Confusion on Lugnuts
 

Hi Guys,

Im about to purchase a TWS T66F on 17x8 but am really confused on which is the most high-quality, durable for DD lugnut out there.

Research so far has lead me towards getting these features: steel, 60 Conical that has a longer seat than OEM, closed end, and short.
What are the options for this type?

The interesting ones i saw are:
1. McGards (whats the diff between spline drive vs.. not?)
2. STI by McGards
3. Kics R40 Iconix? (altho they are 2 pc.)

Thanks!

OEM

Or

Any steel closed end nuts you can pick up from your local auto store for $25. A chrome steel lug nut is a chrome steel nut.

You can of course pay premium for a brand name box that you will throw in the bin after installation.

19mm hex helps if you want to use the OEM wheel brace.

Simples

Any steel lugs are great. Those from an auto parts store can/will do the job that $100 fancy bullshit lug can.

LOL on the daily driving lug nuts.

With a wheel like that I'd go with a good locking lug nut. McGards is one everyone seems to like.

Locks are only going to stop neighbourhood teenagers from stealing your wheels, not someone serious. Anyone can buy the sockets to remove locking nuts:


https://www.amazon.com/Ken-Tool-3017...=fsclp_pl_dp_3

Exactly. If you want real assurance, you need to place a small bead of tig weld over each individual lugnut for maximum security and protection.

Or buy a set of McGards like most people have.

Well, ya, and they could pull up with a tilting, flat bed truck and steal the whole car - ;)


humfrz

McGards are easily removed too: https://www.amazon.ca/Sunex-28405-Re.../dp/B006L234X6

There seem to be a ton of versions of McGards! Which exactly would you recommend>?

simply because the wheels you bought are so expensive figure out which is the most complicated to unlock without the tools.

I've wondered about this in the past. Interestingly, this product gets weak reviews because it does't seem to work reliably.

I ended up with some like these. The shoulder takes up the unnecessarily large hole in the wheel, and adds several mm of threads. Haven't fallen off yet.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1200_.jpg

I had those on my car until last week; I purchased them from America's Tire as kind of a band-aid until I had time to research what I really wanted. I replaced my stock wheels with JDM TRD SF2 Forged (18x7.5 +46 that are possibly made by TWS) and wanted a spline drive nut in black to match them. They didn't hold up well; despite being very careful the few times I removed the wheels when installing a BBK, the lug nuts quickly showed a lot of wear. The black paint scuffed and scraped off easily - you get what you pay for. They are 6-spline lug nuts and if I recall correctly, the set cost about $40. Here is a photo from the box:

https://i.imgur.com/5NHLaqo.jpg

I bought McGard 8-spline lug nuts from Amazon. They look much sharper as they sit a bit more flush (on my wheels, anyway) and have a high quality look and finish to them. I bought their wheel install kit that comes with 16 lug nuts and four locks, but then also bought a pack of four more lug nuts because I'm not currently using the locks. It was the most economical way to purchase what I wanted as the install kit comes with both the wheel lock key and the tool needed for the spline drive nuts. This was cheaper than buying five 4-packs of just lug nuts, plus the tool. Each to their own.

https://i.imgur.com/aDUYEbM.jpg

Those don't have the shoulder, just your normal $9.99 Amazon "Tuner" lug nuts.

The hole in my Black Rhino wheels is huge. The shouldered lug nut goes in to the wheel and take up that gap. They feel way more secure when installing, the wheel isn't flopping around right up until the moment the lugs are tight.

I would not use OEM, recently I've found the OEM lugs are the reason my fucking studs keep breaking.

I always hand tighten and use a torque wrench

I've had my wheels on and off dozens of times, standard nuts, standard studs, never a issue.

Meh

I have rpf1 17x8 with muteki lug nuts and it works and looks good.

When I was still parking under a car port, I used my discontinued set of "KICS Dency 2000 Locking Lug Nuts". They have a free-spinning magnetic jacket that goes over each locking nut and will only be removed with the provided magnet (or some very very aggressive methods). I still have these just in case. Demonstration I found: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFde55P7Uk[/ame]

Nowadays, I park in a garage at home and at work. I use 5 sets of "Project Kics Tuskey Bull Lock" lug nuts. Forged steel in black, and they are a very cool swirly 5-pointed star shape. Shout out to FT-86 Speedfactory for going out of there way for me!
Where I purchased: http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/proj...Q#.XP8M7S2ZOqA

You bought yourself a bitchin' set of wheels, why not get yourself some bitchin' lug nuts to boot! :burnrubber:

Or just a regular magnet: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDBpKyl8i0[/ame]


Any wheel lock can be defeated eventually. If a thief knows your wheels are expensive and wants them, they ARE getting them off.
I think getting multiple sets of different kinds of "locking" nuts would give them the most trouble to waste their time though.

I actually saw this video, with relief, before I purchased the fancy lugs (worth trying for $80). One of my fears was losing the magnetic key! (Again, these are discontinued).

I then found multiple forum threads where other car owners attempted to use random magnets, including mechanic's magnets, after seeing this video to try and remove the jacket after losing their key, to no success. An example of this is actually in the comments of this particular video...

