What is Bolt Pattern?, Yeah, I asked it Options

[Random_Stranger]

I thought it was the spaces between bolts, but others say it is the length of the bolts (Cuz they say any 5 lug can fit any 5 lug). So now, I am asking. Oh wait! Wait! LOL Let me do this like how they do it in my shop class to prepare you for ASE Certification. *Ahem*

Two technicians are discussing bolt patterns. Technician A says bolt patterns are the distance from bolt to bolt (lug to lug). Technician B says they are the length of the bolts. Which technician is correct?

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Dec 24, 2009 - 3:31 AM

[Hanyo]

bolt pattern for rims are the number of studs and the space between them.

5x100 is 5 studs arange in a 100mm circle.

This post has been edited by Hanyo: Dec 24, 2009 - 3:32 AM

[Random_Stranger]

bolt pattern for rims are the number of studs and the space between them.

5x100 is 5 studs by 100mm between each stud.

I knew it! So just because a pair of rims are 5 lug universal, doesn't mean they are going to fit just any 5 lug car, right? I tried to tell people that.

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Dec 24, 2009 - 3:33 AM

[Hanyo]

yup

[808celica]

this makes me wonder who made the decision to use 5x100. why couldnt they use 5x114.3 cuz of the availability in rims
Im glad you asked Faust, i know some people are shame to ask Q's like this.

[Random_Stranger]

this makes me wonder who made the decision to use 5x100. why couldnt they use 5x114.3 cuz of the availability in rims
Im glad you asked Faust, i know some people are shame to ask Q's like this.

Well I had a feeling that is what it was, as my neighbors seem to argue with me about this. I mentioned Camry wheels for the Celica and someone said they were 5 x 114.3 and wouldn't fit. So I got to thinking that my universal rims (when I looked them up) surprisingly had a small amount of cars it would fit. So I figured that Universal is probably made to fit just a few sizes as even those are still limited to what vehicles they can fit. So I just had to ask just to settle it once and for all. I felt stupid asking, but I am glad I did now, as I would imagine many people often wondered.

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Dec 24, 2009 - 3:39 AM

[Hanyo]

this makes me wonder who made the decision to use 5x100. why couldnt they use 5x114.3 cuz of the availability in rims
Im glad you asked Faust, i know some people are shame to ask Q's like this.

they decide the bolt pattern by the weight of the vehicle and the brakes it requires.

If you have a super heavy car it would need larger brakes. So it would not make sense to use a tinny bolt pattern because you would need to fit larger wheel bearings, brakes and rotors on such a small stud pattern.

Also if you have larger bolt patterns require larger rim sizes. You will not find 5x114.3 bolt patterns on cars with smaller then 15" rims. It simply would make the brake rotors too small and leave too little room for the brake caliper and the rims.

With our celica, they design the car with low cost in mind. They wanted the base model to have 14" steel wheels, so 5x100 had to be use.

[Random_Stranger]

this makes me wonder who made the decision to use 5x100. why couldnt they use 5x114.3 cuz of the availability in rims
Im glad you asked Faust, i know some people are shame to ask Q's like this.

they decide the bolt pattern by the weight of the vehicle and the brakes it requires.

If you have a super heavy car it would need larger brakes. So it would not make sense to use a tinny bolt pattern because you would need to fit larger wheel bearings, brakes and rotors on such a small stud pattern.

Also if you have larger bolt patterns require larger rim sizes. You will not find 5x114.3 bolt patterns on cars with smaller then 15" rims. It simply would make the brake rotors too small and leave too little room for the brake caliper and the rims.

With our celica, they design the car with low cost in mind. They wanted the base model to have 14" steel wheels, so 5x100 had to be use.

Oh ok. I was just wondering for my cars on which rims would be best. I have been shopping around, but I might just focus on the body of the MR2 first. I don't want to paint my celica or get better rims until she is "done".

[trdproven]

5 lug universal does mean it will fit all 5 lugs. well, typically, they are made to fit cars either run the 100 or 114. I have another 5 lug universal, they fit both japanese bolt patterns. these are the two bolt patterns you will mostly deal with for 5 lug.

[SinisterSinner]

this makes me wonder who made the decision to use 5x100. why couldnt they use 5x114.3 cuz of the availability in rims
Im glad you asked Faust, i know some people are shame to ask Q's like this.

they decide the bolt pattern by the weight of the vehicle and the brakes it requires.

If you have a super heavy car it would need larger brakes. So it would not make sense to use a tinny bolt pattern because you would need to fit larger wheel bearings, brakes and rotors on such a small stud pattern.

Also if you have larger bolt patterns require larger rim sizes. You will not find 5x114.3 bolt patterns on cars with smaller then 15" rims. It simply would make the brake rotors too small and leave too little room for the brake caliper and the rims.

With our celica, they design the car with low cost in mind. They wanted the base model to have 14" steel wheels, so 5x100 had to be use.

thats exactly why big trailers have like 10 bolts on the rims


This post has been edited by SinisterSinner: Dec 25, 2009 - 12:00 PM

[SinisterSinner]

.

This post has been edited by SinisterSinner: Dec 25, 2009 - 12:03 PM

[garin]

first number is number of studs second is distance between. 5x100= 5 lugs with a diameter of 100mm.

[sunwukongg]

so 114.3 wont fit?

[EKAn]

Sadly no... you can run adapters that change your bolt pattern though

[conus00]

Some wheels are dual-bolt pattern. Mine (for example) are 5x100 5x114.3

[jcbass7]

A major factor in designing the number, spacing and size of wheel studs just relies on basic engineering principles. Simple strength requirements will determine how many studs are needed and their spacing (especially their distance from the center of the wheel)

Looking at a non moving wheel with some torque placed on it (imagine you're in an auto car on a hill, the engine is holding you on the hill without any brakes) there is friction between your tire and the road, creating a force against the wheel and there is also force against each of the lugs. Since the car is not moving this is a static problem.

Here is a simple depiction of a wheel with those forces shown in a free body diagram (I used a four lug config for simplification and I neglected the forces on the other two lugs, but they also contribute!!!)



For the non engineering types, a moment is a force multiplied by its distance from the point in question (think of a lever force). We will use the very center of the wheel (hub) as our point of interest to take the moments from and we will assume there is no moment at that point. (it can rotate freely if the right forces are applied).

This brings us to the diagram. You have three forces and since the wheel is in static equilibrium (NOT MOVING) these forces need to equal each other. The forces pushing the wheel to rotate in one direction must equal the forces that want to cause it to rotate in the opposite direction.

If you can imagine the force due to friction being moved further away from the center of the wheel (like a big truck tire) you can see that (with the equation) it will cause the force needed by each studs to increase to accommodate for this. Looking into material properties and the shear forces on each wheel stud, it would require you to use a larger wheel stud to keep them from shearing off. A second option would be to increase the distance the studs are placed from the center of the wheel. This will help alleviate the shear stress that is place on each lug. At the same time, more lugs can be added now that there is more space between each stud as you move them further from the hub. This is a big part of the reason a large truck has so many lugs and they are so far from the hub. They are all helping to counter act the forces put on the wheel by the friction from the road (which is created by the wheel being torqued by the axles, etc)


I hope some of that makes sense...

( I used Microsoft Visio to make that in case you were wondering..)

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Oct 7, 2010 - 7:33 PM