what's with washers on lugnuts?

[Pluto5]

I removed one of the lugnuts on my Toyota Venza to find two washers. Can someone explain their purpose? My guess is that they help you hand torque the nuts cause you can feel the slack going away.

 

[crazyoildude]

i know with some aftermarket wheels they can have washers

 

[Corvette Owner]

Do you have hub caps? Sometimes they use washers to hold on the hubcaps, Honda does this.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Cast wheels? To prevent galling and assist consistent/proper torque. Hope you torqued 'em - OTW warped disco brakes on de vay!

 

[Carbon]

I suspect the washers also help keeping the steel nuts from getting stuck in place to the aluminum due to corrosion.

 

[Steve S]

Common on alumunum wheels to spread the clamping force of the nut over a wider area. The aluminum is softer and weaker than steel.

 

[Hokiefyd]

My Toyota alloy wheels are the first I've seen with a mag style nut with washer. Apparently, Toyota does this with all their alloy wheels, as some other brands do from what I've learned. My two Chryslers have alloy wheels, but use the standard acorn washers.

I do like the washered-nuts that the Toyota uses.

 

[38sho]

I believe this is because of the mag style as stated above, most toyota alloy wheels use this setup

also so do Lincoln LS, and some Mitsubishi's


I personally hate installing these types of lugnuts, especially on Toyota truck/suv varieties with the large hub that doesn't like to let the wheel move

 

[Michael_P]

Hub centered vs. lug centered. Heavy duty trucks always have hub centered (flat lug with washer) wheels because they are....well....heavy duty. As stated above, they are stronger. The hub centering permits the use of these style of lugs. The clamping surface area of a washered lug nut is about double the area from a traditional chamfered / beveled nut. To put it into perspective, five 14mm washered lugs have more clamping surface area and strength than six 12mm chamfered / beveled nuts. This is assuming same lug to center spacing. Washered lug nuts make the attachment stronger in the corners, but not really any stronger under acceleration or braking. Two under lugged cars, I can remember were the Turbo Dodge Omni's and the Mustang GT's from the 80's. In autocross races, you could see one of these cars losing a wheel and it was always in the corners never in the straights which is why drag racers never seemed to snap wheels on these cars. With today's taller wheels, washered lugs make sense due to the added forces exerted in the corners as opposed to smaller wheels. I changed brakes on a Toytoa Matrix last week with factory 18" wheels, and it too had your style of wheel.

It is always good to put some anti seize around the hub center part on this style of wheel. If you do, the wheels will always come off nice and easy when you go to remove them.

 

[Russell]

BMW uses studs vs lug nuts .No washers.

 

[postjeeprcr]

Originally Posted By: Michael_P
Hub centered vs. lug centered. Heavy duty trucks always have hub centered (flat lug with washer) wheels because they are....well....heavy duty. As stated above, they are stronger. The hub centering permits the use of these style of lugs. The clamping surface area of a washered lug nut is about double the area from a traditional chamfered / beveled nut. To put it into perspective, five 14mm washered lugs have more clamping surface area and strength than six 12mm chamfered / beveled nuts. This is assuming same lug to center spacing. Washered lug nuts make the attachment stronger in the corners, but not really any stronger under acceleration or braking. Two under lugged cars, I can remember were the Turbo Dodge Omni's and the Mustang GT's from the 80's. In autocross races, you could see one of these cars losing a wheel and it was always in the corners never in the straights which is why drag racers never seemed to snap wheels on these cars. With today's taller wheels, washered lugs make sense due to the added forces exerted in the corners as opposed to smaller wheels. I changed brakes on a Toytoa Matrix last week with factory 18" wheels, and it too had your style of wheel.

It is always good to put some anti seize around the hub center part on this style of wheel. If you do, the wheels will always come off nice and easy when you go to remove them.


I saw a Mustang GT from the 80s lose a wheel drag racing, it was right after the green light turned on the christmas tree. All 4 lugs sheared off, the tire rolled a little and came to a stop.

 

[Mr Nice]

Was this Mustang on slicks or street tires ?