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I have a US 2007 Yaris sedan. I'm still on the original wheels and they've had a very rough life. The ride is suffering for it and I'm looking for a new set of wheels and tires while trying to be frugal and DIY. I'll get the tires at a local shop, but looking for wheels online.

I found these on ebay, and the specs look right for my car. I already have the stock 15x5.5" steel wheels, so these should be about the same. They are 15x6, with a center bore diameter of 72.6mm:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331774482870

Steel Rim

Then going on that wheel's specs of hub bore at 72mm, and another post I found on a yaris forum that listed the Yaris hub bore at 54.1mm, I would need these hub rings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361355856077

Hub Centering Rings

I believe I have all this correct, and that these components would fit my car. Please let me know if I've missed anything, or if I am doing this wrong. This is my first time buying wheels. Thanks.

zipzit
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GrayB
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2 Answers2

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There is one other figure you need to take into consideration; offset.

The offset is the measure of how far pushed out or in the centre point of the wheel (that bolts to the hub) is when compared to the centre of the wheel (between where the beads of the tyre sit). If the offset is wrong, you can find that the wheels can foul your suspension, brakes or wheel arches.

Steve Matthews
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Hub-rings? If those rims have acorn shaped lug nuts, you don't need hub-rings. The acorn nuts are what keeps the wheel aligned. When I say acorn nuts, I'm talking about these:

Acorn Lug Nut

The bottom of the lug nut is shaped like a cone. And those cones on the lugnuts match up to cup shaped depression on the wheel. The cups & cones in this design are what keep the wheel centered.

EDIT: The OP wheel link indicates Lug Nut Seat Style Conical seat - 60 degree which indicates the above type of lug nuts are required with that wheel. Hub-rings may still be used and aid in lining up the studs, but are not required.

If the lugnuts have a flat washer facing the wheel, then the hub ring is super important. These are flat washer lugnuts:

flat washer lugnuts

These lugnuts keep the wheel tight, but the hub center ring is what keeps the wheel centered.

What kind of lug nuts do you have? (It looks like the photo on the wheels are designed for acorn lug nuts, but I'm not positive.) If you must, remove one lug nut to be sure what type you have. Again, if you have acorn lug nuts, don't waste money on hub center ring. You don't need it. And obviously with the acorn cup/cone design, we're assuming the center hole in the rim is larger than the bearing protrusion on your brake rotors.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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zipzit
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  • +1 for mentioning that hubrings are not necessarily needed. Most aftermarket wheels for passenger cars have conical seats. Hubrings in this instance simply make the wheels easier to center when installing, but they don't provide any weight-bearing support for the car at all. – Ellesedil Jul 01 '16 at 18:44
  • @Ellesedil Why don't they provide any support? I think the rings are required, because they distribute some of the load off the studs themselves and onto the hubs. I know it is required for heavier cars that run 5-lug hubs, so I don't see why it would be any different for a lighter car with a 4-lug. – MooseLucifer Jul 01 '16 at 18:52
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    @Ellesedil lots of hub rings are made out of plastic or soft aluminum, they would deform if they were actually load bearing. – Ukko Jul 01 '16 at 18:59
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    @MooseLucifer: Ukko is right. The weight of the car is held by the friction between the wheel and the hub face. This is why you need to torque your lugnuts to a specific rating. It's not to make sure they don't come loose, but to make sure your car's weight is supported properly. The hub rings do not have the strength to really support much weight, and the lip that's on your hub does not have the strength to do that either. It's just a thin piece of metal that pokes out a few millimeters from the hub and is a few millimeters thick. That's not really going to support anything. – Ellesedil Jul 01 '16 at 19:07
  • @MooseLucifer: Here's some additional references: http://thesquealingtire.com/hub-centric-rings-defined/ There's also a post from a TireRack representative on some WRX STI forums: http://www.iwsti.com/forums/3149640-post14.html – Ellesedil Jul 01 '16 at 19:11
  • @Ellesedil You and Ukko are correct, thanks for the info. As for the second link, I don't put much faith in forum posts for information like this. Here is a second source I trust: http://www.tirerack.com/FAQ/index.jsp?category=Wheels – MooseLucifer Jul 02 '16 at 16:30
  • Thank you for the detailed explanation. The stock wheels also have the acorn style nuts, so I believe I can skip the hub rings. – GrayB Jul 09 '16 at 00:44