Alum. drums -- unsafe?

[Matt Weiser]

I was planning to install a set of aluminum drums on my car. Got 'em turned and glass-beaded and everything. Then realized the extra thickness of the units now means my wheels are not "hub-centric" if mounted with the alum. drums. In other words, the center bore of the wheels no longer fits over the axle hub, the wheel would only be centered by the lug nuts. I've always heard this is dangerous, especially in hard cornering (my main interest !).

Any feedback on this one? Thanks!

 

[PlaneMech]

Dont know about the axles in a malibu if thats what you are talking about. On my 87 TR you still are hubcentric with the aluminum drums. Car originally with aluminum drums. I put steel drums on at the last brake job and made spacers to keep rear tires from rubbing. You are right if the dont have any protrusion you need a wheel with shanked lug nuts.

Later,
John

 

[Matt Weiser]

I shoulda pointed out that I swapped in a posi rear end from an '86 TR along with the rest of my swap. I'm also running 16x8 GTA wheels and they are not hub-centric with the aluminum drums mounted. These wheels have a slight bevel on the inner hub surface, which may be part of the problem.

 

[motorhead]

Hmmm... None of my wheels have ever been hub centric.

I am currently running them centred with the lugs, acorn style lugs. In the rear I am running a hub-type wheel spacer that is lug-centric in design, and the wheel is lug-centric to the hub. Make sense?

At any rate I am not concerned as it is all CNC and late-model machine work... not some crap cast 70s mags.

And yes, I have auto-X'd the car as is.