ford escape swollen lug nuts.

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Apr 17, 2004
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Location
Texas Hill Country
2016 escape, steel wheels with hubcaps.

About six months ago, I had a chain shop put new brakes on the car at 85k miles and flush the brake fluid.

The service manager mentioned the tech had some problems getting the rear wheel off as the lug nuts were "swollen". He said it was no big deal and quite common. He didn't put new lug nuts on, and I wish he did.

I was looking at the lugs, I would say 18 out of 20 of the lugs on the whole car are swollen.

I purchased the dorman OE FIX one piece lug nuts from rockauto to replace them with.

What a job, I had to hammer my 19mm impact socket on each lug with a dead blow hammer to get each one off, then zip it off with my 1/2 inch impact. Then beat the swollen lug out of my socket with an extension and a dead blow hammer.

I have 2 lugs on the rear wheel that are so chewed up, and 1 on the front, that I had to order a 19.5mm impact socket from amazon to get those off.

I'll get those off tonight when the socket arrives.

I made good use of my half inch clicker torque, and made sure all the new nuts were torqued to 100 foot pounds.

Never had a car with swollen lug nuts like this.




IMG_0633.jpg
 
It's been a problem for decades. Most of the lug nuts on my 1984 Cavalier which I inherited from my dad were swollen. Pretty sure they are the OE lug nuts.
 
I found that even Advanced and Autozone have better lug nuts than the factory. I just replaced mine on the f150 with ones made by Mcgard from summit racing. There was a significant quality difference. I think Dorman and white knight (?) were the local brands here, both with one piece, solid assemblies. The local offerings were cheaper, but couldn't be had at a qty of 24. very pleased with the Mcgard, and they fit the stock lug wrench.
 
2016 escape, steel wheels with hubcaps.

About six months ago, I had a chain shop put new brakes on the car at 85k miles and flush the brake fluid.

The service manager mentioned the tech had some problems getting the rear wheel off as the lug nuts were "swollen". He said it was no big deal and quite common. He didn't put new lug nuts on, and I wish he did.

I was looking at the lugs, I would say 18 out of 20 of the lugs on the whole car are swollen.

I purchased the dorman OE FIX one piece lug nuts from rockauto to replace them with.

What a job, I had to hammer my 19mm impact socket on each lug with a dead blow hammer to get each one off, then zip it off with my 1/2 inch impact. Then beat the swollen lug out of my socket with an extension and a dead blow hammer.

I have 2 lugs on the rear wheel that are so chewed up, and 1 on the front, that I had to order a 19.5mm impact socket from amazon to get those off.

I'll get those off tonight when the socket arrives.

I made good use of my half inch clicker torque, and made sure all the new nuts were torqued to 100 foot pounds.

Never had a car with swollen lug nuts like this.




View attachment 120165
Common enough that my Discount Tire stocks them - changed them on the Fusion Hybrid at 120k
 
The first thing I did when we got our then new 2018 Toyota Camry home, was to go on Amazon and replace the cheap sheet metal covered lug nuts, with solid chrome plated steel.

Those things are nothing but a complete disaster waiting to happen. Covered sheet metal lug nuts and air impact wrenches go together, like whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top of sardines.
 
Usually the swollen ones are found in the salt belt. Those have the privilege of meeting the impact wrench too many times. I had the same problem on a 1991 Ford Ranger. I used a hammer and chisel to cut off the caps. I then used a smaller socket to remove the lug nuts.
 
2016 escape, steel wheels with hubcaps.

About six months ago, I had a chain shop put new brakes on the car at 85k miles and flush the brake fluid.

The service manager mentioned the tech had some problems getting the rear wheel off as the lug nuts were "swollen". He said it was no big deal and quite common. He didn't put new lug nuts on, and I wish he did.

I was looking at the lugs, I would say 18 out of 20 of the lugs on the whole car are swollen.

I purchased the dorman OE FIX one piece lug nuts from rockauto to replace them with.

What a job, I had to hammer my 19mm impact socket on each lug with a dead blow hammer to get each one off, then zip it off with my 1/2 inch impact. Then beat the swollen lug out of my socket with an extension and a dead blow hammer.

I have 2 lugs on the rear wheel that are so chewed up, and 1 on the front, that I had to order a 19.5mm impact socket from amazon to get those off.

I'll get those off tonight when the socket arrives.

I made good use of my half inch clicker torque, and made sure all the new nuts were torqued to 100 foot pounds.

Never had a car with swollen lug nuts like this.




View attachment 120165
Ford had a recall on these. I made the dealer mess with mine to replace them.
 
I got the Ford oems off my Mustang before they did that. My clue was that one of the right rears was starting to do it, and that was enough for me. Got Gorillas on there now.

My '15 Canyon has sat outside since new, and I can feel the chrome shell shift when I start to loosen the lug nuts. Not swollen, but probably corroding and it's time for them to go as well.
 
I had a Dakota and Volvo do that, they are a pain. Glad you glad you were able to get them off. I didn't find the Dakota's until it had a flat on the side of the road. I had to send my son to the part store to get 2 new ones, replaced all later, as I had to beat the sockets on to get them off. Took over an hour to change one tire.
 
I swapped them with McGards first thing on my Raptor. Too many horror stories online with people having to chisel them off and a 30 minute tire rotation becomes a day-long ordeal.
 
Sorry if I missed it, but you couldn't use a 20 or 21mm socket on the swole ones?
Trying that usually ends up with the socket spinning around the cap and chewing it up even more. The 19 is too small and the 20 is just a tad too big.
These capped lugnuts are horrible. I replaced all of the lugnuts on my vehicles with solid ones before they had the chance to give me problems. I just replaced all of them on my SIL's 2018 Compass several weeks back, and most of them were swollen.
 
Trying that usually ends up with the socket spinning around the cap and chewing it up even more. The 19 is too small and the 20 is just a tad too big.
These capped lugnuts are horrible. I replaced all of the lugnuts on my vehicles with solid ones before they had the chance to give me problems. I just replaced all of them on my SIL's 2018 Compass several weeks back, and most of them were swollen.
I hear you. I've been there and I guess I got lucky because 1mm more worked out.
 
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