Measuring Your Bolt Pattern

When buying wheels, one of the most critical aspects of fitment is knowing your bolt pattern. We have taken most of the guesswork out of this with our fitment guide, simply enter the year, make and model and our website will show you wheels we guarantee to fit your vehicle!

However, there's times when you will need to measure your bolt pattern: your vehicle isn't in our fitment guide, or your vehicle may have been modified and now has a different hub and the bolt pattern has changed. If so, you will need to take some measurements, and there's two ways to do so on a 5 lug vehicle (and a few reasons why), and one way on a 4, 6 or 8 lug vehicle. We will give directions on how to measure using both methods.

We will start with 5 lug vehicles, and most old school rodders know the method where you measure from the middle of one stud to the outside of the 3rd stud (skip a stud). This method gives you the most direct way to get the bolt pattern as the measurement you get will be the bolt pattern of the vehicle.

1. Remove the existing wheel (the rear wheel is usually the easiest to measure because the hub normally won’t be in the way).
2. Measure from the middle of one stud to the outside of the second stud (skipping a stud).
3. The number you see will be the actual measurement of the bolt pattern. So if you see 4 1/2 inches, you have a 5 on 4 1/2 ( also 5x4.5 and 5x114.3) bolt pattern. Other common bolt patterns are 5x4.75 and 5x5.

   This is the way to measure the bolt pattern on your vehicle if it is not a 5 lug (so 4 lug, 6 lug and 8 lug all need to be measured this way):

   1. Remove the existing wheel (the rear wheel is usually the easiest to measure because the hub normally won’t be in the way).
   2. Use a ruler, or tape measure that shows 32^nd’s of an inch.
   3. Measure from the inside of one stud to the outside the opposing stud (4 lug and 6 lug use opposing studs; ***if you use this method on a 5 lug use, 2 studs next to each other***).
   4. When measuring a 4 lug or 6 lug, the P.C.D. (pitch circle diameter) or bolt pattern diameter will be the distance measured. So if you get 4.5 inches, you have a 4X4.5 bolt pattern (four on four and a half). If you are not getting a measurement that ends in a whole, half, or quarter inch, try measuring the distance in millimeters (so if your measurement is 3 inches and 15/16ths of an inch, measure in millimeters and you will see they car is a 4x100 bolt pattern).
   5. When measuring a 5 lug, use the distance measured then refer to the “5 Lug P.C.D. Chart. The chart shows the “Actual Dimension” in a 3 place decimal. The chart also shows the measurement to the “Nearest 32^nd of an inch”. So find the measurement you took on the chart and that will indicate the Bolt Pattern of your 5 lug vehicle.

   In addition to the above measurements, it is recommended that you check both the front and rear to verify they are the same bolt pattern. We like customers to measure their 5 lug vehicle both ways as it can be easy to make an error when trying to measure from the center of a stud (have you ever heard the phrase "Measure twice, cut once"?).

   Remember, most wheel companies (and ours is one of them) will not accept returned wheels if they have had a tire mounted! Do a fit check on your vehicle to make sure the wheels fit before you have tires mounted.