Wheel adaptors and spacers

[cletus]

Heres some tips for wheel spacers and adaptors, I get a lot of questions about them.

 

Adaptors= bolt to the original hub and have another set of studs to bolt the wheel to

 

Spacers= slip over the original studs

 

the relevant rules are here- section 2.5 

http://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/standards/LVVTA_STD_Wheels_&_Tyres.pdf

 

note the maximum size for adaptors is now 30mm

 

here is an example of a wheel spacer done correctly- fits snugly on the center spigot and has a ring which locates the center of the wheel, has countersunk bolts to attach it to the hub, longer studs so the nuts go on far enough.

 

This ones not so good, and its had bits cut off, not sure why. Tyre shops still sell these shitty things but they are not legal.

 

Adaptors have a few traps, more so on the narrower ones- commonly available 15mm ones have a few issues, 20mm or bigger is not so bad.

The problem is, to fit a wheel with a flat mounting face, usually means there isnt enough material under the nut attaching the adaptor to the hub (some end up loose because the nut bottoms out on the disc/hub face) or the nuts are too short, and dont meet the minimum thread engagement of 'same as thread diameter', like this

 

another common problem- often the tapers are machined wrong so they dont match the nuts.

probably over half of the adaptors I look at have this issue. see this pic, the nut only contacts right at the bottom, so eventually the nuts come loose or are loose when I check them.

 

Cheap poor quality parts are another common one

These wheel nuts are from the same set. Mismatched sizes, wrongly machined tapers, tapers not parallel with the thread or in center, and poor thread fit on the stud are common to find with these. If the nuts or studs are a black colour they are usually poor quality