Hub Centric?

Hey guys, the other day my coworker told me my rims weren't hub centric. I researched it and found it that to be hub centric the hole for the hub on the rim has to sit on the hub. My question is how important is this? Right now I have a set of rims that have about 1/2" of space on each side of the hub. Is this going to affect my jeep in the long run? I'm running 33" tires, I bought some steel rock crawler wheels from quadratec, and the hole for the hub doesn't fit correctly over it either, and those rims are supposedly fit to match on the jeep. I sometimes run these on my wrangler unlimited, will it hurt my bearings or anything?

1987 Jeep Cherokee, 4.0, Auto, 231, D30-D44

2006 Jeep Unlimited, 4.0, Auto, 231, D30-D44

uvaldetxj said:

Hey guys, the other day my coworker told me my rims weren't hub centric. I researched it and found it that to be hub centric the hole for the hub on the rim has to sit on the hub. My question is how important is this? Right now I have a set of rims that have about 1/2" of space on each side of the hub. Is this going to affect my jeep in the long run? I'm running 33" tires, I bought some steel rock crawler wheels from quadratec, and the hole for the hub doesn't fit correctly over it either, and those rims are supposedly fit to match on the jeep. I sometimes run these on my wrangler unlimited, will it hurt my bearings or anything?

Click to expand...

Centering Hubs are only important if you are using a universal wheel like a slotted mag. The center of the wheel then sits over the hub and centers the wheel and the lugs are only used to hold the wheel on.

With normal accorn lug nuts, and a wheel bult to accomidate them, like an OEM type wheel, the wheels self center on the lug nuts.

Your co-worker is evidently educated beyond his intelligence. He is obviously not a motorhead. I'm sure on some level he's right, but in the real world it's not important. Just my opinion.

cherokee chuck said:

Your co-worker is evidently educated beyond his intelligence. He is obviously not a motorhead. I'm sure on some level he's right, but in the real world it's not important. Just my opinion.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

It's one of those terms that, unless you are a motorhead, and not just a fan of their music, many folks don't understand

"Hub centric" - Typical OEM wheel, locates on the hub/ring in the axleshaft or unit bearing. Lugs are of secondary important. Also typically used on "mag" wheels with "shanked" nuts (long straight shanks.)

"Lug centric" - Typical aftermarket wheel, uses "acorn" or tapered seat lugnuts. The wheel is actually located by the tapers on the nuts themselves, and will move slightly as the lug nuts are torqued down. Aftermarket wheels are typicall lug-centric, as they don't know what the "hub" size will be for the vehicle they are used on (which leaves them free to bore it out as far as they think it needs to go, and allows you to bore it out still further if need be - as long as there is sufficient material around the lug nut seats to keep the strength of the wheel up.)

Paul Harvey said:

And now you know the rest of the story

Click to expand...

As long as the lug nuts are torqued in a star pattern and not all in one pass, the conical seat of the nuts will center the non-hub centric wheel. Some aftermarket wheel companies include plastic rings to center their wheels to the hubs of the vehicle, but they're more harm than good. Especially in the rust belt, where they exacerbate corrosion and become misshapen.