Let's talk lug nuts.
 

I was just about to order some and it got me thinking about a few things. Any body have opinions on open vs closed? Any input on 1 vs 2 piece? I am about to order some either 949 or mcgard splines but I figured I would see what the community has to say about them.

How often are you going to pull your wheels off? How much do you want to spend?


What do you mean by two piece? Two piece cosmetic (like Kics Leggdura Shell) or rotating seat (like Kics R40)?



I prefer closed lug nuts because they keep water from getting to the studs and rusting them out.

I prefer lugs with rotating seat because torque is more consistent.

I prefer steel or hard alloy over aluminum because they are more durable and don't strip as easily.


I currently have Muteki SR45R, open ended with rotating seats and plastic top caps

Closed steel, stops shit getting in.

Currently running OEM on my RPF-1's

Alloy nuts are a well marketed gimmicks IMO.

People like shiny things though, if they didn't there wouldn't be a market for alloy nuts, or even titanium lug nuts for that matter.

Personally, closed steel lugs are the best.
Although I don't have aftermarket wheels on my BRZ, my MR2 on the other hand does.

I have the same set of chrome plated vanadium steel closed ended lug nuts I got from my local auto parts store 10 years ago, all for $30.

They seen over 5 years of auto-x and track days, and daily driving. No cracks or busted lugs.

But if you want to spend over $100 for a set of lug nuts, go for it. I wouldn't. It's your money.

not about shiny, about weight. Ok, for most it is probably about shiny, far too many people buy crappy shiny lug nuts and wreck them because they are fragile and people are careless.

I had forged aluminum from Rays on my Yaris for a decade and never had an issue. They are 99% as strong as steel but are lighter.

Currently have gorilla "tuner" lug nuts on, same thing applies. almost as strong, but lighter. Might as well save a little weight where you can.

And I despise chrome with a passion. Just a weird personal taste, so those are out for me.

No spanner in the works yet??

The weight argument is moot unless your wheels weigh like 16lbs. You'll never notice the difference.

That said, closed end steel. I tried open ended but I got tired real quick of my wheels getting coated in rusty juice whenever it rains. Got a set of Muteki SR35 in black.

I think the money for top dollar lugs is justifiable. People routinely spend thousands more to save weight on exhausts by going titanium. If u spending a hundred more for lightweight lugs, that's a good deal to me.

Weight savings? Ha!! Not sure if that's part of the marketing scheme, or you really think less than 1lb is going to make a difference.

If that's the case, do you take a shit every time you go out to drive? Cause you can save a pound or two.

Besides it's not like you are in a high stakes race where every gram counts.
Eh. To me that's on the level as what old ricers would love to say.

i got some cheap 30$ 2 piece off amazon for winter. they the actual lug is steel and then you have an oring and an aluminum cap. they work really well and i dont ruin my project kics

I used to work for AAA and a lot of it was changing tires. Get closed lug nuts. Keep the OEM lug nuts if you can, they are always better. Do not get capped lug nuts, get 1 piece because a lug nut is exposed to the worst dirt and shit and any place crud can get into it will and cause problems.

IMHO if you don't need new lug nuts, leave the OEM ones on. It's not worth it for cosmetics alone and there is absolutely no performance advantage.

But our OEM ones are legit garbage though. I have 2 that are threading on funny and I've babied them. Main reason I switched to aftermarket lugs is cause I didn't trust those 2 nuts anymore.

I'm on my fourth set. (and about to be on #5)


OEM are OK.


I also have a set of steel Gorilla; strong, inexpensive, overall good.


Had a set of aluminum, "cough" Godspeed extended lug nuts. The anodizing faded, aluminum is soft, Godspeed is junk, and now they reside in the waste bin.


Currently on steel open ended 24k gold plated lug nuts. Total waste. Gold is pretty, but not functional. Maybe the McGuard gold lugs are better. Anyway, I should know better. Steel is nickel plated then gold plated. (so the gold can stick) The plating is failing and chewing up my lug seats. They are rusting too. "ewwww, rusty nuts!"

Yeah, if you need them, you need them.

I've seen lug nut sets that go for $200+ and I just wonder WTF do people think they are getting? I even saw a post somewhere with someone defending the decision to buy expensive lug nuts because it's unsprung (true) reciprocating weight (dude needs to look up what reciprocating means) and those few grams make a difference. :sigh:

I have a set of black McGards on mine. No complaints here, and I'll never buy another hex nut again for any of my vehicles. After buying the McGards, I put spline drive nuts on my Jeep also. The way the spline key mates with the nut makes for a more solid connection that puts the torque where it should be.

Where did you get the top caps?

Interesting. Never heard of them before. It is easy to see how the design would indeed keep the torque at the base of the nut instead of the top. Wish those were around (or I knew they were) back in the day when I used to actually change wheels a lot. I don't know how many busted lugs and skinned knuckles I had because the wrench wasn't quite snug enough on the nut.

I am the opposite of this. I will never buy a non-hex nut in fear that the tool will come up missing. If the Muteki tool comes up missing, I can still remove them with a 17mm socket.

