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Manufacturing tolerances in wheels

Russosaur

Moderator
I had a thought today, knowing how many people run 5x114.3 and how many run 5x115. I was wondering if anyone knew of the allowable tolerances in the bolt patterns of wheels (if any). IE like say a 5x115 wheel could have like +/- 1mm ect or less. Only crossed my mind seeing really how small of a difference between the 2 patterns is because its only .7mm and that maybe that could actually be less than a manufacturing tolerance or maybe more. I literally have no idea what it could be so here I am seeing if anyone has any other information on the topic.
 
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from a design point of view you'd have to see the specifications for both the castings and the machined rim. Typically, the design would call for the true position of the holes to be cast at a fairly tight tolerance (probably in the +/- .010" range) at maximum material condition to provide the most "meat" for machining and stay steel safe. The machining operations to clean up the holes, if needed, would probably be in the +/- .005" range.
 
The .7mm would actually be divided in half so there is really only a difference of .35mm per hole. That is around 1/100 of an inch.
 
bolt patterns like 5x120/5x120.65, 5x115/5x114.3 are readily interchangeable (i'm running 5x120 wheels on my 5x120.65 hubs), but anything beyond that is a no go. you can us wobble bolts on something like a 5x110 to 5x112, but it's typically not recommended.

then you have to start looking into hub bore sizes, offsets, brake caliper clearance, etc. etc.

there's a lot to know about wheels besides just the bolt pattern and the diameter/width.
 


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