My justification if one continues to use these fancy lug nuts is 99.99% of people who are stealing wheels will not readily know that these strange wheel locks are magnetic. The chance of them then returning with the perfect magnet to remove the jacket is even lower.

However, it is 100% truth that if someone really wants to steal your shit, their going to steal it. :thumbdown:

Yep. That magnet system would definitely hold somebody up for sure even if they were very prepared.
Fortunately for me, I'm in an area that really doesn't have the issue of wheel stealing as a common occurrence.
That coupled with not having $2k+ wheels makes me not even really worry about my wheels going missing ever.
If I did though, I'd be sitting on at least 5 different sets of locks on them.

Probably user error.

Considering the hundreds of thousands of Subarus out on the road with the same lug nuts you have, you'd think they break more often...

I've never had any issue with any type of OE stud/lug nut, unless I contaminated the threads somehow.

And I've owned somewhere around 150 sets of wheels across 15 cars.

-alex

Any JDM lugnuts you can recommend for me?


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DAMN! 150 Sets of wheels!






OP, if you want JDM (and have the $$$) These are JDM A/F!!! They feature a "Full floating head which prevents scratching your wheels" . Pretty Cool!

https://www.evasivemotorsports.com/s...s-blue-12x125/

I have inexpensive, but super strong, gorilla lug nuts. They work great for me.

The one stud I had to replace gave me the impression that the hub centering isn't super robust and if you "crack loose" the lugs while there is significant weight on the wheels the last lug takes a ton of shear while you are loosening it and can mess up the threads.

Since I've started jacking the car up most of the way - leaving just enough weight to keep the wheel from spinning while you loosen a half turn or so, then jacking up and finishing the removal. I've not had any issue. Re-install is the same way - hand tighten, lower just enough to put a bit of weight on the tire, torque then lower fully.

For most shops that remove with an impact after the car is on the lift this wouldn't be a problem (contaminated threads still would). For DIYers doing it by hand, it seems to me to be fairly easy to cause problems unless you are careful.

Alternative would be to put something to hold the brake pedal down to keep the wheel from spinning while you take off/re-install the lugs - proper length 2x4 wedged between the seat and brake pedal works for the fronts - rear you can just use the parking brake.

for what you're asking for, any closed lug nut will work fine for your use.

you can go with bling and get "racing lug nuts" but they just lighten your wallet.

if it's weight savings you're after, you're much better off going with as light of a tire as you can find.

the hub centering isn't an issue, I was swapping wheels on my BRZ about once every week (sometimes 2 or 3 times a week when I have a track event) and I never once had issues with the factory studs.

I also was one of the few that kept a rag around to wipe the threads clean after every wheel removal.

I ended up going with ARP studs not because OE studs failed on me, but because I was running 15/20mm spacers for a few months and just didn't want to use bolt-on spacers.

If this concerns you, loosen the nuts as you jack the car up and take weight off the wheels. You'll find a sweet spot where there is just enough friction between the tire and ground to let you break the nuts loose, while limiting what weight there is on the studs. The reverse of that is the process I use to torque mine down. You can also loosen them in stages so that no one stud is ever bearing the whole clamping load and possibly being over stretched. Again, the reverse of how you should tighten them.

That's more than a little anal retentive, but I'm 65 years into my recovery from the trauma of potty training.

Therefore lug nuts = cake

If a pro wants your wheels, they are going to flatbed your entire car and there is nothing you can do. You only want to stop the morons and imbeciles, or the pros that are looking for a fast score and don't have access to a flatbed.

The OEM studs are notoriously crappy. You should go aftermarket if you've ever had an issue.

And you are never going to stop a pro. These are not for them, they are for the people looking for an easy score. If a pro wants your car its gone on a flatbed and vanishes forever.

Subaru studs are notoriously soft though. There are people that track there cars once and have had them break when they try and change their wheels back to street ones. Lots of people change subaru studs out first thing if they have to do any number of wheel changes.

I was deciding on lugs recently. I read it's best to buy closed but I ended up getting the gold standard muteki 48 that everybody seems to have. I'll let you know how they hold up

No one responded to my NRG thread, but I can share some of my experiences here. I had an FR-S currently and have an 86 now. Between the 2 I've had 3 damaged lug studs. I have aftermarket wheels with hubcentering rings and tiny lug holes. The lug nuts I have been using are White Knight, like $25 nuts from Pep Boys. I had Mutekis that I bought when I got the wheels that didn't fit and were never on the car.


Mine could easily be user error, though. I'm not sure if it's the lugs, the studs, or me/the shops that have changed the wheels/tires. I am looking to replace the lug nuts and see if it helps.

So here are my top choices. But i really dont know what their real-world differences are!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...693e9878e6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...adbcd1b9e2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...267e19e2fd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...483ed8eb07.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...70c94ebb47.jpg


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Lol holy shit $200 for lug nuts? I'm not calling you a chump, but come on really?
Lol JDM STI lugs for $200? The same lugs you can them here for like $75?
Wow.

Keep on keeping on.

:iono::popcorn: