Missing Lug Nuts
 

Hey. I went to wash my car this afternoon and as I washed each wheel, I noticed that two lug nuts were missing (one from each of my passenger side wheels). One of the missing lug nuts was a locking nut. I switched from my snow tires in late May/early June and haven't checked the nuts since. I used a torque wrench and put 85 lbs of torque on each nut after I changed the wheels. Can these things loosen up enough to completely fall off or do you think some punk was just fucking around? I just amped up the torque on the remaining nuts to 100 and installed a couple lugs from my winter set to replace the missing ones. Thanks!

anything is possible.

get some more lug nuts.

Ya.... I filled out the order form for my lock nut. Now have to find some stock regular lugs.

I saw a bear in the woods once and it was eating its own shit. I was quite surprised by this, so instead of running in fear I decided to join the bear in the feces fest. The bear, while awestruck in my courage decided his best course of action, rather than kill me was to scoop up as much of his meal as he could and depart.

The bear had done so, but there was plenty left behind for me.

Did you steal my lug nuts?

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You should always recheck your lugs after about 50 miles. Also, over torquing them can stretch the bolt allowing them to come off. I learned that when I lost 4 and almost a wheel after fixing a puncture myself.

100 seems kind of high, no?

Thought stock tq on the lugs was around 75? I usually go hand tight, then hit it a wee bit more w a breaker bar. Been doin that since I started driving back in 91, have yet to lose a lug yet.

I think the manual said to do 88-118. Does this mean 88? I just drove to work and my nuts felt tight. I just find it hard to believe that they would just loosen and fall off on their own. Same side of the car and two of them.. idk.

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+1^. 75-80 ft. lbs. is a good rule of thumb.

I never had a lug back itself off either.

Well we just did springs last weekend on my buddies gen1, and we hit it with a impact gun once we finished up. 1/2 miles down the road, shits came loose. And that impact gun is pretty fucking strong too. I'll never trust any other method other than My own.

All right, I will bring em back to 85 or so when I get home. Just crazy. Was so surprised to see them missing.

I had one fall off my speed3 a couple weeks ago. First time for me of any vehicle. It too was the passenger side, and I too torque to 85 ft-lbs.

I chalked it up to missing one when torq'ing. It happens, I double checked the rest and they were fine.

If you are going to lose one, it'll most likely be the passenger side. Passenger side wheels are moving in a clock-wise direction which is the opposite of the loosening direction for the lug nuts, so every time you accelerate you put a loosening force on the lug nuts.

Wheels are designed to lose one lug nut, it's when you lose two (on the same wheel) that things can start to go bad (I'm not saying you should knowingly drive with one missing one though).

Thanks for the info!! I really hope they loosened up and fell off vs getting taken off.

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Lol I doubt there's a stock lugnuts thief hehe.

I spat a load of sunflower seeds all over my desk.

Yeah. what if some asshole is scoping your shit out, and they were trying to loosen/remove some of the nuts so they could jack your shit easier! :thinkerg: ..... or maybe somebody just does'nt like you. :mischievous:

Ya that is what I was afraid of. Been checking the past few days and they feel real tight and none missing yet. Who knows...

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If youre paranoid about someone trying to jack your rims or ride.....buy wheel locks. I have the project Mu lugs, which you are acorn style so that you can use them with the factory rims. These do not come with the standard wheel lock keys that can be bought at any rim shop. I just broke the key a few weeks ago, went all over the place in NJ trying to replace it and nobody carries it. Had to get it from Mackin Industries, and provide all types of fucking proof that I owned a set of the lugs in order to get a replacement key. Of course, if someone really wants to get the shit off, they would literally have to bust all 20 lugs off the car.

I have wheel locks. If someone wants your shit though they are useless. Lots of vids online of how to get wheel locks off without a key. For mine I just had to register the key and locks and supply the code to get new ones.

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Yeah I know you can bust them off without the key....but like I said, when all 20 are locked....Imma make someone work for that shit.:dance:

Haha. Ya sorry didn't see that you said you had all 20 as lock nuts. That is intense.

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I actually encountered the same problem. I'm missing two of my rear driverside lug nuts. I just thought I'll just fix this tommorrow as I have a lot of things to do now. But would there be any issue if I continue to drive my car without my lug nuts for wheel? Thanks.

Not relevant to people jacking your shit, but I would highly encourage greasing the threads of the lug nuts before torquing as well, since grease allows you to actually hit the correct torque. If concerned about bitches stealing shit, could also use red loctite. :fuckyou:

You got to be shitting us right?

Anyhow, NEVER use grease or loctite or antiseize on lug nut threads.

Also the torque wrench you used, sure it's ft/lbs and not inch/lbs?
Also if it is a ft/lbs torque wrench, do you leave it at 85 ft/lbs when you put it away?
You have to loosen the spring on any torque wrench back to its lowest setting when you're done otherwise the spring will fail readings as it is always compressed.

I bring the wrench back to its lowest setting before putting it away. It is ft/lbs as well. I have been checking my lugs every time I get in the car and they are all quite tight.

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ORLY?

No. Am not kidding. Well about the loctite, yes. You seem knowledgeable about how torque wrenches work...

Do you torque bolts with totally dry threads and believe the reading is accurate? Have you seen what wheel studs look like 3 winters into their life? That shit is corroded as fuck, and between that corrosion and shitty torque wrenches, I absolutely put grease on the threads.

Perhaps you don't understand, so I'll say it again - grease does not make things unthread. It allows them to be properly torqued in the first place.

First off, I do know what happens to threads after a few winters... I am Canadian afterall.

That said, when I change summer to winter wheels, I have a metal brush on hand and I'll brush up the threads and clean up the corrosion.

Use of grease on a stud will fuck with the torque reading, and will in fact cause you to over torque the bolt.. this is a known fact.

If you use grease on anything I use a bit on the wheel face that makes contact with the hub.. but that's about it.

QFT

@bms3mtb, Torque specs are based on a number of knowns to tighten a bolt so the proper clamp force can be obtained. Engineers spec the torque with the desired clamp force (bolt tension), thread friction, and fastener face friction already considered. You should NOT apply grease to torqued joints that do not call for it in manuals. The grease lowers the fastener thread friction and you will overtorque the fasteners unless you know how much you should lower the target torque value due to that lower friction.

^^^THIS

Explained it better than me.. but yeah.

That's 88-118 N-m, which is 65-87 ft-lbs. Many a bolt has been sheared by people not checking units on torque specs....

Thanks for the info! This is all good to know.

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Meh. I use anti-seize and torque to the lowest value. So far, so good, and I don't have to break my back to get the fucking things off the next time around.

YMMV, but in my mechanical profession, every thread gets treated in some manner to ensure that they are appropriately torqued and do not get corroded or seized.

While I'm sure the specs consider some level of friction, I'm also sure the level generated by corrosion exceeds that after a few years - torque specs don't change by how much shit is on the threads, so I clean them, grease, and carry on. Never once over-torqued, broken, or had trouble undoing the threads...