Whats the deal??? 5x120 or 5 x 4.75 ??

[racebuicks]

Whats the deal with the wheel stud spacings? I have a 2000 TA that we want to buy wheels for. I am told the 5x120's fit but they arent exact. But noone can tell me what the deal is, as to why they arent exact. Can someone shed light on this?

[Chris442]

5x120 is typically used on European cars (BMWs in particular), as it is a metric size.

5x4.75 is 5x120.65 in metric, so 5x120 will usually work as .65 mm is a tiny difference, but won't be perfect.

Getting the hub bore to the right size either by buying wheels that are the correct size or with hub rings is probably more important.

[racebuicks]

Thats a lot of risk for putting on shiney wheels. If they dont fit anyway they dont fit right?

[Chris442]

Typically I think they'd work OK, but one area you could run into trouble with is if you've got large wheel studs. The holes being off a little could be an issue if the studs are a tight fit.

Personally, I'd just go for a 5x4.75 wheel, the selection available is much greater than in a 5x120, anyway. I've had the opposite problem with my 06 GTO as it has 5x120, combined with odd (at least compared with a BMW offsets) and a bit of an oddball hub size. Wheels that will fit the car off the shelf are few and far between, other than a few that are made down under like the car. I know people that have run 5x4.75 wheels on GTOs, but I don't think I would other than for something like a drag wheel.

Wheels are too much of a safety issue to screw around with IMO, but then I'm hardly a wheel expert to be honest.

[LS1NOVA]

Someone did a deal on here about the added stress of the slight deflection of the wheel studs when tightened.
Most wheel studs are rated to higher loads than actually needed as a safety factor but it comes down to this: Do you want to risk the lugs shearing as your cruising down a backroad or the racetrack at 120. Not me.

[racebuicks]

Someone did a deal on here about the added stress of the slight deflection of the wheel studs when tightened.
Most wheel studs are rated to higher loads than actually needed as a safety factor but it comes down to this: Do you want to risk the lugs shearing as your cruising down a backroad or the racetrack at 120. Not me.

As I agree 100% here the thing that kills me is that on Ebay they sell the 120mm wheels as if they FIT the 4.75 car. I was surprized as hell since the world is 45% full of lawyers and lawsuits WHY!!! ???? would someone want to sell wheels that almost fit and could cause some serious life threatening situation. Thats the real question

[deuce_454]

im running BMW 5x120 wheels and they do fit... the correct way to mount them is to use a hub-centric spacer so the wheel is centered corectly and use lug nuts with a loose 45dec cone, and a flat face under the actual nut that way you arent putting any side load on the stud.. (im not where sure you can buy them in the states, but they are available here... worst case is to have them made out of some old lugnuts, shouldnt take long on a lathe)

i have not used the nuts i described above, and i have had any problems what so ever..

[deuce_454]

found a picture.. number 13 and 14 are floating cone lugnuts for that very application....

http://www.specialfalgar.se/media/f9d076db-ab72-4151-85f2-ccede833487e-mutter_bult.jpg

they are available from that retailer in M12x1.25 and M12x1.5 ánd they cost 53.SEK each which is about 7,50 USD EACH! (150 for a set) but they arent rocket science to recreate on a lathe.... and like i said, ive done 20K without.....

[fabricatordave]

lets see .65 mm .1 mm is .040 so it is a bit over 20 thou diff in a circle .which is each hole is off buy like .010-.012 im not saying yes or no but that is not much of a difference