I am trying to put my new 18" wheels on my car. I have the driver's side front wheel off and am trying to put the new one on, and there is another bolt in addition to the lug bolts, it looks like maybe a 14mm. There doesn't seem to be clearance for the wheel to go over this protrusion. Is this just the retaining bolt for the rotor? Can it be safely removed?

 

take the bolt out of the rotor and throw it away

 

it's just there so that you cant rotate the rears to the front. it's ok to take them out.

 

You really don't need that bolt.

 

Thanks. I removed the bolt, got the wheel on. Now I can't get the friggin lug nuts they sent me to thread all the way on. WTF am I doing wrong.

 

Sounds like your striping them, this is where I would find a neighbor or family that has experince with automotive mechanics. If you strip them on and go drive you will run the risk of the wheels falling off. So I would stop what your doing since your experince is limited and keep from having further damage.

 

They must have sent me the wrong size lug nuts. I rebuilt a BMW myself from the ground up, my experience is not limited.

I am just frustrated as this should be a simple bolt on.

 

Sorry to hear your situation. I had no trouble with my SSR GT3 lug nuts. But I guess that doesn't help you. Any idiot can thread on a lug nut. They must be the wrong ones.

Great choice of wheels btw. Welcome to the club !

Respect (for anyone whoc can build a car)
JET

 

Yeah, the wheels look awesome now that they are on the car! The rears are MASSIVE and hopefully will improve traction. I went with 18x8.5F and 18x10.5R staggered setup. I've been driving around on the 17" stockers with 225/40 Blizzacks all around since I bought the car. Time to go for a test drive

 

No offense but why are you asking us for the info then?

 

BTW good choise of wheel now we need pics!

 

I'm asking questions because its 100 degrees out and I don't own any tech manuals for this car. I had no idea the bolt on the front wheels was put there to keep factory techs from putting the rear wheels on the front. I should have searched first.

Anyway, I took it for a test drive. I have the Avon Tech M550 tires on them, and it drives really really nice, very quiet, got rid of some wander I was getting from the small Blizzacks. Haven't had it on the freeway yet, but around town it was a very nice improvement.

One thing I did notice that I thought was strange is, I have no power mods and I still found it relatively easy to spin the rear wheel. I think I may invest in a LSD next (I have a base model - no LSD).

I'll take some pics tonight or tomorrow at the Z day.

 

What was the problem?

Now we need pics....

Respect
JET