sidepocketwil

Got some H&R Trak DR spacers from ECS last week and unfortunately they do not fit my "OEM" spec wheels. The 45deg bevel on the HR spacer is too thick and prevents the new wheels from fitting flush. Opposite of my original problem. Not sure if they sit on the hub flush since there is no point in trying. I guess I'm gonna have to try some ECS spacers next. This is becoming a PIA, maybe I should have just gotten new tires and stuck with the stock 17" wheels.

enzeder

and that's part of the reason I ended up buying those cheap 18" x 8½" RS4 knockoffs from OE Wheels - they were ET20 so I wouldn't have to deal with spacers. And they don't need hubcentric rings.

thejulex

There is an easy solution for this, don't give up.

I had the exact same problem with wheel not sitting flush on spacer due to H&R's bevel. OEM wheel would sit just fine on H&Rs but aftermarket would not. OEM's bevel is much larger than aftermarket's... so it got me thinking and I came up with solution. If OEM with larger bevel works ok, so why not make the bevel larger on aftermarket wheels?

What I ended up doing is taking a router with fixed base, 45 bevel bit and routing the inside of wheel's hub until it would clear the H&R bevel, in steps until one wheel was done then I just used the setting to route three other wheels. If you looked at the wheel you would never tell it was DIY machined, it is so smooth and even.

This all took maybe 1h total, most time spent making sure I don't screw something up. Once you get the setting right after first wheel, it is about 2 minutes of routing per wheel.

It worked beautifully since aluminum is very soft and wood working carbide tipped blade had no problems shaving the sucker. The blade was as sharp as before I started and I had 1/2 a bucket of almost transparent aluminum shavings

enzeder

That's awesome!!! How worried were you about screwing it up???

thejulex

not much since OEM already had much larger bevel and they do work. You just have to take it in small steps to make sure you don't carve out too much in first pass