Death trap wheels

Not necessarily. He's still running 4 studs, albeit in a different location on the wheels, I was going to do the same myself on a set of wheels last year. As long as everything is torqued up properly and centred correctly (which it seems is the case seeing as the spacers are hubcentric) then everything should be fine. The dummy 5th stud/nut is just to stop people pointing out that there's one missing.

Ermagherd. Think of the kittens.

(looks ok to me)

i agree preassure applied on the point between the two widest studs during cornering is having a levering effect on the two studs risking ripping them out and i wouldnt want to be in it if that happened

I personally don't see the problem there's still 4 bolts holding them on and there hub centric, that slight gap between the studs won't make a blind bit of difference, in my opinion anyway

I'd rock them too, although they would have to be with some wheels that were worth running adaptors for

Technically any radial/vertical and axially-rotational loading on the wheel's dealt with by the static friction between the back face of the wheel and the hub flange/brake drum or disc created by the tension placed in the bolts from their tightening, this mechanism won't particularly care where the bolts are.

I guess you're talking about axial loading, which is felt as a tension within the wheel bolts, assuming the wheel to act as a lever with the edge of the mounting face acting as it's fulcrum. This could be considered to be mostly acting on the furthest bolt from the point acting as the fulcrum, but while the magnitude of loading caused by this mechanism would be pulsed on each bolt, all 4 bolts would remain in tension at all times, it would simply be of varying intensity.

With the unevenly spaced bolts there is an area of rotation where the fulcrum of this lever is placed closer to the furthest bolt, resulting in an increase in leverage on it, which will cause an increase in it's elongation under loading. In combination with the greater degree of rotation of the lever this will result in more strain also being placed on the other bolts. Although this is unlikely to snap or loosen a bolt in its self, it will increase the stress ratio of the cyclic loading it's placed under, reducing it's fatigue life. That said, most wheel bolts are steel and there is a very real possibility that the safety factors allowed by the manufacturer would keep the bolt within a loading range where it features an essentially infinite fatigue life.

Make of that what you will, but my opinion is that on a Jetta, running skinny tyres with not much grip, probably with a suspension set-up that also doesn't exactly aid grip, they'd more than likely be fine with whatever you could chuck at them as long as you were using relatively new and decent quality wheel bolts. I wouldn't want to use them on a well set-up track car running slicks though.

I'd be keeping a close eye on the wheels central section to make sure that the uneven loading wasn't doing anything bad to it. With a minimalist wheel with any cutouts to act as stress raisers I could see it potentially causing cracking in the wheel, although I'd see that as very unlikely, especially given how solid and uniform these wheels centre is.


Basically if it was my car, I'd run them occasionally with no worries about them breaking if I had to swerve/brake suddenly, but I'd probably change the bolts periodically and vary which hole had the dummy bolt in it. I wouldn't want to use them in anger too often or for high mileages.

hmm, 144 degrees between wheel studs as opposed to 72, a larger angle than even a 3 stud vehicle, 120 degrees, evenly spaced which is the important bit...

This thread is great. Starting a discussion about an item in an ebay advert is a great idea and bound to go well. I would like to go on record saying that I personally think these adaptors will kill everyone within a 6 foot radius.

Also, what Robin said about fulcrums and axially-rotational loading, static friction and axial loading causing fatigue and elongation under loading friction. Fulcrum.

When I got my sierra one of the rear studs had snapped so the wheel was only held on by 3 nuts, no idea how long it had been like that but it stayed that way for another 10 months. I'm happy to report that there was also no kittens killed here and no instances of wobbling or falling off.