ALFAGTV6.COM

grant · Post by **grant** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:11 am

Hey, I'm having trouble finding reasonably priced wheels to take to the track.

My question is, would a 25mm adapter that goes from 5 x 98 to 5x100 or 5x114.3 (Nissan and Mazda) be safe for track use? This kind of set up would make the wheels lug centric right?

What do you guys think? I'm just trying to find 16X7+ wheels that won't keep bending on these terrible streets, or are at least cheap enough that I won't care if they bend.

I might get them from here, or have them made.
http://www.serpentautosport.com/wheel_a ... s_lugs.htm

By the way, the owner of that business is a great guy and sells high quality products, I'm just not sure if I can use his services for the track.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:09 am

If well made they're totally safe.
But I would strongly recommend adapters which are hub centric.

98 to 100 PCD you can change with only offset lugs or bolts.

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:25 am

I've been running adapter plates (5 x 114.3 - Nissan, Mazda, Ford etc) for years.
I agree with Micke, I made mine so they centre on the hub and centre the wheel (easy with Nissan / Mazda wheels - 66 or 68mm centre bore)
A heap of people bagged me about running them but they are bullet proof - they have taken everything I can throw at them with sticky tyres on 16x8s
25mm thick is more than enough, mine are 20mm
There is a pic or 2 in my "intro"
http://www.alfagtv6.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1690&start=0

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:04 am

Forgot to say. No problem using them on a Porsche GT3 with slicks. Porsche uses them OE on some models too (from 5x130 to the same though)

grant · Post by **grant** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:08 am

Daniel, how did you get a counter-sunk bolt on there? The only adapters I've seen require wheels with "pockets", which seems to only apply to some after market wheels?

I bent my Team Dynamics DTM 16X7.5 wheels by running just a bit of camber (-2.3) and hitting a pot hole or two. Do you think the stock FD wheels would be strong enough to hold up to that kind of abuse? It's been suggested to me that I just stick with forged wheels, but I won't be able to buy a set in time for a race in April due to financial reasons.

Since you made your adapter with a Mazda sized o.d., I'm assuming you only can use Mazda or Alfa wheels sans adapter safely, yeah?

And btw, your FD caliper/Supra 302mm rotors setup won't clear a stock 15 inch wheel will it? IT doesn't seem to quite clear my stock wheels, but that was expected..

grant · Post by **grant** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:11 am

Micke, I've never found offset lugs, only bolts. As you know, the 75 has studs. Do you know a source for offset bolts?

And secondly, just those wouldn't be enough to run a 5x100 wheel would it? I should still need to have a ring machined to mate the hub and the wheel bore for safe track use right?

Rookie ROX · Post by **Rookie ROX** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:57 am

I know there's several members who have simply enlarged one hole of a 5x100 wheel and had plastic rings made by a tyre shop to make the wheel hub centric, supposeably they've fit fine without hassle. I've looked at WRX wheels but they had a steel insert on the inside of each hole, so scrapped that idea.

ROCK ON
R~R

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:53 am

Rings are available to many rims. Else having them made (or revolving the hole bigger in the other direction) is possible.

Lugs are not very common but this is a place:
http://www.spurverbreiterung.de/index.php?c=true&lan=uk

Jim K · Post by **Jim K** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:30 am

There are commonly available wheel nuts made in two parts for this application: the regular nut and a captive free-rotating conical washer which centers in the 5x100mm while the nut is of course tightened on the 5x98mm stud.Provided the hole is large enough to fit the 5x98, there's absolutely no problem and it isn't large enough, just drill it so it fits, then use these special nuts.
Jim K.

grant · Post by **grant** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:00 am

If I use the nut with conical washer, I'm going to need to have a centering ring machined to keep the weight on the hub, correct?

I looked on the SCC page, but the lug nut page was in German. Jim, do you know another place I can try and find those lug nuts?

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:14 pm

grant wrote:Daniel, how did you get a counter-sunk bolt on there? The only adapters I've seen require wheels with "pockets", which seems to only apply to some after market wheels?

Fronts are countersunk - bolted to the hub & brake rotor and the whole assembly then put onto the stub axle. Rears are counterbored and the nuts sit flush with the face.

grant wrote:I bent my Team Dynamics DTM 16X7.5 wheels by running just a bit of camber (-2.3) and hitting a pot hole or two. Do you think the stock FD wheels would be strong enough to hold up to that kind of abuse?

They stand up to the extremely high

quality roads around brisbane with -2.5 degrees but I do my best to avoid holes that will swallow the car, besides, FD wheels are soooo cheap.

grant wrote:Since you made your adapter with a Mazda sized o.d., I'm assuming you only can use Mazda or Alfa wheels sans adapter safely, yeah?

And btw, your FD caliper/Supra 302mm rotors setup won't clear a stock 15 inch wheel will it? IT doesn't seem to quite clear my stock wheels, but that was expected..

I can run either wheel but the front brakes mean that I have to run a 12mm thick wheel spacer for the 15" wheels to clear. I did also remove some excess material from the calipers.

grant · Post by **grant** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:32 pm

Sorry, what does counter bored mean?

for the fronts, that just means that you found a largish tapered nut to (nearly) permanently attach the adapter to the front hub? Is it hard for a machinest to make a beveled dish in aluminum stock to accept a countersunk nut?

Is finding a countersunk nut with 12mmX1.25 pretty hard to come by?

If you are able to, I think I really would like to buy some adapters off of you...

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:25 am

Grant
Counter bore is ... mmmm
Think of the hole that the stud protrudes through. Now bore a larger hole, big enough diameter for the nut (and the socket to do it up) and deep enough that the nut sits fully inside it.....
Ah, too hard to explain, I'll go take a picture.

Fronts are countersunk bolts from the outside with nuts inside the rotors - no original wheel studs.

PM or email me

GTV27 · Post by **GTV27** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:19 am

mmm...me likey much

questions:

who can do for how much by when?

what wheel options do I then have? 5x100, 5x114...mmm choice!

who wants to buy some nice 17x7.5 5x98PCD wheels?

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:20 pm

I'm working on a price now.

Forget 5x100 wheels - choices are limited and the factory ones (Toyota Celica/Camry & Subaru) have smaller centre spigots than Alfas.
Almost everything runs 5 x 114.3, so wheel choices are huge.

Wheel adapters safe for track use?