Custom wheels on F150's

[leedriver]

Quick question here guys, need some advice. I know we have a lot of F150 owners here and I'm curious about aftermarket wheels. When it comes to custom wheels I have heard there are hub-centric and lug-centric wheels. My set of 22's are lug-centric (I believe since they don't fit closely over the hubs like my factory wheels). I just put them back on for the year and my steering wheel wobbles like crazy. I just had them balanced last Saturday. My question is do F150's or some wheels require hub-centric adapters? Or, is it all a matter of getting the wheel seated just right with the lug nuts? I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice...

[Too Stroked]

The reason many manufacturers went to hub centric wheels is exactly the problem you ran into. With a hub centric wheel, your wheel is centered on the center of the hub by the hub itself. That makes it pretty tough to get the wheel on in an eccentric position.

With lug centric wheels, if the holes in the wheel are punched, machined or even wear incorrectly, you run the risk of having a wheel securely bolted on, but off center. With the newer (2004 +) generation of Ford trucks - with the significantly stiffer frames - they ran into some real problems. Any slight imbalance condition got translated straight back through the stiff frame and right to your butt.

You might try taking the offending wheel off and clocking it one lug. You might even have to go as far as swapping positions of wheels around the truck. You should also make sure you torque the lug nuts in steps working up to the recommended torque - which if I recall correctly is around 100 foot pounds. Does the manufacturer of your wheels offer centering rings? I got a set of those with both sets of aftermarket wheels on my Scion xB.

I know what you're going through though. I have a set of American Racing 20 x 10's on my truck and I'm about to buy new tires. I can't wait to go through the 4 rebalancing's that I went through the first time!

[leedriver]

You would think with 6 tapered lug nuts that each wheel could only go on in one place, but that's clearly not the case... I'm going to pull one back off and see what the difference in diameter is between the wheels and my hubs. I do work at a tool shop so making up a set of rings is definitely doable if it comes down to that. Your reply makes me feel a little better knowing it isn't just me at least. When mounting them I tried to get 3 of the 6 lined up and I tight as I could by hand first, thinking that would line them up. I had checked into getting rings one other time but didn't have much luck. Maybe I will try contacting Eagle again.... I watched the guy balance out all four wheels so I'm guessing its all in how they are mounted.

Edit: Just talked to an Eagle distributor, and the guy was very helpful surprisingly. He said that Eagle doesn't offer centering rings and that all of their wheels are lug-centric - and that its kind of a flaw of theirs. When I ask what to do he said my best bet was having a shop make a set of rings specific to my wheels and truck. Luckily, that is an option for me. Not sure how thin they will have to be though....

[05supercrew]

Lugs are torque to 150lbs. Also make sure your ball joints are solid also.

[leedriver]

Thanks for that, saves me looking it up.

I just turned 51K miles so hopefully all the ball joints are fine, but I'll give them a check.



Edit: Looks like all I need are my two diameters... Can't even begin to make them for $25.

http://www.1010tires.com/hubrings.asp

[Old Dogg™]

Dont know how you stored you tires or if they are the same you were already using but, if I let my truck sit for more than a day the flat spots cause my truck to vibrate pretty good for a few miles but it eventually goes away.  The longer my truck sits, the longer it takes for the shaking to go away.

[Kitzy]

OD, you have the Cooper Zeons don't you?

[leedriver]

Dont know how you stored you tires or if they are the same you were already using but, if I let my truck sit for more than a day the flat spots cause my truck to vibrate pretty good for a few miles but it eventually goes away.  The longer my truck sits, the longer it takes for the shaking to go away.

I thought of that as well. The vibration seems to stay fairly constant. The truck sat from around lunchtime Sunday until Tuesday morning when I drove it to work. I have noticed the factory tires doing that though. I figure the hub rings definitely won't hurt anything and hopefully smooth things out.

[Old Dogg™]

OD, you have the Cooper Zeons don't you?

Yes I do.  I dont like them over 50 psi but they are wearing pretty fast and I think it's due to my aggressive cornering and running them at 40 psi but they are very good tires...some of the best I have owned as far as performance.

I thought of that as well. The vibration seems to stay fairly constant. The truck sat from around lunchtime Sunday until Tuesday morning when I drove it to work. I have noticed the factory tires doing that though. I figure the hub rings definitely won't hurt anything and hopefully smooth things out.

I never knew the difference in hub and lug centric wheels.  
Good general info to know!

[Kitzy]

I have the Zeons as well.  The reason I asked is because I have noticed that if my truck sits for a little while, even less than a full day, I have that same rough ride for a bit until they warm up.  However, my set seem to be lasting forever.  I run mine at 38 psi.  That's where I found I get the best ride.  I drive very aggressively and have never had a tire last over 25k.  I believe I'm right around that mark now and they look almost new.  Out of curiousity, do you know what their speed rating is?

[Too Stroked]

Boy, talk about a first class thread hijacking! But, since we're on the subject, I happen to be looking at replacing the Goodyear Eagle GT II's on the 20" x 10" American Racing wheels on my truck. They've been OK, but before I get down to the wear bars, it's time to replace them.

I was looking at the Cooper Zeon LTZ in a 305/50R20 size, but my tire dealer said they were special order only. There was also a Zeon XST, but he didn't have any pricing info on them. He recommended the Discoverer H/T Plus in the same size - for a lot less money. Which Zeons are you guys running?

[Kitzy]

LTZ 285/60-18 for what it's worth.

[Old Dogg™]

Boy, talk about a first class thread hijacking! But, since we're on the subject, I happen to be looking at replacing the Goodyear Eagle GT II's on the 20" x 10" American Racing wheels on my truck. They've been OK, but before I get down to the wear bars, it's time to replace them.

I was looking at the Cooper Zeon LTZ in a 305/50R20 size, but my tire dealer said they were special order only. There was also a Zeon XST, but he didn't have any pricing info on them. He recommended the Discoverer H/T Plus in the same size - for a lot less money. Which Zeons are you guys running?

They are 305-55-20R LTZ so that means they are R rated for speed?  
The center tread looks nearly new but the lugs on the outer portion of tire tread are much lower than when new about 10K miles ago.

For a few miles when cold im thinking I need to check my wheel weights then it goes away.  I live .5 miles from the freeway and sometimes im like WTF once I get up to speed but it always goes away.  Once my truck sat for a few days and it lasted almost an entire day of driving before it disappeared.  

[Kitzy]

The R is for radial.  There is no R speed rating as far as I know.  I just don't know what the Zeons are to even look it up.

S-112mph
T-118
U-124
H-130
V-149
W-168
Y-186
Z-Above 186

[Old Dogg™]

The R is for radial.  There is no R speed rating as far as I know.  I just don't know what the Zeons are to even look it up.

They are "S" rated.

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?pc=27504&counter=1&ar=55&rd=20&sw=false&cs=305

Now that I look at the photo maybe my outer tread lugs still look normal or somewhat new...