NOTE: This is a long post about possibly fitting Ford wheels on my Acura.

OK, so I'm new to the RDX community, we just got our 2015 at the end of last month. I've been researching wheels since that time, and have found that I like very few, and that they're super expensive.

I'm one of those guys that likes fitment, but not stance. I want the wheels to fill the wheel-well, but not have crazy camber, or any poke.

To my eye, the vehicle definitely needs 20's, anything smaller and the tires look like balloons, and anything bigger creates rubberbands (if you're staying with the stock od of 29.1").

And speaking of the stock specs, it wasn't that easy to find them, so I'll list them below for future reference.

18 x 7.5 +45, 5 x 114.3, center bore is 67.1"
235/60/18 with an OD of 29.1"

Onto why I made this post...

I'm in the parking lot of Sams earlier, waiting for my wife to return with whatever she HAD to go there for, and I notice a Ford Exploder a couple of spaces over. It's one of the new ones, you know, the one that looks fantastic because it's copied off of the Rover? Yeah, that one. And I happen to notice the wheels, which, to my eye at least, were uber fantastic. Great color silver, concave, and obviously the right size for the vehicle.

So when we left we stopped by the Ford dealership to check them out closer. It seems they come on the Limited, and with only a small hubcentric spacer, would fit the RDX perfectly.

The specs are as follows:

20 x 8.5 +44, 5 x 114.3, center bore is 63.4"
255/50/20 with an OD of 30.1"

However, any standard 255/45/20 would have an od of 29.1", exactly what we need.

A quick check on willtheyfit.com shows that the wheel would only be 11mm closer to the strut, which is an easy fit, and would poke out 14mm more, which is an easy fit as well. The only thing keeping the wheel from bolting right onto the Acura is the center bore, so a 63.4 to 67.1 spacer would be needed.

From my calculations, the front wheel spacing is what we need to go off of because it sits 6mm further outboard than the rear. Same with the tire. This exact measurement is 24mm, so 24mm minus 14mm is 10mm. This means that a 10mm, 63.4 to 67.1 hub spacer would make the wheel sit perfectly flush, but the 255 may have a slight bulge, so I think a 5mm spacer would be in order.

Please forgive the 2-minute photochop. What do you guys think of the look?

Stock:


Exploder Limited wheels:

 

2 more quick chops.

Original:


Exploder wheels:

 

By "centerbore" you mean in millimeters? I have seen spacers that covert the centerbores from large-to-small. You will have to check how many threads are left to attach the wheel nut. The shape of the "seat" of the wheel nut hopefully is the same as used on the Ford wheel (tapered vs. conical). I think they usually say you should have the nut grabbing at least six threads of the stud. You could get new longer studs pressed in, but at that point, you might as well get aftermarket wheels made for the car. I remember driving a Toyota Venza with 20's on it. Not a great ride.

 

Yes, the center bore of the wheel. 5mm won't make much difference, the factory over-compensates as it is. The seat won't matter in the end, as I'll be getting real lugs, not the factory crap. Spline-drive FTW .

 

I've been a pretty proactive wheel/tire guy on Honda and Acuras for a few decades, and one part of your wheel spec for the RDX seems off. The standard 5x114.3 center bore size on all Hondas is 64.1 mm - and what tends to vary is the offset depending on the car. So unless Acura did something odd with the RDX....

Anyway, if the center bore on a Ford wheel is 63.4, and the center bore on the Acura is 64.1, doesn't that mean the Ford wheel might be too tight to fit over the hub on the Honda? (note that this would be even worse if the Acura hub was 67.1 mm). It could be that mfg tolerances would make this a moot point, but the key here is to do a dry fit on a wheel before you do anything.

This is where aftermarket wheels have a benefit since they all come with usually 73mm center bores and you can then put in a hub centering ring to get a hub-centric fit for most any car.

The look is cool - but make sure the math works.

andy

 

Andy, he would get a spacer that has an inner bore to match the Acura hub, and an outer lip to match the Ford wheel. See attached link to get an idea of what he is talking about.

 

Now you are adding spacers to the mix. You said the Ford wheels stick out 14mm more than your stock wheels already. Add that 15mm spacer to the 14mm poke it already has and you are now 29mm closer to the fender.

That is more than an inch closer to the fender. That wouldnt be a big deal in my opinion but you mentioned 14mm being easy to manage so I just wanted to remind you that the 15mm spacers will now turn that 14mm closer to the fender into 1.14in closer.

 

That was just an example of the spacer he is using. He said he was using a 5mm spacer.

 

I wasnt quite sure what he meant when he said 5mm. I thought he was referring to the center bore mm difference. Not the size spacer he was going to put on.

I am also a bit confused when he mentioned the seat not mattering because of the lug nuts he is buying.

Did he mean the seat as in the shape of the lug nuts or seat as in how the two center bore will align?

Either way, both are VERY important.

 

There are several types of lug nut seats. Flange, tapered, and conical (or rounded). The shape should match the wheel they are holding on.

