Thinwall Lug Nut Sockets

[The Critic]

Again, I swear weird things just happen to me.

Was planning to do a quick front pad/rotor swap on a neighbor's 08 Elantra tonight. It has a set of 18" aftermarket, chrome chinesium wheels. The lug nuts are all recessed inside a center hub area.

Of course, none of my impact sockets fit. I was able to get the RF tire's lug nuts off using a 3/8" drive ratchet and a 19mm chrome socket.

On the LF, a 13/16" took off one of the lug nuts perfectly. For the other 4, it is too darn small.

I'm guessing that it's a 21mm (marginally larger than a 13/16"), but the Chinese lug nuts just have poor quality control. I suppose that with my luck it may be a 7/8", but I doubt it.

I plan to go to horror freight, first thing in the morning to get this. Will this work? My only concern is that this set does not have a 22mm.

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-1-2-half-inch-drive-lugnut-socket-set-93149.html

TIA.

 

[Donald]

What about a normal set of SAE and Metric deep impacts?

Do you need to worry about scratching the wheel?

None of the HF lugnut socket sets have 22mm.

 

[Rand]

if they are cheap the chrome coated outer layer may have warped.

I actually had a set on a focus and the chrome fell apart and i had 12 one size then 4 that were 1mm smaller due to the chrome falling off.

 

[2cool]

At work we issue thin-wall impact sockets (from HF), for just this reason. If they aren't plated, there may be a thin shell of stainless to make them look good. Had that on my '89 Omni. If they won't fit, you may have to go to the sprial lug nut remover sockets.

P.S. It isn't you!! YOU'RE PERFEKT, SUNSHINE!!!

 

[AITG]

Matco Tools sells a reversible lug nut socket just for [censored] chrome lug nuts. It's 21 mm on one end and 21 1/2 mm on the other.

 

[eljefino]

Are you sure there isn't a socket banging around in the trunk? If an aftermarket wheel has narrow holes they come with or suggest appropriate lug nuts and socket.

Had a cressida w/ nicer (potentially Japanese IIRC) aftermarket rims that came with long bullet lug nuts that had a 12mm ish Allen/ hex drive and adapter in the trunk. Though it wasn't security keyed, I appreciated the adapter.

My tire shop career ended when I busted my ankle trotting angrily to my tool box to retrieve a punch, to knock a chrome dodge lugnut out of my normal sized impact socket. I later learned (bored, in a chair, home on worker's comp, with my foot in a cast, on my netbook) of the 1/2 mm oversized sockets for just this predicament. Some of these dodge nuts were so bad I was using a 21mm on a 19!

I think your neighbors deal is they used some hyundai lug nuts (13/16 or 21mm) and some aftermarket ones.

PS it is not wierd things, and it's not you. Probably half of all jobs have some large [censored] factor, and it's not just mechanics: home repair, plumbing, surgery, whatever. Pros make it look easy.

 

[vaboom123]

You aren't loosing it Critic! I have a Blue-Point set of flip sockets just for lug nuts. They have the thin-wall on one side and flip over to a spiral remover on the other. It's very similar to what you posted a link to, but they are separate sizes instead of flipping over to another size.

 

[ajchien]

Uh. Hm.

Isnt your neighbor the one who should be buying the the tools to do this job?

Unless, of course, she's cute.

 

[ajchien]

Oh, and 7/8" is close to 22mm. In 6 point, i wouldn't have a problem using it on lug nuts.

 

[The Critic]

Got the job done. The lug nuts were in fact 21mm. Toughest part of doing the brake job was getting the wheels off and back on, who would've ever thought?

The Horror Freight Pittsburgh flip socket set fit perfectly, but once you gave it a turn or two, the socket would get stuck; I resorted to using a 10lb rubber mallet to whack it loose after each lug. Repeat this 30 times and this got tiring....fast.

OT: Always fun to work on a car you've never done before, you always find a laundry list of things that need to be done. This one needs a LF axleshaft (outer boot leaking grease), drive belts look like they're ready to snap, trans service, timing belt in 3,000 miles, rear brakes soon. It's funny that Midas told her that the front brakes were very low, but they had 3-4mm left. The rears have about 3mm left but they said they were fine. Go figure.