorant, and all the other cars that I've changed wheels on never had this additional hardware.

If I order a set of wheels, will it come with the centering ring already installed?

[beeristasty]

Mine were pre-installed. All I had to do was remove a warning/notice sticker and they're ready to roll.

[SniperJoe]

Mine were as well ... the hub ring & retaining rings were pre-installed ... ready to go when they arrived on my door step. As stated above, just had to remove the sticker.

Tire Rack gave me excellent service - I would recommend them without hesitation.

[NissanAltimaGuy]

Well, I placed an order with Tirerack last night. Going to be eating cheese sandwiches for a while.

[beeristasty]

Nice - what rims did you go with?

[LongBeachCoupe]

Tire rack does these things. When you get wheels from ebay etc, and they dont know what your car is, you need to do it yourself.

[maxentropy]

Can you folks offer a picture of what the hubcentric ring or whatnot looks like screwed in? I ordered a set of 19" Konig Troubles from the Stillen deal and I'm unsure if I will need hardware or not when I go to get my new tires installed.

[NissanAltimaGuy]

Nice - what rims did you go with?

I went with 18" Volk RE30s, gunmetal. There's another member here who has the shiny version and I liked his. I'm hoping the gunmetals go with Radiant Silver well enough.

As for tires, I was unsure wether I would use them all year or not - it doesn't snow here too often. I chose an all season at 225/45/18 (read LBC's stickied post) which should be close enough to stock giving just a negative 1.3% difference if I remember right.

[LongBeachCoupe]

its inside the "bore" of the wheel... the hole that matches up with the hub... does it look like something is shoved in there? they may use some glue to keep it in place so dont expect it to pull out...

It should be visible.. most look like this, it may be metal though

[maxentropy]

its inside the "bore" of the wheel... the hole that matches up with the hub... does it look like something is shoved in there? they may use some glue to keep it in place so dont expect it to pull out...

It should be visible.. most look like this, it may be metal though

Will have to take a look tomorrow -- at the girlfriend's place tonight...

Thanks for the info and pic!