I took the rear offside wheel off my 54-plate new shape multipla tonight to see if a standard Alfa 146 wheel would fit.

However, when the rear wheel came off, I noticed the centre of the hub had a brass/gold coloured dome. I didn't get a chance to measure the diameter of the dome, but it looked much bigger than 58.1mm.

It also looked nothing like the hub design I've seen on the front.

I've also not taken the near side rear wheel off to compare the two, but it just didn't look right.

The Alfa alloy just didn't appear to fit right, so I'll check it again tomorrow on both sides and the front.

So i want to know if anyone else recollects the view of their rear hub? If it helps, mine has drum brakes at the back.

The car also has ABS

Pictures?

Sounds just like the drum brake hub on my 02 multi (drum rears being different to the disc brake fronts).

The dome is just a cap covering the hub nut, presumably to stop crap getting into the bearing. It's just a push fit, it just levers off.

Hub Centric vs. Lug Centric and Alloys

- Hubcentric - the female relief engages over the hub´s male locating lip
- Hubcentric means that the wheel relies on its centering at the hub, while lugcentric wheels rely on fastener [wheelstud][ alignment alone
- especially of NOTE if fitting spacers for BIG boot alloys

How can you identify the type of centering method ?

If the rear of the wheel features a distinct female recess that fits snugly over the hub´s raised (male) centre flange, the wheel is hubcentric. If the rear of the wheel´s centre hole does not feature a machined recess, or if the hub face does not feature a raised male lip surrounding its centre, the wheel is lug centric.

dado1975 said:

Sounds just like the drum brake hub on my 02 multi (drum rears being different to the disc brake fronts).

The dome is just a cap covering the hub nut, presumably to stop crap getting into the bearing. It's just a push fit, it just levers off.

Click to expand...

Ok, I've finally checked both sides and it is because the rears are drum etc as you've explained above.

The Alfa wheels do fit, however as the offset is different, the alloys sit much closer to the rears and at the front there's only 3-4mm of clearance between the alloy and various parts of the brake calipers.

I also need longer wheel bolts as the Alfa wheels are thicker at the hub section where the bolts pass through.

So my next question is has anyone experienced problems with such a small degree of clearance between alloy and caliper?

I'm only ever going to use these wheels for winter tyres, so I don't expect overheating due to lack of airflow space to be a problem.

The car does look a little weird though as the wheels are about 8mm closer in than normal.

I would also stick with the 195/60/15 tyres as a 205 width could cause the rear rear to foul against the wheel arch liner towards the back of the car. I put a finger around to gauge the distance and with 195/50/15's which came with the alloys. there's just a tiny few millimetres clearance.

See #5 here assuming you have the :

- Hub Centric vs. Lug Centric [ spigot ] [ PCD / Offset / Centre Bore ] understood
- the short v long size / taper v flat & washer and the radius & degree for wheel studs understood
- then go ahead and fit fit wheel spacers, pla's are fine on 205 / 55 R16's and sit and corner well with them really really well
- I bought cheepo alloy spacers at about £3 each and they were fitted to both Multi's with no problems

Hope this helps

aeroadster said:

...there's only 3-4mm of clearance between the alloy and various parts of the brake calipers...

Click to expand...

That should be enough clearance, but if that's between the inner side of the wheel's 'well' (as opposed to the 'spokes'), check the condition of your caliper's sliding pin plastic bushes.
The left front caliper on mine started rubbing on the wheel under hard braking, because the bushes had worn, and seemed to have softened up as well.
The caliper body was being forced out against the wheel.
There's only approx 4-5mm clearance as standard.