Is there a way to do this? I have a set of wheels I'd like to use on my e30 but the hub bore on the wheel is 54.1mm while the hub on the e30 is 57.1. I was thinking a hubcentric spacer where the hub side is 57.1 and the wheel side is 54.1? Does such a thing exist?
Also if this is a stupid idea for obvious reasons that I'm not seeing, feel free to point that out as well.
Spacer would need to be thicker than the hub flange (could be 10-15 mm or so).
You could also possibly get the wheels cut... Have a machine shop do it if budget is no issue, if it is, you can probably do a fine enough job with a Dremel and a long time (go out to like 58 so the lugs do the centering work).
I did it with a hole saw in a Bridgeport, which worked because the wheel pilot had a pretty significant taper on the back side that kept the hole saw centered.
One of those sand paper covered cylinders in a drill will open that up pretty quick. You only need to remove 1.5mm all the way around.
Depending on the wheel, you may need spacers to clear the brake caliper anyway. What wheels are they?
Scour YouTube for videos on how to enlarge hub bores with a router and a good quality carbide bit.
In reply to bluej:
Team Dynamics Pro Race from a Spec Miata.
I've been thinking about using cheap NA Miata wheels on my Civic, which would require a similar bore increase. Haven't tried it myself yet, but was eyeballing a cheap cylinder hone (not the dingleberry hone, the one with the abrasive arms) to remove the material and keep things round. Something like this...
HF has 'em for $25. The big question, I guess, is if those abrasive stones designed for cross hatching will remove enough material without holding a drill steady for hours at a time.
Rotaryracer wrote: The big question, I guess, is if those abrasive stones designed for cross hatching will remove enough material without holding a drill steady for hours at a time.
No, probably not. Biggest problem will be that the stones will "load up" when used on aluminum. Even with lots (a steady stream) of lubricant the stones will clog up trying to cut aluminum.
Rotaryracer wrote: I've been thinking about using cheap NA Miata wheels on my Civic, which would require a similar bore increase. Haven't tried it myself yet, but was eyeballing a cheap cylinder hone (not the dingleberry hone, the one with the abrasive arms) to remove the material and keep things round. Something like this...  HF has 'em for $25. The big question, I guess, is if those abrasive stones designed for cross hatching will remove enough material without holding a drill steady for hours at a time.
I did it with one of these. Slow going. Router with a carbide bit sounds like a winner
Ive done both the drill flap wheel and brakes hone. Little time consuming, but it works.
The insanely talented and clever Jumper K Balls did something really neat on his falcon to enlarge the intake on center. To whit: find a hole saw that fits the current hole, and one that is good for your desired size. Stack them together, and use the smaller one to keep the larger on center. Do this at your own risk, if you do, in fact choose to try it.
Going to dig up an old thread here. I'm trying to find Nissan B15 4x114.3 wheels in 15" without much luck unless I spend $150 per wheel. I can find 92-93 Accord wheels in plenty, but I need to open the hub bore. If there is a DIY that works, I'd do that, but I'm also open to paying a machinist a reasonable fee.
In reply to JesseWolfe :
Die grinder to wallow it out.
The hub bore does nothing useful, the lug nuts are what locate the wheel. Heck, for years Nissan didn't even have a wheel pilot, the hub face was completely flat.
Snug the lug nuts finger tight and keep going around the pattern until they are all finger tight, then torque. But really you should do this on any wheel, "hubcentric" or not.
Double check your backspacing, by recollection Accords have an unusually high offset relative to Nissans.
In reply to Knurled. :
Sentra B15 is ET45 for a 15x6 wheel, Accord is ET50 for a 15x5.5 wheel.
In reply to JesseWolfe :
Ok then! I thought the Sentra was 40mm like the S13.
I have a high quality router bit that has a bunch of different bearings to take different depth cuts out and it works perfectly
Router is by far the fastest IF your router will even fit inside your tiny wheel, so check that first. Flap wheel takes approximately forever even at ~36 grit, as in i left it on a drill press turned on and walked away and came back later and it was so slow i gave up. Hones will load up with aluminum and stop cutting.
Honestly, I've resized wheels and redrilled bolt patterns and at this point i just buy spacers ( /adapters, the ones with their own studs) for everything. It is SO much easier and there is really nothing with a ~40-50mm offset that CANT fit spacers.
Carbide flush cut bit in a router.
If your wheels had a 1/4" lip like mine, I used a 1/2" bearing on a 3/8" bit to just take a wee bit off. If yours doesn't have a lip, do the opposite... put a 3/8" bearing on a 1/2" bit.
Keep a palm sander around with some 60 grit. The router will leave burrs on the bore you're cutting making it difficult to slide the router deck. Pause every inch or so and sand the burrs off.
WD40 is a good cutting lubricant for aluminum, but I found it wasn't really needed. When I was done, the router bit actually wasn't that bad. It still cuts wood but smokes a wee bit.
Also I use mini Cooper wheels which are 56.1 mm ony E30. I have 20mm hibcentrix spacers for 56.1mm hub bore and milled 1 mm out of the spacers hub bore so they are direct fit on the E30 and on the mini wheel.
Also, cylinder honebwont work. I tried ;)
Could it be done on a brake lathe using drum brake cutting tools? Find a way to bolt it up to leave the bore accessible?
No, the lathe shaft would take up almost all the space you'd be trying to get the cutting bit into. I do spend a fair amount of time thinking of other things I can stick on the brake lathe, but this one wouldn't work. Unless.. you mounted a drum with the studs/hub built in, bolted the wheel onto that.. backwards.. and then ran a tool across the lathe shaft for support and did the cut by hand... nah, nope.
Know anyone with a tire machine. I bet you could turn that into a lathe/mill of sorts pretty easy. Mount a trim router on the dismount arm. Set the depth of cut with the arm adjustment screw and spin the wheel while the router removes the material.
If you were local, I'd off up my machine just for the fun of trying it.
What I did, when I put E30 bottlecaps on my old Fiat Spider, was use one of those sandpaper flap discs and go very carefully, stopping and measuring with a set of calipers ever so often. Hub bore on the Fiat was 58.1, and I bored the wheels out to have about .005" clearance on each side. Took about 5-10 minutes per wheel, but I was also being slow and careful about it and actually measuring.
JesseWolfe said:Going to dig up an old thread here. I'm trying to find Nissan B15 4x114.3 wheels in 15" without much luck unless I spend $150 per wheel. I can find 92-93 Accord wheels in plenty, but I need to open the hub bore. If there is a DIY that works, I'd do that, but I'm also open to paying a machinist a reasonable fee.
HINT! Find a 2002-2006 Hyundai with 4 lugs. They are 4x114.3 and had a high offset(+40) exactly like the Sentra wheels.
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