Hi,

I am looking to replace my plastic centering rings supplied by Rire Rack with a better quality set. Does anyone have a suggestion where I can find some ?

My wheel bore is 73 mm and the hub flange 56.1mm

I have steering wheel vibration and my experience so far is that MINI will not gaurantee a vibration free ride with aftermarket and hub-centric wheels.

I hope the better quality centering rings will cure this problem. ( I have already tried precisely torguing the lug nuts - no difference ). If the new rings are no use I will have to spend a small fortune on new tires for my old 17" S Lites or find a second set somewhere as a trial.

If I still have wheel vibration with OEM wheels, I will be having a chat with MINI.

 

1010Tires.com sells aluminum ones.

Discount Tire has them as well.

I don't think this will solve the issue. Might want to find a local shop that can check wheel runout to make sure the wheels are round. If they are move to looking at the tires.

Does the vibration move from steering wheel to seat or vice versa if you swap the wheels/tires front to rear?

Need to isolate the issue. It may be one tire needs to be spun on a wheel for a better balance. The trick is finding a competent person at a quality shop.

 

Tire Rack also supplies aluminum rings. From my experience, the aluminum rings fit much tighter on the hubs than the plastic ones. It smoothed out vibrations for me quite a bit.

Jason

 

The wheel is either out of round or more likely the wheel simply needs to be rebalanced. Find a shop that caters to the racing/autoX crowd. They tend to be a bit more **** about wheel balancing.

 

I was under the impression that metal rings usually only fit well on wheels designed for them (i.e. with a groove for the clip that holds them) and that some wheels are better with plastic. Am I misinformed?

Also, to the OP, I'd suggest what some of the other folks have suggested in isolating the issue. I've personally run plastic rings and even no rings and have had no problems.

 

Here is what I use

 

Seems like that's a spacer as well as a centering ring. Won't it change the offset?

 

I needed some spacers to fit my 225/40/17s on the GP

but I am sure you could have just the rings made
these are billet and the wheels roll incredibly true

 

No one can claim MINI drivers are asleep at the wheel. Thank you for all your responses.

I spoke with Tire Rack and they do not have metal rings for the wheels they sold me. I think you are right, metal rings will not make a difference but I am going to try them in my effort to isolate the problem. Thank you for the tips about 1010 Tire and Discount Tire.

I have visited threads on other MINI sites as well. The evidence against aftermarket wheel vibration is inconclusive. Some experience and others do not.

I am not overly **** about my vehicles ( MINI gets washed three times a year ) but, there is definately a very annoying and noticeable steering wheel vibration. I don't feel it in the seats or pedals.

I plan to resolve this issue once and for all and will be back with a post describing the outcome.

Thanks again everyone.

Postscript. Summer 2008. When I installed all new, low cost Brembo rotors from TireRack the vibration in my steering was eliminated. My cheap, black steel winter rims that do not fit precisely on the hub flange are also running smoothly without vibration. No need for special torquing or hubecntric rings. As well, I don't have torx screws in the front rotors and everything works well. ( I am not sure why changing rotors eliminated the vibration. The dealership and the aftermarket tire shop didn't suggest looking at them. I only changed them because I needed new pads and sensors and the rotors were reasonably priced )

As for the bedding in of ceramic pads on rotors without torx screws, it took a very, very long time before everything settled down. I think I have another post somewhere which I need to update.

 

http://www.wheeladapter.com/home.asp

However you may need to speck the exact data you require. No "about this or that" it's going to be more like 2.870 x 3.026 x .285 for example assuming he works in inches as most machine shops do.

 

My concentric spacers were made by Fred. His stuff is about as good as it gets unless you have your own CNC machine...trust me. He's not cheap, but he will make you an exact fit adapter to your exact specifications. Mine convert the stock hub to Kosie K1s with 8mm spacing. Once installed, they became part of my wheel...

 

Check your balance first !

 

I agree - check your balance first. One option is to find a shop that will spin balance the wheel/tire on the car - the old fashioned way. This worked on a finicky 944 many years ago.

 

I agree with checking your balance first as well. I would take them to a shop with a Hunter Roadforce balancer. If you need to find one just go to www.gsp9700.com. If the balancing is not the issue, we have aluminuim center rings for $30 shipped.

Leo Barrios
leo@edgeracing.com
800-489-5353 x211
http://www.edgeracing.com

 

What happens if you don't use the retaining clip? I'm missing one of the four clips.

 

What clips? I have a set of Rota Slipstream 16x7 and a set of CenterLine RPM 17x7. I have aluminum rings in both sets, neither has clips.

The CenterLine RPMs came without rings (they claimed they were "lug centric") but would develop vibrations even after spin balancing (at two different shops). Got aluminum rings for $15.00. Problem solved.

The Rotas came with plastic rings. I felt better using aluminum, so replaced them. I hear the main reason to go to aluminum over plastic for track racing where braking heat can melt the plastic rings. Supposedly not an issue on the street.

 

I have Sport F2 tires. They come with an aluminum centering ring AND a retaining clip. The hole for the centering ring is deeper than the ring. There is a groove that holds a brass colored spring clip that keeps the centering ring pushed to the outside of the wheel. The clip looks more like a wire than anything else.
I am missing one clip. I'll post my long tire story in a separate thread about why I am missing the clip. It is sort of humorous that this many things could go wrong.