Lug Nut Heads Up

What's the deal with the lugs?

I just went to a shop to get a simple tire rotation and balance. I was told that all of my lugs had been stripped and the work could not be completed. I bought some aftermarket lugs but they were the wrong size/wrong type. What size are these and can I get them anywhere else besides the dealership? And what type of wrench is used? Apparently it is hard to match??? It's an '01 LS v8 sport. I've only taken my car to 2 places - the local tire place and the dealership. Between the two, some yahoo managed to strip the lugs.

And while I'm at it - has anyone had problems with the ball joints/steering knuckes needing replacing at 60k? Or a front valve gasket leak?

The LS is not showing the love lately.
 
Quik LS said:
I have broke several wheel studs (several = 9) as I have my tires off and on more than normal. The wheel studs are soft and the lugs tend to crossthread easily.

I replaced all my 01 lugs with new ones from Lincoln (they seem to be redesigned) - and have not had to replace a new one yet.

where did yuo get them? are they locking?
 
They are the ones that came on the car. I bought it used from the dealership. They aren't locking.
 
kleetus said:
I checked them out and low and behold, they do in fact work. Now I'm really confused....

It was my understanding that the whole purpose of these stupid assed nuts was for the washer and the bottom of the nut to bottom out on the rim and the rotor at the same time, respectivley. I took a much closer look at the factory nuts. They don't stick though the rim. How the heck can they engage the rotor if they don't touch? Better still, these replacement nuts don't touch either. Okay... so what centers the rim on the hub? A near loose fit between the nut and the hole in the rim? Yeah that's accurate, no chance for an out of round condition there. At least with the old style nuts with the taper on the front face, as long as you ran them down gently and in sequence (like you're supposed to anyway), you know you're centering the rim on that stud. How is this an improvement? Am I missing something obvious?

The wheel is centered by a boss on the spindle that engages the round opening in the center of the wheel. If your rotor is held on by two wafer thin nuts, I recommend removing them because it appears they may cause the lugnut to bottom out against the rotor before the washer and lugnut shoulder bottoms out against the wheel.

I found the Sebring lugnuts at http://allchryslerparts.com for $2.42 each plus shipping. The part no. is MB 579290 Models since 4/97. I installed them yesterday and they seem to work perfectly.
 
02lsv8sport said:
The wheel is centered by a boss on the spindle that engages the round opening in the center of the wheel. If your rotor is held on by two wafer thin nuts, I recommend removing them because it appears they may cause the lugnut to bottom out against the rotor before the washer and lugnut shoulder bottoms out against the wheel.

I found the Sebring lugnuts at http://allchryslerparts.com for $2.42 each plus shipping. The part no. is MB 579290 Models since 4/97. I installed them yesterday and they seem to work perfectly.


Hi:

I ordered 20 of the Sebring nuts from the same source, and they just arrived. I own an '02 LS Premium package with the 17" rims.

I immediately noticed the same thing that a previous poster had mentioned--the Sebring nut is about 1/4" longer than the LS nut. Everyone I've read says the Sebring nuts work fine, but does this extra length cause any issues?

Without dissecting the wheel, it would seem that the taper on the nut would tighten down BEFORE the washer and the back of the nut are firmly seated. I can only imagine that this would result in the washer bouncing around loosely.

Does anyone have any comments or experience with this? I'm anxious to believe that these nuts will work fine, but my analytical side won't let me get comfortable yet. Thanks for any help.
 
I've had the Sebring nuts on my car for over 4 years... no problems and was one of the first to have them. Stop worrying and put them on :rolleyes:
 
The wheel is centered on the hub by a boss on the end of the axle. The Sebring lug nuts have worked well for me for over a year now.

One thing I recommend is to remove the 2 or 3 thin clips that were used to hold on the rotor during manufacturing.
That will allow the lug nuts to really seat tightly against the wheel and rotor.
 
02lsv8sport said:
The wheel is centered by a boss on the spindle that engages the round opening in the center of the wheel. If your rotor is held on by two wafer thin nuts, I recommend removing them because it appears they may cause the lugnut to bottom out against the rotor before the washer and lugnut shoulder bottoms out against the wheel.

I found the Sebring lugnuts at http://allchryslerparts.com for $2.42 each plus shipping. The part no. is MB 579290 Models since 4/97. I installed them yesterday and they seem to work perfectly.


I went to this website and the search results turned up nothing??? Am I missing something?
 
Bringing back an old thread, does anyone know if this in fact was a recall? I couldn't find any information about it online. What are the odds of my dealership replacing these? I was trying to put the fuel filter I got in and my slotted/drilled rotors + new pads on and I couldn't get the left front wheel off(2 lugnuts didn't fit in either one of my tire iron(dads metric + my regular).
 
AFAIK, the only recall the LS ever had was for the '00 (and maybe '01) ball joints.

If you want the best lug nuts, get some 2nd gen LS lug nuts. They're solid nuts, not those POS chrome-capped things, and they're a perfect fit.
 
