Question regarding Race Stars

[Sturgill_SS]

Has anybody else experienced a weird clinking noise with their racestars? While driving the first time, I heard an awful noise/popping sound while going roughly 35 mph, later figured out that I forgot to put the hub centric rings on. I put the rings on and it was fine on the way to a show lastnight. On the way home, it happened again. It almost sounds like you run over a piece of metal on the road mixed with a popping sound. Really odd and hoping for ideas as I do not feel safe driving it!

[GRNFLSH]

Hard to tell without knowing more. Which wheels and sizes? Factory lug nutz of aftermarket? Are you lowered?

[hazy]

have you had any axle changes done lately? There's a thrust washer that is required on the end of them, and if it's not in, you can get weird noises from the rear hub area. Had an axle replaced on my car, and the shop forgot to reinstall the washer. Every time the weight shifted, there was a metallic "clink" kind of noise that scared the hell out of me until I figured out what it was

HERE is a thread that discusses it, I think there's a vid somewhere in there that shows the sound clearly, if I recall correctly

[Sturgill_SS]

No changes to axles or anything.. Lowered an inch but far from rubbing. 17X7 fronts and 17X10.5 rears. It feels like something almost "breaks" off but I look and its all fine. I used the standard lugs that racestar supplied. Checked them and they are still tight. Im going to check and see of maybe one of those plastic centric rings busted on me. Im clueless if not..

[zlathim]

I think those plastic rings are just to center the wheel so that you can get the lug nuts started when installing them. They are just flimsy plastic, so I don't see them as being critical for anything else.

Are you sure you aren't hearing wheel weights hitting the calipers? Doesn't sound like that is the case, but worth a look.

[Sturgill_SS]

It literally feels like something is breaking off while I'm driving followed by a metal scraping sound that lasts about 2-3 seconds

[GRNFLSH]

I’m running 17x10.5 rears at stock height and it’s a tight fit. Everything I’ve read has said that lowered cars need aftermarket or modified lower control arms with 17s due to clearance issues with the rim. Do you see any marks developing inside the rim or on the wheel weights?

[Sturgill_SS]

There was some scraping at first! When I took it in to get balanced I noticed the rear brake line were rubbing the outside edge of the rim. I ziptied them back so they are out of the way

[go_go_gadget88]

Yeah, a lot of stuff I read made it sound like 17's on a lowered car need to notch the LCA on the rear.

I just pulled the trigger on an 18" Racestar drag pack, which arrived yesterday. Hoping those leave plenty of room.

So the little plastic rings that came in the box with my lugs are to center the wheels? Can these not just be put on the studs and bolted up like my stock wheels?

[Sturgill_SS]

Originally Posted by go_go_gadget88

Yeah, a lot of stuff I read made it sound like 17's on a lowered car need to notch the LCA on the rear.

I just pulled the trigger on an 18" Racestar drag pack, which arrived yesterday. Hoping those leave plenty of room.

So the little plastic rings that came in the box with my lugs are to center the wheels? Can these not just be put on the studs and bolted up like my stock wheels?

Nope! The center mounting holes is larger than on a stock wheel. That ring will fill in the Gap and make them fit just right. I drove it quite a bit yesterday and no odd sounds.

[go_go_gadget88]

Originally Posted by Sturgill_SS

Nope! The center mounting holes is larger than on a stock wheel. That ring will fill in the Gap and make them fit just right. I drove it quite a bit yesterday and no odd sounds.

Ahh, gotcha. I couldn't figure out what they were for lol. Hopefully one of these days I get some rubber on them so I can try them out. Glad to hear no odd sounds, hope it stays like that for ya!