So what's the deal with lug nuts?

[PieEyedPiper]

Tuner style, OEM, closed, open ended.. what's the point?

And don't try and say weight savings, from a few searches that's a popular reason - with no bearing on reality.

Is there some advantage to having exotic lug nuts? Is it cool to have your rusty wheel studs show throw the end of your lugs? I do realize that some aftermarket wheels do not accept OEM lugs but is this whole lug nut thing just the same as having "snow camo" upper radiator hoses?

Someone please enlighten me!

 

[red_devil]

Tuner style, OEM, closed, open ended.. what's the point?

And don't try and say weight savings, from a few searches that's a popular reason - with no bearing on reality.

Is there some advantage to having exotic lug nuts? Is it cool to have your rusty wheel studs show throw the end of your lugs? I do realize that some aftermarket wheels do not accept OEM lugs but is this whole lug nut thing just the same as having "snow camo" upper radiator hoses?

Someone please enlighten me!

Well like you said most aftermarket rims holes are too small. I also like having the lugs that do not show the studs as they tend to be thinner and dont rust. What I dont understand is the brightly colored ones people have, I would prefer not to have my lugs the focus point to my rims. Also there is less chance for someone to have the right socket so that cant steal them.

 

[DirtyBirdRacing]

The ones that are open ended allow for longer aftermarket studs, such as the ARP studs.

The open ended ones also dont let the nut become hydrolocked through use of too much antisieze. They probably also make it easier to get penetrating lubrincant, such as Kroil, into the threads.

Bill

 

[snowborder714]

Another example is my wheels. They require open ended lug nuts because I have a center cap that goes over all of the lug nuts. They can't be closed ended or the center cap won't go on. It basically just depends on what type of wheel you have as to what lug nuts you can/should use.

 

[Spanky2324]

I have lugs that just match the color of my wheels and thats it. Nothing flashy. As with the different colored radiator hoses as you mentioned. Some people take pride of how his/her engine looks when the hood is opened. The snow camo is a bit flashy for my taste but if your going for a certain color scheme under your hood they help.

 

[MrBoxx]

I'll admit. My lug nuts cost $180 for the set. That's $9 per lug nut.

But they look good.

 

[Flash]

I'll admit. My lug nuts cost $180 for the set. That's $9 per lug nut.

But they look good.

Waste of money.

 

[MrBoxx]

Coming from you, Grantly, I'll take that as a compliment.

 

[dsmdeliveryboy]

Some people just pride themselves on having something original or having some bling, weight is a good candidate for them but in the end I don't know how much of a difference it makes.

 

[Jeff99GS]

Well reducing 1 pound of rotational weight is like taking 2-5 pounds off the car somewhere else.

I'm not saying open ended lug nuts are lighter...but a lighter set is better than a heavier set. Even if its only 1 pound diff!
I never thought about the weight of lug nuts until now haha. I always just though the open ones were the regular issue cheapos. Usually used on wheels with center cap covers as Brian mentioned. Most wheels with exposed lug nuts have a chrome cap on them just for looks cause they are exposed.

My question is why do some wheels have lug nuts with that captive washer on them? Like our stock ones? Why don't they just use the conical shape end? Someone told me it had something to do with the fact that they are aluminum alloy wheels and the washer keeps the lugs from randomly loosening themselves from hot and cold expanding and contracting of the metal.

Anyone know if there is any truth to that?

 

[Black91TSiAWD]

Well reducing 1 pound of rotational weight is like taking 2-5 pounds off the car somewhere else.

I'm not saying open ended lug nuts are lighter...but a lighter set is better than a heavier set. Even if its only 1 pound diff!
I never thought about the weight of lug nuts until now haha. I always just though the open ones were the regular issue cheapos. Usually used on wheels with center cap covers as Brian mentioned. Most wheels with exposed lug nuts have a chrome cap on them just for looks cause they are exposed.

My question is why do some wheels have lug nuts with that captive washer on them? Like our stock ones? Why don't they just use the conical shape end? Someone told me it had something to do with the fact that they are aluminum alloy wheels and the washer keeps the lugs from randomly loosening themselves from hot and cold expanding and contracting of the metal.

