Lug centric wheels

Tj04

TJ Enthusiast
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Getting a beater YJ and will be moving my wheels to it.

I'm looking at the pro comp alloy wheels, but they are lug centric. Will this be problematic?

One review says he was told he had to buy some centering ring since it was lug centric and he kept getting vibrations from the wheels, but I dunno sounds more like one of them was bent or wasn't balanced right.

Opinions? $76 bucks on amazon. It'll be $900 for tires so I kind of want to get cheap ish wheels and always heard procomps are great for the price.
 
Very few wheels for TJ's are hub centric. Most are lug centric and most people don't run the centering rings. I wouldn't, because a non-hub centric wheel may not have the center hole bored to the tolerance of a hub centric wheel. That would force the wheel off center.

I bet you'd be just fine, like most other folks.
 
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Factory TJ wheels are hub centric but most aftermarket wheels for TJ’s are lug centric. The conical lug nuts center the wheel. This is perfectly normal. Sometimes I hear Tire shops say they won’t mount them bc it will be too much weight on the lugs. This is total nonsense. I’ve personally called Dick Cepek and had them explain that is the way their wheels were meant to be mounted (lug centric).
 
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Sometimes I hear Tire shops say they won’t mount them bc it will be too much weight on the lugs. This is total nonsense.
I'd love to have that conversation with them. The rim is not and does not exert any vertical loads to the lug studs. The forces are purely endured by the friction between the WMS and the inside face of the rim when the lug studs are tightened. Only if the studs loose tension by loosened lug nuts do they see any load other than tension and that damage is immediate and typically severe.

Tricky question to stretch anyone's brain a bit. Does anyone know why the seats are tapered and the nose of the lug nut is tapered to match?
I'll give you a hint to save a lot of wrong answers. It has nothing to do with centering the hole on the lug stud. There are many ways to do that which don't involve tapered seats.
 
I see a lot of people that have bought various Procomp, Cragers, Mickey Thompson, etc wheels that say 1 out of 4, or 1 out of 5 of them was bent and unbalanceable. How common is this really? I see it way more than I think I should on reviews and forums.

I know a $75 wheel isn't very much to many but I don't really want to buy another, as most won't accept returns after they are mounted
 
Tricky question to stretch anyone's brain a bit. Does anyone know why the seats are tapered and the nose of the lug nut is tapered to match?

Tapered lug nuts are supposed to help evenly distribute the torque applied to the lug nuts. From my understanding, if non-tapered (or flat) lug nuts were used, torque would typically be more dominant on the first stud you torqued down.

This is my understanding at least.
 
I see a lot of people that have bought various Procomp, Cragers, Mickey Thompson, etc wheels that say 1/4 was bend and unbalanceable. How common is this really? I see it way more than I think I should on reviews and forums.

That's because the only things you typically read on forums are negative things. Think about it... All the people who don't have issues or problems, they don't go online to post topics like "Had these wheels 3 years now with no issues.". That's just the nature of the internet and forums.

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm not sure how these guys are bending their rims, but my guess is they're playing in the rocks, and doing some bouncing. If that's the case, I'd be anticipating a bent wheel or two from time to time.
 
That's because the only things you typically read on forums are negative things. Think about it... All the people who don't have issues or problems, they don't go online to post topics like "Had these wheels 3 years now with no issues.". That's just the nature of the internet and forums.

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm not sure how these guys are bending their rims, but my guess is they're playing in the rocks, and doing some bouncing. If that's the case, I'd be anticipating a bent wheel or two from time to time.

I do agree many don't leave positive reviews only negative. However I'm meaning a lot of the reviews on Various sights it's when they get them and take them to a shop, and the shop says they were say danced during shipping or bent before hand.

Wheeling would be a difffernt story and not as fair a reason to leave a poor review
 
I do agree many don't leave positive reviews only negative. However I'm meaning a lot of the reviews on Various sights it's when they get them and take them to a shop, and the shop says they were say danced during shipping or bent before hand.

Wheeling would be a difffernt story and not as fair a reason to leave a poor review

Buy them from a reputable source with a good return policy and you'll be covered, 100%. If a shipper dropped a wheel during shipment, I could see how it would bend. I wouldn't worry about it though.
 
