Steel or Ali hub adapters???

[corradophil 3]

I need to buy some adapters to go from 4 stud 100 PCD to % stud 130 PCD.

 

There are two options, Steel, or Aluminium.

 

Steel

Pros. cheaper, I'd rather be screwing the wheel bolts into steel.

Cons. Heavier, larger unsprung weight effecting handling, and more inertia which may impact on acceleration and breaking.

 

Ali

Pros. Lighter, lower unsprung weight, less inertia.

Cons. More costly, Aluminium threads concern me or do they have helicoils?

 

I've roughly calculated the Steel adapters will weigh 2.2Kg more than Ali.

 

For a road car, will I notice any difference by going for steel adapters? Has anyone experienced a direct comparison between the two?

[Blue_Joe 0]

I think it depends on the thickness. But i looked into it when I bought my Porsche wheels. If you get the H&R Alloy adapters so you don't need to have any worries about stregth as they are exceedingly strong and TUV approved (as tehy have to be in germany!) But as you say tehya re expensive!

 

The steel ones are significantly cheaper but you will have alot of downsides. - You will feel every bump in the road and your wheels if you go over a pothole you'll REALLY know about it. They are ALOT heavier so there must be mipacts on handling etc.

 

I'd go with the alloy TUV Approved ones everytime. Lets face it you say you'd rather be screwing wheel bolts into steel but you're wheels are mabe of alloy and I would lay bets that your wheels would give up before the adapters

[g60griff 0]

i thought the fk ally ones were tuv approved

[Blue_Joe 0]

I think they are - I made reference to the &R as that is waht i used.

[g60griff 0]

oh right, well i used the fk and i think they are pretty good quality, never seen the h&r ones so comment about them but ive only heard good things about them, i think the fk are the cheaper option.

[corradophil 3]

Do the ali ones have helicoils, or steel inserts for the thread or do you screw directly into the ali? Do they come with a TUV certificate and torque settings for the bolts. My main concern is that ali is obviously soft so easier to strip the thread.

[yoda 0]

i sell alli adapters made by forge motorsport fully helicoiled and 180 inc vat and delivery and bolts

[/img] i have sold loads of these and been having them made for me for 5 years without failure

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The likes of H&R and RH use inserts in their adapters and are plenty strong enough.

[corradophil 3]

Excellent, that was my main concern, did not really fancy the idea of my wheel bolts going into an ali thread.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

No mate, you can't bolt a wheel into soft alloy. TUV approval (stricter than BS) ensures the wheels won't part company with the adapters at 70mph!

[corradophil 3]

No mate, you can't bolt a wheel into soft alloy.

 

My thoughts exactly, but having not seen an adaptor untill Yoda's post, I was a little concerned.

 

Hopefully they will be fine at higher speeds than 70mph.

[Blue_Joe 0]

Hopefully they will be fine at higher speeds than 70mph.

 

But obviously you would only do speeds over 70mph on "Private Roads" :wink:

[corradophil 3]

:lol: Private roads and my private race track of course.

[HVB G60 0]

I had H&R adapters in the past, the bolts bolted right into the alloy, no helicoils what so ever. Issues did arrise when I tried to unbolt my wheels after 6 months; on 2 of the bolts a part of the thread did come out along with the bolt.

 

Alloy adapters with helicoils seems the best possible solution to me; low unsprung weight without the risk of threads being damaged after some time.

[corradophil 3]

HVB G60, Interesting, that kind of puts me off the H&R ones.

[24V Renshaw 0]

Well I have experienced both. Having had both steel and ally custom adaptors made for my crazy wheel choices.

I designed and FEA'd both types and can honestly say the Ally ones are the way to go. Steel adaptors are damn heavy (about the same as a brake disc) and it does add signifcant un-sprung weight to the car. As long as the ally adaptors are helicoiled they will be fine. Mine were anodised, then the threads were alochromed, then the stainless helicoils were fitted. This prevents corrosion between the ally and the stianless.

 

At the end of the day if the adaptors are machined from a billet of decent grade ally they will be a shed load stronger than the cr@ppy cast ally wheel.

 

Jay

[yoda 0]

i sell fully helicoiled ali made by forge motorsport 180 inc bolts and postage[/img]

[awesomecorrado 0]

hi guys, i`m looking for 4a set of 4x100 to 5x100 pcd adapters for my rado! anyone help? cheers mark