Grinding off tabs on hubs

thanks for all the input guys im glad i see some answers, and yes i know when i started this i knew that i was gonna see a lot of debate its what ive been seeing everywhere on seperate posts

whats the big deal, it only costs 10 bux a wheel to have them bored out here, i cant believe it would be more where you guys are at and whats 40 bux?

What you guys are missing is that the Navi wheels are not 6x5.5 like the Mazda and GM/Chevy wheels. The reason your truck had no problems with the Chevy wheels is that because the bolt pattern was the same. The Nissan pathfinder wheels are also the same bolt pattern. So you shouldn't get vibrations if you use bulge lug nuts.

The idea is to keep the wheel centered via either the wheel studs, or the hub. With mazdas, they have a center hub, BUT you can grind that down and use Buldge/A-corn lug nuts with your Chevy wheel and it will be centered. That's perfectly fine, just watch your studs and do not over tighten them.

With Navi wheels, you're either gonna have to re-drill the wheel itself, your hubs, or bore the center out. The reason they actually even slide onto our 6x5.5 bolt pattern is because the Navigator studs are nearly twice the size of the Mazda wheel studs. This is how the wheel is able to slide onto a 6x5.5 bolt pattern, when it is actually a few millimeters off.

So if you run Navis, bore the damn wheels or get the wheels/ or your hubs re-drilled. If you had no vibrations with a grinded hub and stock navi wheels, then you either got lucky installing them and they just happened to be centered (good luck next time), or you're in complete denial and don't know what vibration is.

This is fine for aluminim wheels but when you run steel wheels you have no choice but to grind the tabs. I took a look at the factory steel mazda wheels and they are still centered by the acorn nuts as well as the tabs. So even for the guys who run winter wheels (stock wheels) you still should be fine because the wheel is still centered with the nuts.

^ You are right, as long as the bolt pattern is 6x5.5!!!!

But look at the topic of the thread. The question is about FORD Navigator wheels, which are not the same bolt pattern.

He has already had the bolt pattern redrilled so his question is about the hub and the tabs. I would go with what bagged90mazda said and pay the $40 and get the hub bored out since they are aluminum wheels.

Gotcha. Well in that case, if you don;t have the money. Grind them down

Hey sierrax have you ever heard of cheap thrills in Milton?
thats where im currently in the proccess of getting the bolt pattern redrilled. Im paying 400 to get them done, and yes mark im short on cash, I dont know whether this redrill is gonna get the center bored out but I heard that it will weaken the rim. But like i said I dont know if the guy is gonna do that already,
thanks again guys for the input im definately not going to grind off the tabs until i get the rims back and asses the situation again, I just want some input and ive heard a million different answers im just trying to get a consensus.

i bought an rx-7 axle which is 4 x 4.5, and i'm not gonna be able to use the stock lug pattern because the axle flange for the truck shafts is larger than the rotor mounting surface diameter. since it is about as much of a pain to find wheels that will fit a 4 lug pattern as it is a 6lug pattern, i'm just gonna drill out the rotors front & rear, the rx's axle shafts, and the hubs to a 5x4.5 pattern, which means my centerlines aren't gonna fit anymore.

i found these motegi's that i like to replace my centerlines



they are 18 x 8, 5 x 114.3 (4.5"), 30mm offset, and have a 71.9mm (2.83") center bore. they should tuck by just a little, not too much.
the mazda's are 108mm (4.25"), and the 84-85 rx-7 gsl-se's rear that i'm putting in is 59.7mm (2.35")
i will be alright on the rear, just need some centric rings, and the correct lug nuts. now on the front that is gonna be a different story, with the mazda hubs being 108mm, and the wheels being 71.9mm, i'm either gonna have to bore the wheels, or remove mat'l from that area of the hub so it will clear. i will not know till i get the wheels how much i'll be able to bore them w/o it being dangerous, so i may endup having to do both the wheels & hubs......

they won't be able to be bored to 108, I can pretty much assure you of that..... get the hubs milled down to 71.9....then if you ever get wheels with a bigger centr you can just use a hubcentric ring...