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Never considered the taper on the end of a lug stud to serve any purpose other than ease of thread engagement of the lug nut.
 
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I'd love to have that conversation with them. The rim is not and does not exert any vertical loads to the lug studs. The forces are purely endured by the friction between the WMS and the inside face of the rim when the lug studs are tightened. Only if the studs loose tension by loosened lug nuts do they see any load other than tension and that damage is immediate and typically severe.

Tricky question to stretch anyone's brain a bit. Does anyone know why the seats are tapered and the nose of the lug nut is tapered to match?
I'll give you a hint to save a lot of wrong answers. It has nothing to do with centering the hole on the lug stud. There are many ways to do that which don't involve tapered seats.

OK...I'll bite. For one, the taper IS going to center the stud in the hole. Now, only using 1 lug nut won't center the wheel, so you need more than one...I'd say three minimum. Our jeeps have 5, probably to help counteract manufacturing tolerances or for safety factor (in case a stud breaks). The five studs/Lug nut assemblies make the center of the wheel match the center of the axle. You also need to retain the wheel tight to the wheel mounting flange. You need some sort of surface to place an axial load against. As stated, you can center the stud in the hole many ways...You could use a close radial fit, but if you did, you wouldn't be able to apply any axial load. You could also use a Flat Lug nut, and get great axial load ability, but it may not be centered...you would need some other device to get it centered. NOTE: Properly torqued, you COULD indicate the wheel / tire combo to the center, and keep it there with flat lugs...but sheesh, who wants to do that.

With a taper, you get both radial and axial load capability, very easily. It a design that is intended to be repeatable, strong, and durable.

The same effect could be had with a VERY large center nut with taper (think Knock-Off Style wheel)

A pair of tapered roller bearings to control trailer axle hubs works under the same principle.
 
Tapered lug nuts are supposed to help evenly distribute the torque applied to the lug nuts. From my understanding, if non-tapered (or flat) lug nuts were used, torque would typically be more dominant on the first stud you torqued down.

This is my understanding at least.
The rims on my dually are flat lug nut equipped. Proper torque ensures they don't loosen.
 
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OK...I'll bite. For one, the taper IS going to center the stud in the hole. Now, only using 1 lug nut won't center the wheel, so you need more than one...I'd say three minimum. Our jeeps have 5, probably to help counteract manufacturing tolerances or for safety factor (in case a stud breaks). The five studs/Lug nut assemblies make the center of the wheel match the center of the axle. You also need to retain the wheel tight to the wheel mounting flange. You need some sort of surface to place an axial load against. As stated, you can center the stud in the hole many ways...You could use a close radial fit, but if you did, you wouldn't be able to apply any axial load. You could also use a Flat Lug nut, and get great axial load ability, but it may not be centered...you would need some other device to get it centered. NOTE: Properly torqued, you COULD indicate the wheel / tire combo to the center, and keep it there with flat lugs...but sheesh, who wants to do that.

With a taper, you get both radial and axial load capability, very easily. It a design that is intended to be repeatable, strong, and durable.

The same effect could be had with a VERY large center nut with taper (think Knock-Off Style wheel)

A pair of tapered roller bearings to control trailer axle hubs works under the same principle.
It may center the lug in the hole as a side benefit but that doesn't work if the hole is not perfectly place and only stresses the stud more.

The reason they are tapered is to increase the surface area to keep them tight. The taper and matching taper really increases the amount of contact between the two faces and prevents loosening much more than if they were flat, or tight fitting straight holes.
 
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"Knowledge within GM Fastener Engineering was that wheel fasteners (nuts or bolts) with spherical or conical seats provided resistance to torsional and lateral forces even if there was high preload variation."

Also something I drug up on the internet. Wasn't sure if it was true, or forum BS.
 
"Knowledge within GM Fastener Engineering was that wheel fasteners (nuts or bolts) with spherical or conical seats provided resistance to torsional and lateral forces even if there was high preload variation."

Also something I drug up on the internet. Wasn't sure if it was true, or forum BS.
If you understand how fasteners work, that info is highly suspect. If that were true, the high preload variant would show up as a destroyed seat due to the rim moving around just like it does every time we see rims with the lug nuts loosened.
 
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