 

The seat won't matter in the end

Words fail

 

"The seat won't matter in the end"

Why is that??

 

Yes I know the different lug nut shapes.

What I am saying is, OP seems to think the "seat" doesnt matter. I believe when OP said seat he was referring to the center bore.

If the Ford wheel center bore is smaller than the RDX center bore (which it is) then the wheel will not "seat" on the hub properly.

Spacers can be made as an adapter to change his large center bore to a smaller size to fit the Ford wheels. However it is not suggested to run flat spacers without also installing extended studs as a 5mm flat spacer would ultimately take away 5mm worth of thread for the lug nuts to hold onto.

OP can find 10mm+ spacers that will change his center bore to a smaller size that also have pressed in studs so that his lug nuts will still cover the same amout of threading.

That option however will make the wheels poke almost an inch more than stock.

HOWEVER... if you are correct Rosen, and OP is referring to the lug nut seat then he is still wrong and that seat is also very important. OEM wheels typically use tapered lug nuts. One would venture to say the ford and aqcura lug nuts are both tapered and so it should be no issues running acura OEM lugs with the ford wheels. To stay safe, OP should buy ford lug nuts or do research to make sure ford uses tapered lugs.

Regardless if we are talking center bore or lug nuts, the seat is very important.

 

Usdmjon, I couldn't agree more. Longer studs and matching lug nuts are in order. But I'd shop for an aftermarket rim that looks like the Explorer rim before going through the expense of pressing in new studs. The German cars did it right......wheels held on by "bolts". It is easier to get a set of longer bolts, and can be changed if you decide to go back to the stock wheels.

 

A couple of things guys.

1. The distance between the front wheel lip and the front fender lips is 24mm, and if the Ford wheel brings it out 14mm, there is still room for a 10mm spacer, but I would only run a 5mm spacer. THERE IS NO NEED for longer studs with a 5mm spacer. Do the math guys.

2. 67.1 for the center bore is what I came up with after several searches, but it wouldn't matter with the type of hub spacer used.

3. Look up Spline-Drive lug nuts. They will work perfectly with the Ford wheel seat, I already checked it. I actually have a set from my old STi, unfortunately they won't fit the Acura because of the thread pitch.

I have a friend that owns a used car dealership and he has one of these Limited Exploders. I think for fun I'm going to buy the spacers and bolt them onto the Acura for some pix, just to see what it'd really look like (my photochop above is terrible).

I'll keep you guys updated.

 

I was talking about the Acura lugs, and it won't matter because I will be getting Spline Drives that work with the Ford wheel...

 

Just talked to my friend that does my custom spacers and he agrees with you. Guess what I came up with on searches is wrong. Just got finished measuring it, and it is indeed 64.1".

 

I can share a couple of past experiences running "less positive" offset on Honda vehicles - and that it changes the steering behavior of the car (and not in a good way). My first attempt was on an '05 Accord that had stock offset of +55mm, and I went with an aftermarket wheel that was +38 (same width). The wheels/tires seemed to fill the wheel well out nicely, but the steering felt very sluggish and didn't want to return to center without effort. I thought maybe I'd muck with the alignment to compensate, but ended up just returning the wheels (Tire Rack) for something with a closer to OEM offset (+50) and it was much better. I also did a similar thing with the wife's 06 Pilot (+45 down to a +30) and while the results weren't as bad, they were still felt.

Of course, your personal mileage may vary - but the reduced positive offset - combined even with a 5mm spacer - could change the handling of the RDX. It may or may not matter, but to me it did. As such I try to stick with OEM brand wheels from similar lineage and keep the offset within 5mm total if I can do it - even with winter wheels/tires (my typical use of wheel shopping).

andy

 

1. I would not put 5mm spacers on my car without increasing the stud length by 5mm as well. Just my personal taste. When I ran 20mm spacers they had pressed in studs so I retained the same thread length for the lug nuts. That's just me though.

2. If you get spacers that adapt the hub bore size then yes you are good there.

3. I am not sure why Spline Drive lug nuts make a difference. OEM wheels tend you use tapered lug nut seats instead of rounded ones. As long as your Spline Drive lug nuts are tapered and not rounded then yes they should seat perfectly fine. But if you bought rounded spline drive lugs they would not seat properly in a tapered seat.

 

One other thing worth considering is that the suspension on this vehicle is among the worst in the segment.
There's a reason why Acura stuck with 18" wheels/tires. The ride with 20's would be dreadful.

 

The 10mm hub-spacer would be in order, and work perfectly.

The spline-drive lugs are vastly superior to OEM, and would be purchased with the correct seat for the wheel.

20's wouldn't bother me much, I'm used to harsh-riding vehicles .

I'm also not worried about the negative offset, I have done this on many vehicles in the past, and run an 18 x 9.5 +40 on my TL now with no ill effects in handling.



However, after looking at it closer, I'm going to wait for the TSW's, they look perfect for the vehicle IMO.

Find TSW Nurburgring custom wheels by size