Wheel adapters

Has anyone here used the 4 hole to wide 5 adapters? How are they? Do the vibrate? (out of round?)

Thanks
Ben

The two major issues I have with wheel adaptors is that they increase the ending offset of your rims/tires and you are not supposed to use them racing.

Adapters introduce another "weak link" which could cause host of other problem(s)

I realize most of us have tried the aluminum types at one time or another but the type I am refering to have come out just in the last year or two. They are are made of flat steel and kind of look like "stars".

I am putting discs on my speedster and would like to retain the wide 5 set up but man those kits are almost double the 4 hole set up.

EMPI and other 4-lug to wide-five adapters are 3/8" thick steel and rather poorly made; I doubt that the runout on wheel studs is true. Add to that the crappy Mangel wheels (which also may have runout issues) and even balanced wheel/tire assemblies may shake your car at speed.

For "show" yes ...for "go" not me.
Adapters are a weak point of the wheel to drum/rotor.... You encounter increased lateral load on the wheel studs, wheel bearings and the wheel itself. The only safe and craftsman-like manner in which to change from stock bolt pattern configuration is to have New blank rotors drilled by a professional machine shop.

Thanks for all the great input. I know most of the old adapters were worthless but I had hoped the flat plate ones were better. I have a set of original wide 5 wheels and would like to use them but I can buy chromies and 4 hole disks for less than the price of wide 5 brakes alone. I can get the rears w/brake for $300.


Anyone here know where I can buy a wide 5 front set for less than 500? I don't need drop spindles...

Thanks,

I agree with the posts on the aluminum wheel adapters. Thank goodness the ones I had stripped out before I used them hardley at all. I had my four bolt rotors drilled and tapped to the five bolt pattern. They used one hole and drilled four others. I have wheel spacers for 911 Fuchs and they work great. No vibration or other problems. I do check the tightness of the fastners frequently as others have recommended on this site.

Ben- Type 1 Only (formerly SoCal Imports) has wide-5 brake kits for $499. Kit includes discs, calipers, bnrackets, pads, master cylinders, rubber hoses & wheel bearing. It is a 100% complete kit. I've got a set on my IM Speedster and have had no problems

The SoCal disk brake setups are heavy, use screw in studs (press in studs are better), and do not have replaceable rotors (rotor and hub are one piece). CB Performance wide five brakes have alfin hubs (lighter) with press in studs (choice of 12mm or 14mm) and replaceable rotors. You get what you pay for...

I didn't catch that for the 50th time...

Thanks for the info. I have decided to go with the 4 lug set. Put my $1000 on the table today and bought front and rear's and all the required bits to redo my pan and carbs. For those interested, the front and rear brakes w/emergency brake were $527 total. (the rest I spent on linkage, oil cooler etc... etc...

Anyone interested in a nice set of 5 hole drum/brakes/baking plates? Got what are supposed to be original speedster wheels as well...


Thanks,
Ben

What is amazing is how much these parts have come down in price over the years. Three years ago I bought a set of 40 IDFs for $921 Canadian. This year I bought a set of 44 IDFs (from the same company-California Imports) and paid $685 (Canadian).
Ron