bloc
SILVER Star
Exactly. People need to get away from the idea that it is either shear of the studs or even the hub centric ring keeping the wheel centered on the hub during operation.In general, shear is not carried through threaded features as a structural load path. There are too many tolerances that come into play to make to make that path reliable. The shear capacity of threaded features is much lower, with higher stress concentrations in the root of the thread. Then there is diametric tolerance on the holes in the wheel and on the threaded studs, combined with positional tolerance of the holes and studs. When looking at the stack up, especially when considering mass-production methods and manufacturer variances once non-OE parts are introduced, there would be no way to evenly distribute a shear load through the studs. More than likely one stud would have to take the entirety of the load, and I think intuitively we can see that one stud is not capable of that.
It is 100% the friction provided by clamping force of tight lugs. The hub centric ring and lug holes simply center the wheel before tightening.