The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support Fuel Injector Clinic
Please Support Fuel Injector Clinic

5 lug universal wheels?

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DSM_Rastafari

10+ Year Contributor
101
0
Mar 12, 2012
Tallahassee, Florida
Looking for new wheels (one is bent) and I was searching on Craigslist and found pretty nice looking 17s I know the bolt pattern to look for but he keeps telling me they are just 5 lug universal. Will they still fit nice or are universal wheels a pain? And even if they are universal, shouldn't they still have a bolt pattern
 
I've never heard of a "universal" wheel. There are double-drilled, usually with both 114 and 100 or both 114 and 120, but since there's at least three 5 x patterns and you can't have more than two sets of holes, I don't see how anything could be universal. Unless they had slots, but that would be insane.

Walk away, is my advice.
 
"Universal" just refers to the wheels as having two different lug patters, just as stated above. Ask the seller of the wheels to take a good picture of the back of the wheels for you. Most wheels have a sticker on the back of the barrel somewhere with all of the specs on the wheels, size, lug pattern, and offset. These specs are also usually cast into the back of the spokes somewhere.
 
Seller said no on testing them, I took a look on the back of the wheels, they
Say 17x7 et40 Googled it and the bolt pattern is 5x100, now I know for dsms
It's 5x114, being the difference, will they fit? Or will I encounter issues
 
If the bolt pattern is 5x100 it will not fit, and there is not chance that it will ever fit. Was there more than just 5 lug holes in it for a different bolt pattern or just the 5 for the 5x100?
 
no other pattern will fit. i have a set of "universal" wheels on mine and my 2 sizes are 5x100 and 5x114.3. he wouldn't let your test fit them, i'd suggest not buying from him. changing 1 wheel takes MAYBE 5 minutes, if that.
 
As stated, if he won't let you try it than stay away. Sounds like he doesn't know if they will fit but he just wants to sell them to you. You will also need a set of hub centric rings most likely.
 
As stated, if he won't let you try it than stay away. Sounds like he doesn't know if they will fit but he just wants to sell them to you. You will also need a set of hub centric rings most likely.

Hub rings aren't NEEDED, but I would suggest them. Since they're universal the center bore is probably much larger so it could fit a wider variety of vehicles. Without a hub ring they'll still fit though.
 
Hub rings aren't NEEDED, but I would suggest them. Since they're universal the center bore is probably much larger so it could fit a wider variety of vehicles. Without a hub ring they'll still fit though.

Of coarse they will fit. But the weight of the car will be held by the studs and not the the hub fitting into the wheel. IT is not safe in my opinion.
 
Universal wheel has a bigger bolt opening secured with a washer and lugnut. Buy changing the washer or turning it the oposite way changes the bolt pattern. Todays wheels are mostly duel pattern with two sets of bolt paterns made into the wheel and no need for special washers.The universal patern, is old school.
 
Did some more research on those wheels, now when they say that the bolt pattern is 5x100, 5x114.3 or it will say 5x100 and 5x114.3 does this mean they will fit cars with either of those patters? Or that two of the wheels follow that pattern and the other two follow the other patern
 
does this mean they will fit cars with either of those patters? Or that two of the wheels follow that pattern and the other two follow the other patern

It means that one set of the five holes match a 5x100 bolt spacing pattern and the other set matches a 5x114.3 bolt pattern on ALL FOUR WHEELS.

Of coarse they will fit. But the weight of the car will be held by the studs and not the the hub fitting into the wheel. IT is not safe in my opinion.

It's perfectly safe to run a larger center-bore wheel on a car without a hub-centric ring. The wheel will then be 'lug-centric", which while not IDEAL, is certainly safe as long as the lug nuts are torqued to the recommended torque limit of the stud. While I say it is 'safe', since the wheel is now not entirely CENTERED on the hub, vibrations can arise from the wheel being slightly off-kilter with the hub itself. As long as the lug nuts were tightened in a staggered pattern, this should be minimized.
 
Of coarse they will fit. But the weight of the car will be held by the studs and not the the hub fitting into the wheel.

Not really. At a minimum, that's an overstatement that will freak people out.

The lugs not only carry some weight, but also squeeze the wheel to the rotor hat. A non-zero amount of the weight of the car is then carried by the break-away friction between the wheel and the rotor. The key to why this is dangerous is that an impact to the wheel will often exceed this break-away friction, which is much higher than the sliding friction, and all of this must now be dealt with by the lugs.

The main reason why OE wheels are hubcentric is so that when an idiot fails to torque the lugs correctly, the wheel doesn't snap the lugs. As long as the lugs are torqued correctly, the risk of snapping a lug without rings is minimal. It's an idiot-proofing thing.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top