Muteki makes great lug nuts. I have put mine through 3 years and 60+ HPDE events with no issues. (I also have ARP lug studs.) I zap my wheels off and on A LOT too.

Pfft. The keys stay in the car, safely tucked in with the spare tire. I've never once had the keys go missing in either of my vehicles. I was going to buy spares to keep in my tool chest, but I never got around to it because it never happened.

I have the Gorilla lugs. Seem to work fine. Everyone and their mother has the socket (tool). A shop has never had to get mine out of the trunk. America's tire gave me an extra so I have one in the car, and one in my tool box.

SR45R is one of the newest models from Muteki. They came out last year. Top-caps aren't compatible with the older open-ended lugs like SR48 (at least not that I am aware of, never tried it).


FRSport, Evasive Tuning, FT86SpeedFactory, Rallysportdirect, Enjuku Racing, Vivid Racing, 86speed and many others all carry them


A quick google search for "SR45R Caps" will get you started

Closed for sure. Open lugs will expose threads to the elements.

Cool. Didnt know they had a new model.

I'm currently running rando aluminum close ended nuts I got off amazon.
They were the only ones I could overnight in time to fit my winter wheels/tires. Added bonus of paying $25 for the set which I assumed was a price error when all the other colors were $75.

I wouldn't run them during the summer with track days, Either OEM or steel close ended.

LOL I have two sets of PMU Super 7s :party0030:

I have them because I wanted nice locking lugs and hate the look of the keyed or spline drives. No other reason :bonk:

I have a set of black anodized RAYS duralumin nuts and, while they’re of high quality, based on my experience I’d recommend forged steel closed-end lug nuts. The RAYS units are fragile, have consistently seemed to loosen over time, show mars in the finish from repeated tightening, and the minimal weight savings they provide is inconsequential in the real world. Unless you’re all about the bling, go with a set of high-quality forged steel lug nuts.

Just to add one more thing to the mix, make sure the taper angle on the lug matches that of the wheel.
Many of the after market have a different angle.

I just ordered enkeis from tire rack and it includes 20 "required lugnut for vehicle" at no charge. Any idea if they are tire rack brand? Base enkei lugs? I'm planing on using them unless you guys object.

I like the 949 lug nuts. I have used them on my twins and Miatas before that. Very good quality parts. They hold up to long term use better than some others that I have used.

Whatever you get from tire rack will be quality, go ahead and throw them on!

The RS05RR that I got for my STI came with Rays steel nuts.

That was in AU though, you may get something different.

What if they weigh 6lbs? The point is to save weight where you can. Any way to eke out a little bit better gas mileage is worth it to me.

Have you read Anthony's thread? you save weight where you can. Lots of things less than 1 pound can add up. As long as they are quality from a good company they'll be fine.

You'll get some random steel lugnuts. They'll work. So will your oem ones since subaru uses acorn lug nuts which are the same you need to use for most aftermarket wheels.

What? Really?

The stock ones weigh 0.8lbs total. Even if you made them out of depleted uranium they'd weigh under 2lbs. You'd need a material half the density of the core of the sun to make them total 6lbs! Please let us know when you find these lug nuts, we can finally crack nuclear fusion when you do!

You'd better shave your new tires down to 25% before putting them on, there's way more weight savings there!

Either open ended or closed end aluminum lug nuts are the best. In the event you cross thread, you'll lose a cheap lug nut instead of a stud. There are no issues using aluminum lug nuts on track either, I've done it for years and years with my Miata. Lots of misinformation in this thread.

Speaking of lug nuts: I bought a set of these:

https://thmotorsports.com/487340-kic...t-r40-lug-nuts

And I can't find any end caps for them. The ones for the iconix lugs don't fit these (the threads are the right size but the cap part is too big to fit into the lug). Anyone know where to get some? Or something else I could use? Bubble gum?

Things ricers say for $1000 Alex.

:bonk::cheers:

Come on dude. I'll take it as a joke. Cause it really reads as a joke.

I personally use steel, closed end (black mcgard tuner lugs). My friends use Work/RAYS aluminum lugs which work just fine for them as well. General rule is that aluminum are fine and just as strong for most purposes, just don't use power tools on them.

While OEM have the correct taper for aftermarket wheels (worked just fine with my Enkei for a few days), they don't look as nice as aftermarkets, are sunk pretty far into most aftermarket wheels (aesthetics again), and the chrome finish corroded.

Aww, poor baby can't read.
Looks like a difference to me. Next you are going to say 2751 and 2280 are the exact same weight, right?
reread the quote and the conversation. We weren't talking about the lug nuts.

Depends on your application. With frequent wheel changes and/or tracking I really loved when I switched to ARP extended studs and muteki sr48 (open end lugs). No issues trying to start the threads with the tiny Subaru lugs through the deeper holes of my wider wheels to the subaru short stud. Also I felt a lot more comfortable using the impact on the ARP studs than OEM.


That said if I only street drove the car and the wheels came off only once or twice a year I would probably prefer closed lug nut.