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Universal fitment wheels?!

samd1351

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So, in looking for a new set of wheels, I keep seeing wheels that say universal fitment. Are people actually using these? Maybe this is just the boomer in me, but back when I was young and dumb (as opposed to old and dumb, like now) we occasionally ran "universal lug" wheels. That almost always ended in disaster. No matter how tight the wheels were torqued, it always seemed that the the lug nuts would eventually loosen up, and we'd end up wearing the stud hole into a much larger oval.

Is anyone here really running universal fit wheels, and why? Any issues?
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Motoarch

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Maybe just me but universal fitment screams cheap. Get the right product for the job or don't waste your money.

You'll just end up with problems and spending more in the long run to fix them. Backspacing, offset and other problems.

EDIT: btw, where are you seeing universal fitment wheels anyways? All the wheels I've looked at have been wrangler/gladiator specific.
 
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samd1351

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Well, upon further review, the description says universal fitment, but then, just a few lines down, it does list the bolt pattern.

So they're probably ok. I was 4x4 parts. All the wheels say universal fitment. I was looking at that like wtf?!. When shopping for wheels for the Mustang, there was no universal fitment notes. They were all very specific on dimensions. But like I said, upon further review...
 

kevman65

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I believe they are saying that the wheels are not model specific.

As in they will fit any vehicle with a 5 x 5" or 5 x 120mm lug pattern.

What you want to watch for are hub centric wheels, not lug centric.

You also want to make sure the hub size is 71.5mm IIRC.
 

Motoarch

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I believe they are saying that the wheels are not model specific.

As in they will fit any vehicle with a 5 x 5" or 5 x 120mm lug pattern.

What you want to watch for are hub centric wheels, not lug centric.

You also want to make sure the hub size is 71.5mm IIRC.
Good point regarding hub centric. I think that what leads to the issue op was referring to.

With universal fit wheels that have the correct lug but oversized hub to allow for different vehicles you can get movement that will damage (oval) the lugs.
 

NH Hick

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Good point regarding hub centric. I think that what leads to the issue op was referring to.

With universal fit wheels that have the correct lug but oversized hub to allow for different vehicles you can get movement that will damage (oval) the lugs.

While hub centric wheels are the way to go, there is a good work around for lug centric wheels. You can use hub centric rings to fill that gap which will resolve the issue. I've used them before with no issues.
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