Anyone know if there is any truth to that?

id buy that, kinda wondered about those myself

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Well reducing 1 pound of rotational weight is like taking 2-5 pounds off the car somewhere else.

Sure, that could be true. But, since the weight is so close to the center of rotation the difference would be immeasurable. Now, taking a few oz's off the weight of your tires, the furthest rotational mass from the center, now we're talkin'! But that washer thing does make sense to me.

MrBoxx, do you have some pics of these ultra gold super titanium, tuner style, open ended, space age lug nuts? I'm assuming any product with that kind of price tag must be all those things.
So let's see 'em!

 

[93ETGOCART]

id buy that, kinda wondered about those myself

i know that when i went to put my aftermarket rims on i couldnt use the OEM lugs ### my wheel became suddenly loose one day

 

[MrBoxx]

Sure. I'll get some pics tonight and post them.

 

[miniturbo23]

anything to make your wheels stand out more and make your car look better and if they lighter too than

 

[99gst_racer]

I used to have some lugnuts in stock here that retailed for $20 each. Titanium. Serious racers demand things like that even though it's only a small weight savings. Aluminum lugnuts are also popular with the circle track guys.

On my 2G, I have to run an open end, tuner-style lugnut with my Racing Harts. Anything else either won't allow my center cap to attach or won't allow a socket to fit in and around the lugnut. With all of the wheel stud and wheel combinations out there these days, it's critical that the lugnut manufacturers offer a wide variety of configurations.

 

[MrBoxx]

Project KICS R40 lug nuts, with locking lug nut, mounted on gunmetal Kosei K1-TS wheels. Each lug nut weighs 40 grams, each wheel weighs less than 16lbs. Paul, if I remember correctly, you rocked a set of these at one time.

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Here you can see why a tuner-style narrow lug nut is so necessary on aftermarket wheels.

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And this is one of the spares that I bought from a friend who had the same set, but upgraded to the neo-chrome style for his new wheels on his Evo. The tapered washer at the bottom spins; I assume to get a better torque setting on the lug nut.

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A side note: Project KICS also makes a 26 gram lug nut, open-ended. It's a much shorter version of the style I have.

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[Dallas J]

I run el-cheap-o crome lug nuts because Ive had VERY good luck with my threads and studs. Considering I take off 1 set of wheels and put on another set 4-8 times a month during the auto-x season, stud life is all I care about.

 

[99gst_racer]

Paul, if I remember correctly, you rocked a set of these at one time.

For about 30 minutes.
It was for my tirerack photoshoot.

I like those lugnuts. I've never seen them before. The swivel seat is a great idea.

 

[brownfinger]

I have in my possesion 3 different styles of OEM mitsubishi lugnuts. 1: Short open-ended acorns, from stock steelies. No washers, just a short, open lug w/ a tapered seat. 2: Long, closed-end with washer-seats and a deep, extended nose. I bought these at the dealership to match the 5-or-6 OE ones that came with my 2G 5-spokes, which I bought used. They are exposed on the car (no center-caps). And finally, number 3: Open ended short, with washer-seats and an extended nose. These came on my 92 GST, they hold on the stock swirlies, and they fit under a center-cap.
It depends what wheel you have. None of these would work with any of the other wheels, except the short, open ended washer-seats. They would hold on my 5-spokes, but they would look lame, and they'd rust to the stud pretty quick in the winter salt-soup.

 

[802Hoop]

The washer is so the lug nut rides on the washer when tightening. This avoids the steel lug nut from marring up the aluminum wheel, but from what I've seen, the washer is rotationally fixed which tells me they're for either protecting the lug nut, or it's a retention device. You'll find that a lot of washers were put there with these purposes in mind. I use then in air-frame design regularly.

Old thread... I know.

I bought some open ended acorn lug nuts (5 sets) for my champcar build, but later discovered that even the evo 8 wheels use that mag style, or flat type lug nut. Anyone want to buy 25 chromed steel acorn lug nuts? Haha.