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Center Bore Diameter


Fifty150
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According to wheel-size.com, the 2nd generation OEM wheel is 63.4 mm.  

 

I see wheels for Ford Focus listed with CBD of 63.3 mm.  

 

Will that fit? Or is it just a bit outside?  

 

Is the OEM wheel hub centric, like most OEM application?  Or lug centric, since OEM lug nuts are 60° conical seat?  

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I just don't want to be the guy who buys a wheel, and the center bore is just 1 mm off from fitting.  I'm sure that a couple of taps with a dead blow hammer would encourage it into place.  But it's better to start with the correct size.

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  • 1 month later...
On 10/19/2019 at 8:56 PM, Fifty150 said:

My ignorance. Americans are stupid. We don't know metric.  I still fear that I will raise the wheel to the hub, and I can't get it in the hole.  I should think that a little lube would glide it right in.

The dimension difference is barely more than the thickness of paint. Tolerances on the wheel hub are going to be ever so slightly smaller than the wheels. My Jaguar wheels go on nice on the front but I have to give the back tires a slight kick with the toe of my boot when removing them. I've seen the 63.3mm listing on some Volvo wheels and some spigot rings too, probably just some conversion factor that someone rounded off.

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If they're that tight, heat the wheels before installing them and let them shrink on. Fun part will be watching a garage mechanic  try to take them off - take plenty of popcorn with you, and earplugs in case it gets really loud what with all the screaming and cursing going on.  

 

PS - similar situation here a while back doing a wheel swap. Never liked the stock "orange juicer" wheels on the classic Aurora and found some Grand Am wheels I liked. Didn't figure on the size of my calipers compared to those on the Pontiac though.

 

GPWheelsCaliper.jpg

 

There's not a lot of room to spare, and if I hear any dragging going on, chances are good it's time to pressure clean the caliper slides ...

Edited by sKiZo
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2 minutes ago, sKiZo said:

If they're that tight, heat the wheels before installing them and let them shrink on. Fun part will be watching a garage mechanic  try to take them off - take plenty of popcorn with you, and earplugs in case it gets really loud what with all the screaming and cursing going on.  

You have a different kind of sense of humor. I like that in a person.

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I had a set of basket weave BBS wheels on my Miata that I really loved  -  They weighed 9 pounds and the Mazda dealer price for them was over $800 EACH . . . . and another $200 for the hubcap

 

Bought a FWD Protege 5 which was 5 bolt (the Miata was 4) and I discovered quite by accident that Mazda had used a nearly identical wheel on their RX7 Convertibles for 2 or 3 years back in the '80's . . . . and they were 5 bolt, same pattern as my Protege 5 . . . . but the RX-7 had a slightly smaller center bore.  It was rear wheel drive and the Protege was FWD.  Same ridiculous price for those wheels from Mazda, but the convertibles were old enough you could occasionally run across the wheels on the used market and sometimes at very reasonable prices.  There often isn't much demand for used OEM wheels, especially if they're 20 or 30 years old

 

Long story short, I found a very pristine set with the centercaps for $200 and snapped them up.  Took the wheels to a local machinist along with a stock wheel off the Protege and he chucked them in the lathe and bored the centers out a few millimeters to match the Protege wheel for me  -  $50 for the set of 4 . . . . only took him about half an hour, total

 

So, if you're looking for OEM wheels off another car and the lug pattern matches up with what you want to put them on, but the center bore doesn't, it's still do-able.  There are plastic rings you can buy to make a too large center bore still be hub centric on your car, and if the center bore is too small, it's not that big a deal to get that fixed either

 

For me, I actually prefer a good used set of OEM wheels off another model car to the el-cheapo aftermarket wheels that routinely sell for 3X or 4X what they're actually worth.  In most cases, the OEM wheels are considerably stronger than the aftermarket ones (car manufacturers can't afford accidents caused by suspect wheels) and no doubt, they're cheaper too.  Many times, some bozo took off a brand new set of OEM wheels so he could install an ugly, el-cheapo set of aftermarket wheels and he's looking to sell is OEM wheels for about 1/4 what the dealer wants for them . . . . or even less

 

I found a like new set of 16X7 Ford Focus wheels for my TC and paid about $250 for the set  -  Not a scratch on them.  Stock steel wheels from Tire Rack cost about the same.  Shop around . . . . there are plenty of nice looking used wheels out there and they can be had for very reasonable prices

 

Don

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I went with "refurbs" here. Local business strips and refinishes used wheels and sell them for half the price of new. Looked fresh out of the box when I got them, and they still look good several years later here in the Michigan winters.

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