If the vehicle was designed for hub-centric wheels, then the intent of the studs is to be loaded in tension only (clamping the wheel to the hub). What you are suggesting will load the studs in shear and they may not be designed for that. Can't say for sure on the ST, but I've seen bolts/studs intended for tensile loads only that were improperly tightened and failed in shear.

 

Hub centric rings are required when the hub hole of your rim is bigger then the hub of your car. It helps center the wheel on the car. I have them on my snows. I used to get a faint shake at 65 to 75 which usually would be N out of balance tire. So I reballance all tires and brought all to 0-0 which is a perfect balance. Still had the slight shake no wheels were bent. Bought centric rings all the shake when away. The lugs will center your wheel to a point but if the wheel is already centered before u tighted them with the lugs u will have a more true centering on the hub.

 

If you get new wheels and your hub is larger then the stock, you need a hub ring set to reduce it to the stock size. No one will ever get a 100% central balance using lugs only. You have up to 1/4" of gap around the lug which would mean you could have your wheel pretty far off balance and cause drastic vibration. Tried in the past to wait for buying them... made it about 4 miles down the street before I turned around and ordered them.

 

One engineer and two experiences; survey says use the rings.

 

Eh, I don't use them with my Enkeis and I have no vibration issues. Sometimes I torque them with the wheels entirely off the ground, sometimes I don't (just enough weight on them to keep them from spinning). During autocross season, I change them out with the stock wheels almost every week so that's plenty of opportunity for something to be different with how I mounted them. To the best of my knowledge, wheels for this car are lug-centric. Hub rings will help with mounting the wheels and possibly can help with vibration issues but in my experience aren't required.

edit: Same experiences with my Miata, WRX and Civic, and Miatas are notorious for vibrations, even with hub rings.

 

Stock wheels are hub centric, Tire Rack generally also includes a set of centering rings with most wheels since they have the wrong center bore. Use the damned rings or buy wheels with the correct center bore on the hub area.

 

Use the rings.

 

Looks like I'll be using the rings then, since I am not willing to take the risk of damage to my car. This is a great example of why you should join a forum for your ride. Great feedback guys... Thanks!

 

you don't need hub rings on steel wheels.

 

they are like $10 and give a perfect centering of the wheels. why is there even a discussion about this!?!?!?

 

Plastic hub rings tend to swell and crack under extreme heat, many folks experience this at track days. Anyone make aluminum rings?

 

EBay sells aluminum centric rings just have to measure and find out exactly what size u need for your application.

 

The problem I have with aluminum is they get stuck on and are a pita to get back off. Plastic you can easily cut off.

Sent from another galaxy.

 

I've run with them and without them. If you allow the lugs to center the wheels appropriately (they're conical seat, tighten fully with the car in the air) it's fine. I run another set of wheels on a different car where the wheel hub is larger, but the variance between wheel and car hub is too small to make a ring to fit. It helps to center the wheel while installing, they are not load bearing.

 

I forgot to put mine on, put them on later and noticed a small difference in smoothness