Wheel damage from incorrect lug nuts?

Joined
Jan 23, 2003
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882
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ON, Canada
A friend of mine paid someone to change the winter tires to OEM aluminum wheels on a 2022 Highlander. Long story short, the guy ended up using the lug nuts for the aftermarket aluminum winter wheels, instead of the OEM Toyota because of a mishap with the tire storage facility. My friend asked me about it because after the guy changed the wheels, he told her that the wheel lugs only turned two revolutions before they tightened so she should switch back to the OEM wheel lugs. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I believe that the winter wheels use a conical seat while the OEM Toyota wheels use a mag shank style lug nut with the washer (which explains the low thread engagement).

Obviously the wheel lugs need to be changed, but would this have cause permanent damage to the OEM wheels? They are literally brand new unused wheels, as the car was bought over winter. I am going to try and get over to look at it tomorrow but she won't be able to get the lug nuts until next week from the tire storage place.
 
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Damage would depend on the size of the lugs and the shape and size of the lug holes in the wheels. Basically it depends how much force was used to tighten the nuts. So conical style nuts were used on a Toyota wheel?

That tech she used is a complete moron also.. The minute he discovered that only two revolutions tightened the nuts, he should have checked why and taken a look at the wheel stud holes and lug nuts geometry and observed that the shapes did not belong together.

She should have had a shop that has intelligence do the swap, they may have discovered the geometry difference right away, and certainly realized that there was an issue when the nuts tightened at two revolutions .

She should never use either of those services again at all. If she needs the tires stored, she should maintain control of the lugs herself and use the appropriate ones for each. Hell, because of possibility of the damage to the wheels that occurred, and it being a 2022, I'd go to the dealer to have the lugs changed ASAP.

And with this experience I would probably just pay the dealer to swap the wheels now. If she has room for the wheels, she should store them herself too.
 
Obviously the wheel lugs need to be changed, but would this have cause permanent damage to the OEM wheels? They are literally brand new unused wheels, as the car was bought over winter. I am going to try and get over to look at it tomorrow but she won't be able to get the lug nuts until next week from the tire storage place.
Get new nuts from Toyota and have them swap them out ASAP. Driving on the wheels can further damage the wheel or mounting surface, and with only two revolutions and the obvious mismatch of geometry its dangerous to drive, especially at higher speeds.

Get her to Toyota Monday morning and buy new nuts and have them installed real quick.. Dealer would probably comp the install because its so stupid and they probably would feel bad for her.

If they don't have the lugs in stock, she should ask them if any local dealerships do, and get them. If there is a wait
 
She should not drive the car one foot, it's dangerous. There isn't enough thread engagement. Guy should have left the winter wheels on.

Yes toyota uses "mag style" lug nuts.
 
Like I said, I am aware the lug nuts need to be changed ASAP. What I am more concerned about is if this would have caused damage to the wheels or not? They guy would have torqued them and she already drove a short distance with the car before she asked me about it.

And yes I agree, the guy should have left the winter wheels on.
 
you wont know until you inspect. It could cause wheel studs to break and any number of other issues such as losing a wheel going down the road.
 
I ran into this on an '11 Camry. Summer tires on stock steelies and I found a set of stock alloys at a JY for this woman where she mounted her snows (seems backwards I know but she couldn't afford a double mount & balance)

The prices parts houses want per lugnut is insane, and NONE of them stock more than a couple each. Even if I emptied out my local AutoZone, O'Reilly, NAPA and Parts City I would not have had enough to do the whole vehicle.

It was literally almost exactly 50% the cost to order them all thru Amazon, and since this woman was on a budget every dollar counted.

That said, it looks like the aftermarket may not yet offer anything for a '22 Highlander -- I wonder what's different or special about them?
 
I checked the car today. The taper seat lug nuts were on more than two turns, so they might have had barely adequate thread engagement. I inspected the wheel holes and it didn't appear that the wheels had any damage of significance beyond slightly marred edges around the holes.

I got installed a proper set of mag shank style lugs and torqued them to factory specs, so it should be good to go. I am just very surprised that the tire and wheel guy didn't know that the OEM wheels don't use taper seats. He should have never swapped the wheels when she couldn't have supplied the factory lugs. So anyway, it seems all good now. And my friend is now aware of the differences in the lugs for her wheels.
 
I checked the car today. The taper seat lug nuts were on more than two turns, so they might have had barely adequate thread engagement. I inspected the wheel holes and it didn't appear that the wheels had any damage of significance beyond slightly marred edges around the holes.

I got installed a proper set of mag shank style lugs and torqued them to factory specs, so it should be good to go. I am just very surprised that the tire and wheel guy didn't know that the OEM wheels don't use taper seats. He should have never swapped the wheels when she couldn't have supplied the factory lugs. So anyway, it seems all good now. And my friend is now aware of the differences in the lugs for her wheels.
Not exactly the same but we used to have a SEARS automotive center, now closed, the weekend was their busy time and every other weekend some idiot with an air gun would snap the wheel studs, never failed
 
Be sure to check the torque in a few days. If any of those wheel burrs are high spots the washer would not be making full contact, and the joint will loosen.
 
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Guess why I prefer OE wheels and ONLY OE wheels. I've seen this happen in the past.
If you maintain your car yourself this CAN happen. If you have it done by a shop it WILL
happen. Sooner or later. And they also will use and impact gun.
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Had my tires rotated at a small shop, they did it in 15 mins, I was very happy. Didn't have time myself for a couple weeks. That SOB at the shop nailed the lugs on to what my friend and I measured at over 400 ft lbs of force.. Didn't shear any lugs which surprised me. Jerk.
 
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