My wheel adaptors havent arrived in the mail yet but I was wondering how easy is the install and whats required. Just trying to be prepared before they arrive tmw. Thanks.

 

Piece of cake. I'm assuming they're the ones with their own wheel nuts? Just take off your wheels, put the adapters on, use the supplied nuts to fasten them on, then put your wheels on and use your old nuts to attach them.

If the adapters you have just slip over the studs and use the wheel to hold in place, then box 'em back up and return them... there usually isn't enough stud left to securely hold the lug nuts on.
[RICHR]

 

Adapters ahould come with their own lug nuts. Just make sure the mounting flange on the bearing hub is free of any rust or dirt. Hit 'em with a wire brush before installing the adapters.

Check the wheel mounting flange to make sure they are clean and smooth too. Torque both the adapters and the wheels to spec and you should be OK.

 

To answer both your questions yes they come with their own lug nuts. However this means the rotors are coming off to install them I assume? Just thinking in advance.

 

No the rotors don't come off. Remove the wheels, mount the adapters, bolt the wheels on. Cleaning the face of the rotor hub whre the wheel had contacted it is easy to do with just a wire brush.

 

Sounds like a piece of cake!

 

depending on what your trying to accomplish, your adapters should be "hub-centric" It puts the load on the hubs and not the studs. Much safer!. Easy to put on!!

 

I recieved my wheel adaptors today and upon installing one of them I noticed that the adaptors sit flush with the rotor and the deep reach lug nuts go in all the way in but the outer portion of the lug nut in which you use to tighten still sticks out too much that the wheels do not sit flush against the wheel adpator.. instead it sits against the deep reach lug nuts not providing enough room for me to put the wheels on securely. Is there any way to get around this ???

 

What type of wheels are you going to use?? OEM Corvette wheels have recesses on the flange side of the wheel so the adapter lug nut would fit into that recess. Aftermarket wheels tend to have a solid flat flange with no recesses.

Does the stud stick out past the adapter? You might be able to use an open-end lug nut to attach the adapter to the wheel hub assuming the adapter uses an OEM-style lug. The lugs are metric sized 12mm x 1.50 with a 60 degree taper. Gorilla Locks has a open-end lug nut that might work.
http://www.gorilla-auto.com/products...image=5147.jpg

You might be able to get an OEM-style lug at a Les Schwab tire store.

 

Ok let me see if I can explain this better.. unfortunately my digitial camera batteries went dead after I took some pictures and now I have to recharge.
Anyhow what I'm trying to say is.. the deep reach lug nuts to install the wheel adaptors to the rotors stick out from the surface of the adaptor about half an inch, preventing the Y2k rims to sit flush against the adaptors.

 

Yeah, a pic would help, but let's see if I understand this:

The lugnuts themselves stick out beyond the outer face of the adapters but the stock stud does not? If that's the problem, it sounds like you need shorter depth lugnuts. If the studs protrude, you'll need shorter studs. Like mentioned above, the inside part of most wheels (where they meet the adapter) have recesses that allow protruding studs/lugnuts to sit inside of. Your wheels are solid across the back?

 

Here are the pictures...









Let me know if this helps.

By the way here is a pic of the deep reach lugnut...

 

Am I seeing a very shallow dished area where the lugnuts go? If that's the case, I don't think this looks good for the home team...........


Edit: Especially if the home team has a solid face on the back of it's wheels..........

 

Thats what I was trying to tell VBP " Vette Brake Products " and they said this is the first time they ever came across something like this before. I keep telling them they didnt make enough clearance with the shallow dish. They also mentioned that if they went any further then it would weaken the structure of the adpator. one other thing.. t hey mentioned to go with 1 3/4" wheel adaptors. I told em that it wasnt gonna make a difference. So I sent them some pictures to see what they think.

 

I've built this same type of adapter from scratch on my mill and lathe so I know a little bit about their construction.

The adapters you have are likely the 3/4" adapters. VBP said they can't make the cutout for the deep reach any deeper in the 3/4" adapter, but that does not translate to the thicker one. The critical dimension for structural integrity of the adapter is the amount of material between the engagement surface of the deep reach lugnut/washer and the rotor/hub. The thicker adapters would actually fix the lug interference problem because the counter bore for the deep reach lugnut would be much deeper. The top of the lugnut would be below the surface of the adapter.

The thicker adapers will also shift the Y2K rims further outboard. I'm using '92 sawblades 17x9.5 on my '85 and the correct dimension to make the protrusion match the '85 Z51 16x9.5 track is the 3/4" adapter. The rear would probably be ok with a thicker spacer depending on how "lowered" your rear is, but I don't know what happens up front.

Found my spreadsheet. BTW - I can send it to anyone who would like a copy but it's a little cryptic. Basically I compared the amount of wheel in front and behind the rotor and matched the outside track dimension. This works perfectly for matched width wheels front and rear. Y2Ks are 8.5 wide front with 56mm offset, 9.5 rear with 65mm offset. To match the outside track of a Z51 setup on a 85-87 corvette with the rear wheels and center the track of the front wheels respectively you should use a 1" adapter. If you want the outside of the fronts to match the outside of the rears you need a 1.25" adapter in front and a 1" in the rear.

I know some forum members are running 11" ZR1 wheels front and rear so if you decide to go with 1.75" adapters your outside track would be .1" less than the 11" ZR1s. Should work but I don't know how you'll like the rear without GrandSport flares.

Ryan

 

Actually I have the 17 x 8.5 both front and rear Y2K rims. I bought them from O.E. Distributors out of Florida. I was recommended by another forum member who has a 1986 vette who uses the 1 1/4 " adaptors in the front and rear to put on the Y2k rims and they worked out perfect for him however if he would do it all over again he would go with 1" both front and rear.
I bought the 1 1/4 " adaptors for myself as well and I'm pissed that its not working out like it should. Hopefully when I hear a response from them in the morning, there will be a fix to all of this. I really don't want to stick the wheels out much further than they need to be.

 

Sounds like the O.E. wheels are the root problem. If these were GM factory wheels you would have plenty of relief for the tops of the deep reach lugnuts.

If the wheels are new have you asked OE about the situation?

Ryan

 

No I havent asked them about it yet because I'm waiting to hear from VBP this morning. If they suggest to go with the 1 3/4" adaptors instead.. then the wheels will somewhat sit outside the wheel well a little more. To answer all of you questions yes I have a flat face on the back of all of my wheels. Is there some way I can get around this so the wheels look right on the car ?

 

Aftermarket wheels do not normally have the relief cut into them like the factory wheels. If that is the case with the O.E. Wheels (post a pic of the flange side if you can) then the adapters pictured will probably not work unless you can get adapter lugs that are shorter and will fit inside the hole in the adapter.

The narrower shank on the adapter lug looks like it fits in a hole in the adapter to keep the adapter from rotating similar to some mag wheels. The hex head portion of that nut is what needs to be shallower. Are the threads in the adapter nut only in the hex head portion?

 

Actually the threads are in the narrow skank and the hex portion. But why would people who make aftermarket corvette wheels not make them similar to the OEM wheels ? It just causes a headache for people who are not familiar and yet they would sell more aftermerket rims if it was a standard fit ? FOr them not to be able to do something like that really amazes me.
However I called VBP and they said to return the ones I have and get the 1 3/4" ones which will allow the hex portion of the lug to sit inside the dish without any interference with the wheels. I sure hope this works out. As for the pix I can take a pix of the back of the wheels im trying to install later on today.