I was talking to a guy at American Racing and he said that a lot of their wheels are designed for all type of vehicles, so the center hole is not a good way to balance the wheel/tire combination with. He said that they should balance them via stud balancing which is an adapter that is on the balancing machine. The wheel fits onto the adapter and then balanced this way, he said it is a much better way to balance wheels that are not specifically made for that specific truck. He also anwsered that most of the aftermarket wheels should be balanced this way because the wheels are not OEM specs and are center via the studs and not the center hole. For example, my wheels are OEM Aluminum and they are center via the center hole and the studs where the American Racing Hellix's that I have are only centered with the studs. There is about a 1/4 inch difference between where the center hole is compared to the center edge of drums or rotors.

Just some information that I though you guys/gals would like to know.

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

Are you saying that some of the aftermarket wheels use the old unilug pattern so the same wheels will fit several patterns?

 

Rick99:

If you look at your OEM wheels with the center cap off, you will notice that the hub (center hole) and the stud holes all center the wheel on the truck. The American Racing wheels that I have are built for various trucks. So what they do is increase the hub (center) hole and then drill the correct lug pattern for the specific truck that they are going on. Example: mine are 5 X 5 1/2 bolt pattern but the center hole is very large compared to the actual lip that is on the drums or rotor. With the wheels being built like this then the wheel is centered via the studs holes and not the hub, so if you are dealing with wider tires the hub balancing doesn't work correctly. He said that the hub balancing does do a good job but if you have additional problems then find a place that does lug centric balancing (balancing via the stud holes). Hope this clarifies this for you.

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

This is true for non-hubcentric wheels. As long as you buy a wheel specific to your vehicle your in good shape. Some wheel manufactures make lines of wheels that have dual pattern lugs. These wheels are not hubcentric. It's still not that big of deal to have balanced via the center hole. The wheel is still centered on the balancing machine with the tapered cone nut (piece that holds wheel on to threaded shaft). Otherwise I don't care how many ounces of weight that wheel needs it would make the balancing maching dance around as a 70 lb wheel is spun at 55 mph off center. The problem actually occurs when the wheels are mounted on the car. The dual pattern wheels tend to be "sloppy" when it comes to mounting on the rotor (or axle). hence if the wheel is tightened up on the vehicle offset - heck yeah you'll fell it.

No flames intended - just my 2 cents.

Thanks
Fred