Evening people. I have a 2007 s model with the 16” rims and big balloon tyres, not ideal for towing a heavy van with squidgy side walls.I have just picked up some 18” wheels with winter continental tyres to swap out. Naturally, I won’t run the winter tyres in the summer but before replacing with all season tyres, I thought I’d try for size and fit. The question I have relates to the wheel hub size. Both are the same, but the 18’s have a chamfer on the centre bore whereas the 16’s are just square edged. The wheel seemed a touch baggy when mounted, although it was solid when bolted up. Should there be some sort of spigot ring to compensate for fir the chamfer. The other thing I noted was the locking wheel nuts protrude more as the wheel face is flatter than the old 16’s. A quick trip out, car seemed fine and dare I say it, a touch quieter than the originals .

Hi,

every day a school day as I did not know the FL2 ever had 16" thought they were all a min of 17"

and

why Not run the winters off through the summer

 .
my first ever FL2 and I did keep it longer than most other cars!
But its now gone way up Norf

Couple of points.
The 16" if memory serves me right are steel wheels, it is common for steel wheels to have a different profile where the nuts / bolts fit and so require different nuts / bolts. Using the wrong ones causes them to become slack during use.

The wheel center should fit on the boss on the wheel hub if it doesn't it suggests that the wheel is not suitable.

I towed 10s of thousands of miles on the 17" and as many on the 18" - didn't notice any difference. With a heavy trailer I would suggest that you check the weight on the towball, too little (ie less than 30kg) and the trailer can see-saw, too heavy (more than 150kg) and the tow hitch is overloaded. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Standard 16” alloy rims on the s model. Centre bore is the same size, just has a chamfer. They came off a fl2 so I’m just flapping about nothing it seems.

Better safe than sorry Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Andy131 wrote:

Couple of points.
The 16" if memory serves me right are steel wheels, it is common for steel wheels to have a different profile where the nuts / bolts fit and so require different nuts / bolts. Using the wrong ones causes them to become slack during use..

It would be good to see some photos of the car with proper rims instead of 18 inch poodle rims.

16 inch rims are the standard for our corrugated roads. Often see them on LandCruisers etc towing 3 tonne+ caravans. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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Chrism551 wrote:

The wheel seemed a touch baggy when mounted, although it was solid when bolted up. Should there be some sort of spigot ring to compensate for fir the chamfer. The other thing I noted was the locking wheel nuts protrude more as the wheel face is flatter than the old 16’s. A quick trip out, car seemed fine and dare I say it, a touch quieter than the originals .

"....... The centre hole on the wheel makes no difference, it is friction generated by the wheel nuts that keeps the wheel attached to the hub......"

I'm not sure I agree with that statement. The purpose of the hole in the wheel and the flange on the hub is to keep the wheel concentric.

I understand it's controversial. I did a lot of research about the centre bore size when I fitted different wheels to an old Ford I have, and then again when I fitted the Volvo wheels to the Freeo.

The centre bore can certainly help making the wheel concentric to a degree, but it only has to be half a millimetre different in diameter to no longer have any role in doing that.

Fit your wheel and put in just one wheel nut. If you see any amount of play in the position of the wheel until you put in another wheel nut and tighten to final specs then it is not a factor. The shoulders on the nuts fitting determine concentricity.

It has no role in load bearing - the bore would have to be so fine in tolerance you'd need a tool get the wheel onto the hub.

I guess I was finally convinced by my 66 VW Beetle. To be sure, a lightweight vehicle. However it is just a good example on a ridiculous scale to show the principles I'm talking about.

However, there is a lot of discussion about the whole topic and I wouldn't go to the stake about it.

YMMV. JMHO. MY11 SD4 SE Auto

Andy131 wrote:

too heavy (more than 150kg) and the tow hitch is overloaded.

You need the correct nuts for various wheels. The correct nut on a M14 class 8.8 stud tightened up to the correct Nm will have a clamping force of about 5 tonnes & there are 5 studs. So about 25 tonnes clamping force holding the rim in place. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

ozjeff62 wrote:

I understand it's controversial. I did a lot of research about the centre bore size when I fitted different wheels to an old Ford I have, and then again when I fitted the Volvo wheels to the Freeo.

The centre bore can certainly help making the wheel concentric to a degree, but it only has to be half a millimetre different in diameter to no longer have any role in doing that.

Fit your wheel and put in just one wheel nut. If you see any amount of play in the position of the wheel until you put in another wheel nut and tighten to final specs then it is not a factor. The shoulders on the nuts fitting determine concentricity.

It has no role in load bearing - the bore would have to be so fine in tolerance you'd need a tool get the wheel onto the hub.

I guess I was finally convinced by my 66 VW Beetle. To be sure, a lightweight vehicle. However it is just a good example on a ridiculous scale to show the principles I'm talking about.

However, there is a lot of discussion about the whole topic and I wouldn't go to the stake about it.

YMMV. JMHO.

3landertwo wrote:

"....... The centre hole on the wheel makes no difference, it is friction generated by the wheel nuts that keeps the wheel attached to the hub......"

I'm not sure I agree with that statement. The purpose of the hole in the wheel and the flange on the hub is to keep the wheel concentric.

Agreed

Lightwater wrote:

It would be good to see some photos of the car with proper rims instead of 18 inch poodle rims.

16 inch rims are the standard for our corrugated roads. Often see them on LandCruisers etc towing 3 tonne+ caravans.