Good news: I've just got my 18" rims
Bad news: I've just found out that Mini's changed the bolt size on some of their 06 Minis. My Mini is one of the lucky one, so my new 18" set is still on the floor.

What will be the best solution?
My mini's got 14mm bolt size.
My rim has 12mm bolt size.

Wait for 14mm - 12mm conversion kit?
Drill and expand the holes for 2 mm ?
Any good shop in the DC metro area can do this drilling job?

Please advise.
Thank you.

 

Any competent machine shop will be able to drill out the holes to take the larger bolts. A local club member had it done for about $80, but keep in mind that the machine shop may want the tires off the wheels so they can do the work.

There are also a couple vendors working on a 14mm-12mm solution using tapered wheel studs. This is probably the way I'm going to go on my car, since it's a one-time cost and will allow you to use all the wheels, spacers, big-brake kits, etcetera that are already on the market, rather than waiting for all of the aftermarket companies to modify their products for the larger bolts. (And some companies might never change their products at all.)

Do a search here for "14mm" and you should find some recent posts talking about the upcoming conversion kits.

 

My next project will be the JCW brake kit which will be using M14 stud size. That's the reason why I want to go with drill the hole route instead of using the stud conversion.

 

Palo Uber Mini has m14 x 1.25 tuner lugs that will work for your rims. They are the only ones that have anything that work.

 

i had the same problem when i got my wheels used from a mini owner that had a 04 and below mini , at the time i did not know that the 05-06 mini went from 12.25 i belive to a 14.25 bolt size, i took a 9/16 size drill bit wich is exactly 2mm bigger and i just slowly and nicely made the holes bigger, worked perfect

 

you can do it in your garage with a hand drill and a 14mm drill bit.

as long as the bolt goes thru the hole, you wil have no problems. the lugs dont carry any load, so they dont have to be perfect.

I dont know why this is such a big deal to everyone. either that or i'm te only one that grasps this concept of boring out the holes...

 

Its not the fact of the thread part of the bolt fitting through the rims. The problem is that the stock lug bolt head does not fit into the holes on the face of the rim that were designed for tuner lugs. This side of the holes are not able to be drilled out because there is not enough metal around the lug entry holes on most rims.

 

Careful! The lugs definitely DO carry load, and even more on non OE wheels that may not be fully hubcentric. Even with so-called hubcentric rings, that little lip of nylon isn't helping do anything other than center the wheel while the lugs are tightened (metal rings do a bit more, but again are there for centering, not load bearing).

On hubcentric wheels or wheels with a tight centering ring (BBS comes to mind), the lugs are at least carrying the lateral load of keeping the wheel on while cornering, carrying shear forces while accelerating, etc.

Use care in having lug bolts/nuts that are properly sized to the hole AND properly chamfered (angled) to match the chamfer of the wheel. Too sharp a chamfer and you're drilling the wheel with your lug bolt/nut (don't a$k how I know - previous car though).

Drilling out your lug holes in the wheel, however, should be pretty straightforward, provided you can stay properly centered (the existing hole will help, as will the hubcentric ring) AND you prime and paint the inside of the holes you've drilled to prevent oxidation. I don't trust my ol' Craftsman Variable Speed for anything other than prodigious deck building, drywall screw driving, and home repair and so... I would spend the money to have it done right - even though reason tells me it would work fine.

In short, lug bolts (or studs) are kinda important. Use care.

 

From our resident PhD in mechanical engineering (and now, rocket engineer/scientist (literally)):

"Hub centering rings are not designed to carry the load. In fact, the bolts are also not supposed to carry the load. When they do, they shear off!

Unbelievable as it may sound, the interface between the wheel and the hub carries the load. That's right, the vertical planes which contact each other transfer all shear loads by static friction. The source of the static friction is the compression imparted by the fasteners (lug bolts or studs). Tensile loads are taken directly by reducing the spring force stored in the flange compression, that is, the loads tend to reduce the compression between the flanges that is set up by the bolts. Since the bolts have a far smaller cross-sectional area than the flange faces (even collectively), they have a much smaller spring constant, so the force they contribute to the joint varies far less per unit distance than the flange compression. In other words, the forces due to lug tightening stay fairly constant as the load varies across the flanges. This is why your wheels don't fall off around a corner.

However, it IS the reason why some folks know someone whose wheels fell off after they lubricated the studs or bolt holes. If a little bit of lubricant gets between the wheel and the hub, then the friction between the two goes down, sometimes a LOT. In that case, the bolts cannot set up enough static friction between them, and the joint can slip, resulting in a high-powered tricycle adventure. Remember to keep the threads oiled and the flanges clean!

I can go on and on about flange dynamics, but I'll stop short of the full monty. The point is, there's a lot more to the basic "four lugs and a wheel" interface than meets the eye, and nearly everyone misunderstands how it all works. This is why a thin layer of grime can cause a wheel to shear off, or why a wheel that is properly centered (by luck or by a really good cone lug fit) doesn't need centering rings."

In any event, Dr. Mike's finished the CAD drawings of our new conversion studs and they're on the way to our supplier... we should have them in hand in 4-6 weeks.

 

Please add my name on the wait list.
Thank you.

 

I believe the one that they have is only convert bolts to studs and nuts. Not the size conversion.

 

Giants9595 - It might still be worth calling them. If the threaded part of the M14 bolt fits through your rims, I think the nuts in the Palo Uber kit have a smaller outside diameter than the stock lug bolt heads, so they may fit into the smaller recesses in the outer face of your rims.

 

I think the thread pitch may have changed as well. Can someone confirm this?

 

Yes, the old bolts are M12 X 1.5, and the new ones are M14 X 1.25.

 

I got my wheels custom drilled it was much easier

 

I've checked some of good shops (both wheel and performance shops), they don't want to do it. Actually, they don't recommend to do the wheel drilling method, not because they want to sell the conversion kit (they don't carry one anyway) but for other reasons.

 

I guess if I would'a read the thread a bit closer... I would've seen that already.

Thanks.

 

does the JCW brake kit only work for 14mm cars? That's my next big ticket purchase and I confirmed my '06 has 12x1.5 hubs and bolts.

 

I can't imagine that would be the case, since the only 14mm cars out there right now are the GP and the post-July 2006 models.

There may be two different versions of the JCW brakes now, though, so it wouldn't hurt to ask before buying your kit.

 

believe me, I'll be doing just that. My car was July '06 build....guess I got the last of the old style.