Slim lug nuts

[buck91]

Went to install the winter wheels/tires on the Mustang this afternoon and ran into something surprising. Never used aftermarket or multi-pattern wheels before so this was a total surprise to me. The OEM lug nuts are too large to use! They physically fit into the spaces bored into the wheel but there is simply no extra room to fit a socket over them. Didn't try thinwalled sockets, but I highly doubt those would work just eyeballing the clearance.

I see a lot of the spline drive slim fit acorns on amazon, but in Michigan I'm hesitant to use them with the road salt and all that- although I do keep my lugs antiseized. What about tall acorns? Any other options out there? FWIW OEM takes a 13/16" socket and the threads are 1/2-20.

Edit: Oh, and since this is Michigan and these are winter wheels I cuoldn't care less about the finish. I have heard of issues with chrome in the winter swelling due to corrosion so I'm definitely not requiring show-quality units. The more durable the better!

 

[The_Jeff]

If your OE rims are aluminum you could have oversize acorn sections so they don't dig up the holes. This of course necessitates being large in diameter, and 13/16".

The answer is to see if anyone makes 3/4" nuts, preferably plain steel.

Dorman 611272 looks promising.

 

[sciphi]

I've had no issues with the spline-driven lugs used for both sets of winter wheels on our two cars after four winters. They don't show any signs of corrosion and loosen up nicely after a few hits of my cheapy impact gun.

 

[buck91]

Hmm, I'll have to see if any of the local stores have that Dorman nut in stock to compare.

Yes, OEM was alloy wheels and the winter setup is aftermarket alloy. I'm going to go out and take a few measurements of them in a little bit as well as a pic. But I was thinking maybe something like "AccuWheel LNA-14200C6T" which is a acorn style 2" tall nut with 3/4in hex.

And yes my wheels seem to be hub centric.

 

[buck91]

Disregard the part number is the above post, its m14-2.0. The AccuWheel LNA-12000C5 is the proper thread spec with 3/4in hex but only 1.4" height. Need to find taller if anybody has seen them.

 

[Cardenio327]

I've seen aftermarket lugnuts that are 12mm Allen, if you don't like the Gorilla splines.

 

[stephen9666]

I was in a similar situation.

When I bought the car it came with 21mm lugs that were very hard to remove because of the limited space.

I did a little research and bought a set of similar lug nuts with a 19mm hex instead of 21.

Make sure you know the thread pitch and the seat angle of the nuts you need.

Problem solved.

 

[buck91]

OK good news! A 3/4in impact deep well fits in the lug nut barrel perfectly! Now I just need to hunt down a good deal on a set of acorns with decent shipping time (eg: less than 2 weeks).

My stock lugs appear to be 2in so I'm guessing I should look for acorns at least 1.25in deep?

 

[bdcardinal]

http://www.maximummotorsports.com/lug-nut-34-hex-open-ended-12-20-thread-P869.aspx

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: buck91
OK good news! A 3/4in impact deep well fits in the lug nut barrel perfectly! Now I just need to hunt down a good deal on a set of acorns with decent shipping time (eg: less than 2 weeks).

My stock lugs appear to be 2in so I'm guessing I should look for acorns at least 1.25in deep?


How much lug sticks out when you remove one nut? I can't imagine it being more than an inch, so, yeah. Capped nuts keep the salt out, but, beware, they're often a standard 18mm nut with a 1/2mm thick chrome "topper". If one doesn't put the impact socket all the way down they can twist the chrome topper and mess it all up.

I looked up a 96 mustang 4.9 on rockauto and the nuts they list interchange back to the 1950s. Are you sure you have 14mm lugs and not 1/2? Slip a 1/2 open end wrench over a stud to check; it won't fit a 14.

 

[Rand]

you might have to get open ended lugnuts if you cant find tall acorns it depends on the wheel style.. usually you see it more with aftermarket steel wheels being thinner than stock alloy.. so the studs stick out to far for regular acorns.