I don't know if anyone has experienced this yet when trying to balance tires. I went to Black Sky yesterday to have everything tigtened down on my lift and have my tires/wheels rotated and balanced. When I first had them down they used the cone and did them hub centric. They had since are able to do them lug centric to get a truer balance. However, that didn't work. I drove out and got on the highway and it was a HORRIBLE shake. So I went back and had them balanced hub centric and it was perfect! I just want to let you guys know of my experience.

• Wheels - 20x10 Moto Metal 951s
• Tires - 37x13.50 Nitto Mud Grapplers

 

the f150's rims are hubcentric which is why getting the correct centerbore is important

 

Thats what I thought.

 

97-03 were hubcentric. 04 up are lugcentric as far as stock wheels are concerned. If it was hubcentric, you would have flat-bottomed lug nuts, not beveled.

 

This has been argued 1,000 ways as to which is which.

Courtesy of wikipedia....

"Centerbore
The centerbore of a wheel is the size of the hole in the back of the wheel that centers it over the mounting hub of the car. Factory wheels have a centerbore that matches exactly with the hub to reduce vibration by keeping the wheel centered. Wheels with the correct centerbore to the car they will be mounted on are known as hubcentric. Hubcentric wheels take the stress off the lug nuts, reducing the job of the lug nuts to holding the wheel to the car. Wheels that are not hubcentric are known as lugcentric, as the job of centering is done by the lug nuts assuming they are properly torqued down. Centerbore on aftermarket wheels must be greater than or equal to that of the car or the wheel will not physically mount to the car. Many aftermarket wheels come with hubcentric rings that lock into the back of the wheel to center it like a factory wheel, usually made of plastic."

from : http://www.europeancarweb.com/wheels/wheels01_01.shtml

"Centering
The other element that affects directly whether a wheel can be bolted onto a car is hubcentricity. Long ago, in the deep mists of time, wheels were located by the taper of the lug nuts or bolts. This could lead to all sorts of problems, but they can be summarized by saying centering was liable to be less than perfect, and the sheer stress on wheel bolts or studs could be enormous. I am not aware of any passenger car wheels now made that are not hubcentric. Hubcentric wheels have a hole at their center that fits closely over a round feature on the hub, serving to center the wheel on the axis of the spindle, as well as bear the vertical weight of the vehicle. The wheel bolts or studs then serve simply to hold the wheel onto the hub, and are loaded only in tension, where they are strong. If the studs were required to absorb vertical forces, they would be loaded in single shear, the weakest arrangement for any fastener. Factory wheels are all machined to fit their specific application exactly, and some of the better aftermarket wheels are, too. However, many aftermarket wheels rely on centering rings. This means that, instead of machining wheels specifically for each O.E. centering hole diameter, the wheel manufacturer machines all wheels to one size, and then uses inserts to give a centering surface of the diameter required for each application. This is obviously easier to do, and makes inventorying a complete wheel line much simpler and less costly. If you buy wheels that use centering rings, be sure the rings fit snugly in the wheels. If they are loose enough to fall out, how accurately can they be locating your wheel? Some tire shops automatically remove centering rings to balance a wheel, just to make sure there is no slop to make their balancing inaccurate.

The fact that a wheel physically bolts onto a car doesn't necessarily mean it "fits." The centering surface could be too large, in which case there essentially is no centering. Just as importantly, the offset could be wrong. "

 

which is why I had my rims machined at the manufacturer to have correct center bore, and boy do they fit like a glove

 

Most aftermarket rims are lug centric where the rim is centered on the lug, just like our OEM rims and tires.

Here is the problem though!

The OEM rims are machine so the holes for the lugs are the exact same diameter as the lugs. Causing a very secure and solid fit.

Put your truck up in the air so the weight is off the rims and tire. Then loosen up the lug nuts on your aftermarket rim. Notice that you can move the rim around on the lugs? That's because the diameter on the aftermarket rim isn't IDENTICAL to the OEM rim. This causes the rim and tire combo (which shows a true balance on the balancer) to be out of balance because the rim is not in perfect orientation to the axel which is spinning the rim. Thus weight is off to one side throwing off the balance.

HOW TO FIX THIS:

Hub centric adapters can be used to get the rim to align better on the hub that is on our F150s. We have actual hubs but our trucks are actuall lug centric. [You can notice lug centric because the base of the lugs is round (means lug centric) where flat edges would indicate hub centric.] These are sold by the manuf of the rim. Next, instead of using a cone to balance the rims, they should use an Haweka adapter to replicate the bolt pattern on the truck. This puts the truest balance on the rim/tire combo. However the Hub centric adapter will prevent the rim from having the wiggle around that you notice without it.

Duke

 

our trucks are still hubcentric. the lugs are just there to provide clamping force

 

i belive the factory wheels are BOTH. but seeing as this is a ford ONLY bolt pattern you should realize they should be made to fit....if there not then they must be cheap a$$ wheels.

 

Who are you talking to?

 

they cannot be both only one or the other. our truck have a hub lip that matched the center bore of the factory rim perfectly therfore centering the wheel with the hub...... hub-centric: wheel centered on hub

 

Geez this thread turned into something else that I didn't intend.

 

its not a matter of what bears the weight or load. its just how the wheel is centered. thats it. hub matches the centerbore...... case closed

 

Yeah you're right they are hub centric. I went back through and also called Ford customer care.

The 04+ F150 is a hub centric rim tire combo.

Ford stated the following reasons:

1. Easier and truer balance
2. Prevent lugs from being sheered off under heaving load because weight is dispersed better through the hub instead of the lug bolts.

This is why hub centric adapters on aftermarket rims and haweka adapter balancing (like what thump did) give you a better balance with aftermarket rims and tires.

Few...glad that's over.

Duke

 

what it was is we were confusing what the word centric meant..... I had to stop and think about it myself