Centre Bore and Wheel Centreing

[TimC]

Hi all

Having some serious wheel wobble issues and trying to isolate everything possible.

Our Bongo has 16" aftermarket alloys, and to test the front wheel balancing I've swapped for a set of known good wheels (didnt seem to make a difference but struggled to get it up to speed locally).

However, I did notice that neither the steel wheels nor the aftermarket alloys seem to locate on the hub spigot - and used the studs to centre the wheel.

Is this correct? There isnt much of a taper to the wheels/nuts and makes me worry that the wheels arent centered.

Cheers

Tim

[francophile1947]

It sounds like you need spigot rings to bring your centre bore down to 67.1mm

[TimC]

Sorry - should have better explained - the steels were original bongo steels off another bongo (as far as i know)

Are they meant to be hubcentric?

[francophile1947]

It sounds like those steels are not Bongo wheels Centre bore should be 67.1mm and fit exactly over the sticking out bit of the hub.

[rita]

Sorry - should have better explained - the steels were original bongo steels off another bongo (as far as i know)

Are they meant to be hubcentric?

The wheel nuts (the proper ones)should centralise the wheels.

[windywatson]

HI,

My bongo steels centre perfectly on the spigot as they are original and are actually quite a tight fit. This suggests your steels are not the originals. If you are using wheels with different sizes centres, you should always use spigot rings to centre the wheels and never only rely on the studs doing the job on thier own. Also, you have to ensure that the wheel nuts that you have are for the specific wheel being used. There is often some differance in the angle of the end of the nut that locates in to the wheel. These need to match, and you may not have the ones that are specific to the alloys or the steel wheels you have.
If you have a look at wheel nut sizes you will find that the angles are given & you will see that they are not always the same.

Cheers

[TimC]

OK

cheers all - useful info

My wheel nuts are almost certainly the same as the original ones (which doesnt seem correct for a start).

I'll get the wheels off and centre bore measured up this week. Not quite sure how to approach the issue of the wheel nuts but will see if i can find something out.

[TimC]

Spigot rings sourced and fitted and seems a lot better. Crap roads and traffic locally means not able to test properly yet though

[Mark Norton]

Just make sure they are done up tight enough so the wheel can't move on the hub. Don't have it to hand but the torque setting is high, make sure there is no oil or grease on the back of the wheels or hub, even rough up the mating surfaces.

[mikeWalsall]

Just make sure they are done up tight enough so the wheel can't move on the hub. Don't have it to hand but the torque setting is high, make sure there is no oil or grease on the back of the wheels or hub, even rough up the mating surfaces.

Why ..??

Bongo wheels are spigot mounted on the hub and are not stud mounted ..

After once having the wheel rust seize onto the brake drums (not a Bongo) .. I always make sure the mounting surfaces are smooth and apply a coating of Alloy Anti seize (similar to Copper slip) to the wheel flange and the hub face ..

Torque to 90 - 108 lbs feet ..

[Mark Norton]

Spigot only goes in to the wheel a few millimeters, it might be O.K to hold steel wheels but I would not know because mine has RX8 alloys fitted.

The problem I had was that the wheels must have been moving on the hub because on removal and inspection the spigot had cut in to the recess in the alloy wheel.

I found out that the Mazda RX8 with the 18" alloys had a known problem of "clicking noises" which is the wheel moving on the hub and this advice was put out by Mazda as a bulletin for the RX8 with the 18" alloys. The recommended torque is a high 147 n.m!

I did have ongoing terrible problems with very bad steering wheel shake and was desperate. On the advice of the Tyre Garage I fitted mushroom ended wheel nuts, weather these make any difference over standard Maxda nuts I'm not sure, but now with the correct torque setting and roughing up the back of the alloys/hubs this has cured my problems. I have the very slightest tremble at about 65 mph which is very slight and not noticed by others who drive the Bongo so I'm happy to live with it.

Yes, getting the wheels back off needs the use a large hammer against the tyre wall but a couple of blows and they come off no problem. I know it does not sound ideal or a bit over the top but it works for me.

[mikeWalsall]

As the bore size of the R8 is the same as the Bongo at 67.1 mm .. and the spigot of the hubs had left an impression in the alloy wheel face then it would seem that the wheel was not located properly onto the hub spigots and relied on the wheel nuts to 'pull' the wheel into place ... which is not good ..

A spigot ring is a simple 'spacer' that allows bigger bore wheels to 'down size' .. as in 'say' using Mazda 5 67.1mm centre bore wheels on a Mazda '94 323 with 54.1 mm centres

http://www.wheelfitment.net/mazda