Updating an old thread, from NickT88LSC on here who just replaced all of his on his '02 LS8:

I just got the lug nuts from Rock Auto, damn they are fast. They are exactly the same as the factory ones, thats probably who supplies em to Lincoln.

Anyway, better option at I think $1.78 each than $5 something each at the
dealer. Oh, fyi, dorman part number 611-229 if you wanna post it on the
board, I am busy, and by tonight I will forget :)

:Beer
 
I just ordered 20. I plan on doing my brakes probably this weekend. I'll need to wait until I get these.
 
Doorman

I just got the box today. They "appear" to be chrome capped. I don't know if I'll get around to breaks this weekend - it's rainy.

On the good side, they look like they match the originals.
 
OK so WHAT lugs are good, and fit, ?

This thread is confuseing,, either Dormans,, Sebring

Which ones>? and where to buy and whats part #'s?
 
I just got the box today. They "appear" to be chrome capped. I don't know if I'll get around to breaks this weekend - it's rainy.

On the good side, they look like they match the originals.

Bummer. The chrome caps are crap. That's why I'm looking for a reasonably priced replacement.

In response to the above post, the Sebrings are reported to be a good fit and do not have caps on them. They are a one piece lug nut. I haven't tried them myself.
 
The lug wrench should be 20 mm - 6 pt.

The size for the stock lugnuts (at least on my 2002) is not 20 mm, it is 19 mm. I went out and bought the 20 mm at first and noticed that it was very loose. Had I used it and applied 100 ft/lbs torque I probably would have rounded the hell out of the lugnuts. :eek:
 
Once and for all

I'm a tire guy. I've been a tire guy since 1994. I can settle the dispute on what causes the lugnuts to become misshapen.

It's a pretty, cheap chrome sleeve over an even cheaper lug nut. The original size from the factory is 19mm. The size of the chrome cap is 19mm. The lugnut underneath is roughly 18mm. The lug wrench that comes with the car will fit the lugnuts as long as they're not damaged.

Therein lies the rub. Anytime you take your car to a tire shop (like mine) they use older sockets on impact wrenches to take off your lugnuts. These older sockets started out as 19mm (probably flip sockets, 19/21 which is what we use). Once they are used for months, even years, they stretch. When they stretch to 20mm or so, they strike the cheap cap on the lug nut on the corners, instead of mostly on the flat. This striking action stretches the chrome cap so that it's no longer a 19mm. A 20mm fits better because the cap is stretched. Problem is that the 20mm, while not as used as the 19mm is probably stretched some too. This makes the 20 want to slip over the corner and thats how the lugnuts get rounded off. Once this happens, you're screwed.

The only way to avoid this type of problem is to get a good 19mm impact socket and take it with you to the tire shop. If they use a good, new 19mm on your lugnuts, they will never stretch so bad the lug wrench won't fit. This is what we do whenever we work on either a Lincoln LS, or some of the Jaguars which have a similar lug nut. In fact I carry the socket. We don't use this socket for any other car.

If the caps are already stretched, take a nice new 19mm socket and hammer it on so that the cap flattens out onto each of the six sides of the lugnut and then use an impact to tighten/loosen the nut. This will help straighten the cap out SOMEWHAT. The best thing to do is to replace the nuts (see the rest of the thread about which nuts to use). If you do go back with OE lug nuts, always take your own socket to the shop when they work on your car and ask them to use it.
 
Now which nut?

Now, after all this discussion, I have the final question.

Has anyone found a SOLID lug not, not a capped one like OE, that will fit the car and the lug wrench?

A factory looking lug nut but better made, like 90% of the aftermarket lugnuts that are out there? One of the shank nuts would be good, like the toyota style shank with washer, but they're all 21mm.

I've got customers that want to use their original lug wrench and I want the right nut. Any ideas?
 
Now, after all this discussion, I have the final question.

Has anyone found a SOLID lug not, not a capped one like OE, that will fit the car and the lug wrench?

A factory looking lug nut but better made, like 90% of the aftermarket lugnuts that are out there? One of the shank nuts would be good, like the toyota style shank with washer, but they're all 21mm.

I've got customers that want to use their original lug wrench and I want the right nut. Any ideas?

The sebring lugs seem to work quite well. They actually have a Mitsubishi part number. I am using some Dorman lugs that are for that platform, and have had no problems.
 
I've had the Sebring nuts and the Dorman nuts from Rock Auto. The Dorman nuts (there are multiple choices, it appears) that I got have a thin, damageable layer of chrome on them. Those things are rusted to crap. The Sebring nuts appeared to be solid stainless or something, they never got a spot of rust on them (but that car got totaled and is the reason I got the cheap ones from Rock.)

The problem is, the Sebring nuts and the Dormans I use are 13/16 or 21 mm, so the question about finding 3/4"/19mm aftermarket lug nuts for the LS would be answered with a no in my case. Two sets of nuts, both of them non-compliant with the factory lug wrench.

Great advice about the personal socket, by the way, and welcome aboard, Tire Guy.

One other thing I could add is, when I got my replacement LS, it had badly distorted lug nuts and I used a 12 pt 3/4" socket to remove them with no issues.
 

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