Some would ask why do this at all, but today I"m a stay at home dad (wife's a nurse, and she has shift today) and the baby took a nap when it was raining, so that's when I had time. Sorry no photos, it was raining

I have Kazara KZ-V 17x7s. They came from the Tire Rack with plastic centering rings. The plastics are so-so. The do work, but every now and then I'd find I had to retorque a wheel because I had a bit of vibration after a rotation.

Tools you'll need:

Jack.
Lug-wrench
Torque wrench
screwdriver and hammer (to knock out the old centering rings)
Soft-blow hammer, or a rubber coated 5 lb dumbell (I knew they'd be usefull for something when my wife got them!) to seat the ring.
Propane heater so you don't get too cold!

Set up the heater so you can work without getting too cold. (OK, I'm a weenie!)
I took off one of the wheels, used the back of the breaker bar to knock out a wheel center.
Then I could use the screwdriver and hammer to knock out the plastic ring. They are really stuck in there (at least on my wheels) so I couldn't just yank them out by hand. DON'T PRY IT OUT FROM THE BACK! you can mar the surface of the wheel where the new centering ring will rest. May not be a big deal, but you loose style points.
Place the metal ring into the wheel, and tap it lightly with something to get it started. Then use the weights that are gaining dust in your garage to seat the ring. Don't use a metal hammer, as you can ding the ring, and then you'll need to get another one. And that would suck.
Place the wheel cap back on.
Mount the wheel. I hand tighten the bottom lug first. IF we have true hub-centric design, the beveled lug nuts are a no-no, as they can pull the wheel off center. Then I do the top, then front then back. I learned that with the plastic rings, if I torqued to 85 ft-lbs starting at 40 and using 15 ft-lb steps, that I'd have to redo wheels less often.

Anyway, I know this sounds so easy as to be obvious, but I saw some threads where others were having problems with the plastic hub-centric rings, and thought I'd share....

Thanks to Alex at Tire Rack for sending me the metal rings gratis. You da man!

Matt

 

wow, a how-to on how to replace a centering ring!

If you're going to sticky this at the newb's forum, make sure to include
a final step of re-torquing the lugs after driving 5-10miles.

 

Just drove into work with the new rings on, and what a difference! I should have done this long ago....

Matt

 

Did the same thing this weekend. Getting the plastic rings off was much easier though. I just slid a razor blade between the hub and the ring all the way around. That lifted the ring just enough to work a smaller flatblade screwdriver behind the ring and they just slid right off.

BTW, Discount Tire has the metal rings for $15 delivered UPS in 2 days.

I've put 15 miles on mine now - time to check the torque.

 

Plastic rings come off really easy if you install them with this:



And break them loose gently with this:

 

with little thinngies that really grabbed. Three wide fingers with steps on them.

 

I just rotated my tires for the first time at around 4-5k, front to back and now notice a shake in the steering wheel at highway speeds - could it be that the hub rings should be replaced?

 

And try doing the very gradual torquing to see if it gets better. But anything is possible.

Matt

 

If it's not your lug nuts I bet you lost a wheel weight.

 

Dr O.....
I have the same wheels as you and am having a similar issue. I e-mailed Alex at TR to try and get a set of metal ones so we will see what happens. 2nd issue deals with the black plastic plugs that fill the spare holes......after some spirited driving at Laguna Seca (twice now) they seem to come up missing and the ones that are still there are loose. This has happened with both the stock brakes and the new 13" TCE Willwoods that I now have. Any glue out there that will stand up to the heat the the brakes generate to keep the little suckers in there. I hate going back to TR to get replacements.....which they have been very good about doing, but soon they will say "enough is enough" and then I will have to deal without them.
thanks...................

 

but it's not such a big deal to me. So I drive with what's still there. I think **** track people would say that tracking with them is just an invitation to put crap on the track. I don't really know. In the Nor-Cal shelby club, I think they have to be removed (center caps too) for the hotter driving classes. Unless attached with nuts and safety wire...

Matt

 

due to the heat! i hate that thats why i rather buy wheels w/the correct bolt pattern.

did i see talk bout " crap " again in ur last post doc. ??

 

Got a link for that? I can't seem to find anything about it on their site.
-G

 

You can't find the metal centering rings on the Discount Tire website--you need to call them. I called Sean at extension 423 and they were delivered quick smart. I installed them yesterday and drove to work today on the freeway - 75mph and no shimmy at all compared to the mild shimmy I was experiencing with the plastic rings. Metal is the way to go.
btw, they sent me red (pink) anodized rings which I didn't complain about, but perhaps if you have a preference you can ask for a color, or plain Al.

cheers,

 

Try this link. http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...riesWheels.jsp
They are under wheels / wheel accessories. BTW, the ones I got were a gunmetal silver in color - not red.

 

Sweet. Thanks a lot guys!
-G

 

Thanks for the information about the metal rings. My wheels came with plastic, all they had, so I just ordered some metal rings from Discount tire. I'm putting the wheels on next week so I thought I may as well have the metal rings from the start.