does it make a difference in performance whether or not a wheel spacer is hubcentric?

 

With a hubcentric spacer the wheel will fit on the spacer more like a factory setup. There is a lip that the hub is centered on. If they are not hubcentric you will get a unbalanced affect with your wheels. Make sure you get hubcentric wheel spacers.

 

On a JK yes it makes a difference. SpiderTrax are hub centric.

There was a post awhile back regarding this but I cant find it.

You get the load on the center hub instead of just on the studs. The JK is designed with hub centric wheels so if you are using your stock wheels you need hub centric.

Before I bought mine I had a long discussion with David at Northridge regarding the pros and cons regarding this and the conclusion I reached is that you want hub centric spacers.

 

does anyone have a hubcentric spacer that they can measure for me. i need the outside diameter of the hubcentric ring and the height of it from the face of the spacer. I have 2" wide non-hubcentric spacers and want to turn them down to make then hubcentric.

 

I'd like to add my two cents to that saying they can get an unbalanced effect. I step torque my spacers everytime the wheel or spacer is removed. Starting from hand tight, 15ft/lb,30ft/lb, 50ft/lb in a star pattern until torqued. All of this is with the weight of the vehicle off the tire (thanks lockers). I have zero balance problems with mine (Rough Country).

Almost every aftermarket wheel is not hubcentric therefore I feel the "its stronger hubcentric" kinda goes out the window. Just my non-expert opinion, but there are tons of non hubcentric Jeeps running around with no problems.

-Mike

 

^ I just like to do it right the first go around. You are right about not all wheels are hubcentric. But I would never take a chance on buying some spacer that are not hubcentric.

To OP, you can turn them down on a lathe but you better be real good at it.

 

Thanks Mike....i was kinda thinking along the same lines as you with regards to many aftermarket rims being non hubcentric. Thanks for the tip on the progressive torque technique.

 

Take a wheel off you jeep and measure whats there for the hub.

Also dont use regular aluminum for making spacers, they need to be t-6 heat treated to get a high enough yield strength. ( I think its t-6 I cant remember the specs off hand)