Even if you’re not a gearhead, you can get more performance and style out of your ride just by changing the wheels. However, you don’t want to order a new set of rims and then find out you bought the wrong ones. This is why one of the first things you should do before shopping for new wheels is to know how to check the lug pattern on your vehicle. This is essential for ensuring proper wheel fitment and knowing whether the wheels you choose will be compatible with your car or truck.
What Are Bolt Patterns?
So, what is the bolt pattern on your wheels, and why does it matter? Depending on the make and model of your vehicle, the lug holes used for attaching the wheels may be different sizes and arranged in different patterns. This means trying to attach wheels with five lug holes to a car with four bolts will be impossible because the five holes will be arranged in a pentagram while the four bolts are arranged as a square. On top of this, there are many specialty wheels that use six- or even eight-lug patterns
In addition, the spacing between the lug holes can vary, resulting in some four-lug wheels being incompatible with a four-bolt vehicle. This is why it’s very important to understand how to measure your lug nut pattern before attempting to replace or upgrade your wheels.
How to Measure Your Bolt Pattern
Knowing how to check your lug pattern is relatively easy — just count the number of bolts on your wheels. But when it comes to measuring the pattern, you’ll need to get a little more involved. Fortunately, this can be a simple process. For even-numbered lug patterns, all you need to do is measure the distance between the center of one hole to the center of the hole directly across from it. Five-lug configurations, however, are a bit trickier.
For five-lug wheels, the proper way to measure the bolt pattern is to start in the middle of one hole and find the distance to the back end of the hole across from it, not the one next to it. Another technique is to find your pitch circle diameter, which is the diameter of an imaginary circle that passes through the center of each bolt. This can be done by measuring the distance between the centers of two bolts directly opposite each other for even-numbered bolts. For odd-numbered bolts, measure the distance between the centers of two adjacent bolts and multiply the result (“X”) by a decimal based on the lug configuration:
Three-lug wheels: “X” times 1.154
Five-lug wheels: “X” times 1.7021
No matter the configuration of your bolts, having a bolt pattern gauge can make sure your measurements are as precise as possible. Just slide the gauge to fit the space between the bolts and look to see the results.
Metric vs. Imperial
Depending on your make and model, you also have to be aware of the differences between metric and imperial units. Specifically, the bolt pattern measurement may be expressed in millimeters or in inches. See the chart below for conversions of some of the most common bolt pattern measurements:
Conversion Table
Inches Millimeters
4 x 3.93 4 x 100
4 x 4.25 4 x 107.95
4 x 4.33 4 x 110
4 x 4.50 4 x 114.3
4 x 5.12 4 x 130
4 x 5.51 4 x 140
5 x 4.00 5 x 100
5 x 4.25 5 x 107.95
5 x 4.50 5 x 114.3
5 x 4.53 5 x 115
5 x 4.72 5 x 120
5 x 4.75 5 x 120.65
5 x 5.12 5 x 130
Other Fitment Factors to Consider
Once you figure out your bolt pattern situation, you still may have some more homework to do. That’s because there are other considerations involved in wheel fitment such as tire size and wheel offset. When you know what you need, Kixx Motorsports has a huge selection of aftermarket wheels from Velgen Wheels, Blaque Diamond and other brands.