Can You Fit Wheels With Smaller Center Bore? [Full Guide]

It doesn’t matter if the wheel is hub-centric or lug-centric; correctly mounting a wheel is confusing to many people, especially when the center bore is too small.

A wheel with a smaller center bore can be mounted by boring out the center bore or using an appropriate wheel spacer. However, boring out a wheel is costly and needs to be done to a precise diameter & the center should be precisely in the middle of the wheel. Wheel spacers also have a set of issues.

What to do in such an instance? Can you fit them without any problem? How to minimize troubles? Let me help you out as an Engineer.

Is it possible to mount a wheel with a small center bore?

Many people think blindly when they find a sweet deal on a set of rims. In some cases, the wheels’ center bore can be too small for hubs.

Maybe this is not your case. Nonetheless, can a wheel be fitted if the center bore is small? Yeah, it’s possible. But, there are some limitations, which will also be discussed throughout the article.

I will share three things you can do when your wheel bore is smaller than the hub.

What to do if wheel center bores are too small for the vehicle?

Let’s say the issue is with the front wheel bores; try putting them on the rear and check if the issue still persists.

That will help you understand whether the problem is with the wheel or the hub. This is because there may be a smaller tolerance than the advertised diameter.

But you can’t do that if the rear wheels of your car are bigger than the front wheels.

Hence, that’s enough; let’s head over to the solutions!

1. Bore out the center bore to enlarge them

You can try re-boring the wheels If the center bores are too small.

However, this may require professional knowledge and experience as this MUST BE EXTREMELY PRECISE.

I’d recommend finding a local mechanic or shop in your area that customizes wheels.

Here are several problems with boring the wheels.

1. Difficult to find a shop that willing to do such wheel customizations.
2. The mechanic should be able do a good job without messing up the wheels.
3. Difficult to find a shop that do this for your for a fair price. 
4. Also, there is small room for error. If they messed the wheels, they won't balance perfectly, causing no one want to buy the from you. 
5. Further, there should have sufficient material to bore out, if not, it can be dangerous. 

If a mechanic shop has a good reputation with customers, choosing a mechanical shop to do this for you is not the end of the world.

But, there is a cost involved with this task

1. Unmounting the tires.
2. Boring the wheels.
3. Remount the tires.

When all these costs add up, if they are a bit high, perhaps buying another set of cheap and good-quality wheels may be easier. Also, you can sell current wheels.

However, if these rims are a bit expensive, wheels have enough material to bore out, and you really need them, find a good mechanic shop to get this done.

I’d like to remind you again, the center bore must be bored out to a precise diameter, and the center should be precisely in the middle of the wheel.

Consider watching the following video to see how professional mechanicians bore out wheels with small-bore-to-fit large hubs.

If you don’t have sufficient experience with such things, don’t even think of doing it alone.

Suggested reading: Does rim width affect tires?

2. Use wheel spacers

Although the safety of wheel spacers is controversial for many, wheel spacers can solve your problem.

Because the spacers can help with fixing the mistakes that you made with new wheels, providing that perfect fitment.

Therefore, let us discuss the controversial side of spacers: safety.

Just be aware that Spacers are NOT the end of the world. But, it’s obvious that you don’t want to spend another one to three grand and correct the mistake on the size of center bores.

Let’s start off by figuring out the early warnings you should be aware of before purchasing a spacer set.

1. Manufactured materials: Don’t buy them if you don’t know what they are made of.

2. Look for data: Buy spacers where you can find enough data, especially when you can’t find what those spacers can withstand and cannot withstand.

3. People tend to go cheap: Always be aware that people tend to go cheap with studs, metal, or anything to save even a few bucks.

4. Choose hub-centric: Don’t buy them if they are non-hub-centric, especially when you have an aftermarket set of wheels. Having a perfectly fitting hub-centric ring is key to staying away from issues like weight rotational issues with non-hob-centric wheel spacers and vibration issues.

5. Brand and quality: Mostly, you cannot tell the brand or where those spaces are coming from; they may not be the best quality. So, buying from a well-known brand is vital because they will be part of your assembly.

6. Other issues that may encounter: Issues with tires and rotation, Improper balance between the metal, warping, and heat issues.

Also, not properly installing spacers may end in huge problems. So, just be aware of the following.

1. If the spacers are just the spacers themselves, means when they don’t feature any additional studs, torquing them up to 6.5-8 rotations to ensure maximum torque and ensure that they’re seated properly.
2. If you cannot get that many rotations, consider looking at spacers with lug studs also included with them. That will let you get sufficient torque and appropriate tightening, which are essential factors to tell if your car spacers are safe.
3. Now you have to look at the overall scheme after putting on spacers with the additional lug studs attached. Because if the spacers are 1 inch, but the studs are 1.25 inches, then you will have 0.25 inches of stud sticking through the spacers.
4. If you don’t get rid of this additional stud length, there will be a space between where the wheels are sitting and where they should sit, resulting in losing the tires while driving and having imbalance issues.

Since many people face issues with spacers, spacers have become a hugely controversial topic among vehicle owners.

Also, choosing the correct lug nuts according to lug holes is important and will save you from many headaches.

But, essentially, the issue may be with those additional sticking stud lengths; perhaps, it causes 80-90% of spacer problems.

Moreover, one thing to add here.

If you use spacers to mount a wheel with a smaller bore, it’s evident that the hub isn’t going into the wheel but touches the spacer to keep them flat and tight.

So, you may be wondering whether it’s too much stress for the wheel studs as all the vertical weight of the vehicle is on the studs now, and even more, you may be scared of hitting bumps.

YEP, THAT’S A GOOD POINT. BUT, HERE ME OUT!

Spacers can be a problem if you’re thinking about 15-30 mm and non-hub-centric spacers because the more distance away from the hubs, the more torque on the studs will be.

But, if we’re talking about 3-5 mm spacers, there won’t be a problem.

So, consider trimming down the studs if you have chosen wheel spacers to solve the issue of having wheels with a smaller center bore.

3. Sell them or exchange

If the center bore of wheels is too small and you cannot find a way to bore them, consider selling them or exchanging them for another set of wheels.

Maybe you will have to lower the price a bit to attract buyers, but don’t make it so dramatic that people may think you’re selling a set of crappy wheels.

Suggested reading: Can smaller wheels make your car faster?

Things to be aware of

Hope now you got a perfect understanding of whether wheels with a small center bore can be mounted. However, there are certainly a few other things you need to be aware of.

• Work of the studs and lugs: The lugs and studs are designed to assist with jobs like braking and accelerating. So, you need to understand before mounting the wheels with the help of wheel spacers.
• Offset issues: Using rings and wheels spacers will increase the offset.
• Clearing hub: If you go with wheel spacers, try to clear at least 3-5mm of the hub as much as possible. So, you will only need to bore about 3-5mm down.

Conclusion

You must be extremely careful when buying a new set of wheels and check every sensitive information, including numbers, material, brand, etc.

People who cannot verify all information may face compatibility issues between wheels and hubs. Many vehicle owners are desperate to know if wheels with small bores can be fitted.

So, In this detailed article, we discussed three things that can be done with crucial facts you need to be aware of. I hope you found this helpful.

What are the bore size and hub size of your vehicle? Let me know in the comment section; maybe we will be able to help you.