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Thread: Locking wheel nuts

  1. #1
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    Locking wheel nuts

    I took my car in to the neighbourhood garage to have winter tires mounted on steel rims and put on the car a few weeks ago.

    Today, I noticed that one of the Mitsubishi locking wheel lug nuts was almost off - easily turned by hand, and here is the strange part - it seemed to be sheared in half (and rusty on the exposed metal). I walked around the car and found the other front wheel locking nut was also sheared.

    My hypotheses currently is that the garage may have used too much force through their impact wrench, or that the lug nuts were from a defective batch.

    I'll make some calls tomorrow, but I suspect the garage may blame the lug nuts and the dealer may blame the garage!

    It was very easy to remove one, with it being loose - the other might be a bit of a trick.

    Anyone else have this problem?


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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE 1.2 manual: 45.0 mpg (US) ... 19.1 km/L ... 5.2 L/100 km ... 54.1 mpg (Imp)


  2. #2
    Administrator Daox's Avatar
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    Weird issue. Can you get us a picture?
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Daox View Post
    Weird issue. Can you get us a picture?
    I'm not going to bother with the picture. I do, however, have a reasonable explanation. Pardon me if some of the terminology isn't correct.

    The locking lug nuts should not go on steel wheels - only the aluminum alloy wheels. The steel wheel isn't as thick where the nuts connect with it. This makes the wheel studs (bolts that come off the car) effectively longer when steel wheels are used. This means that the locking lug nuts are a little too shallow for the bolt - the end of the bolt then pushes through the back of the locking nut, breaking it. I took all 4 off and replaced them with the original lug nuts.

    The shop that installed the tires had no idea what caused it. The Mitsubishi service adviser hadn't seen the issue either - the service manager had, though, and explained the problem. The shop removed the bad nut and checked the torque on all of them. Mitsubishi obviously said it wasn't a warranted issue, but were fair about it, I thought.

    Moral of the story - locking nuts for summer rims only.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE 1.2 manual: 45.0 mpg (US) ... 19.1 km/L ... 5.2 L/100 km ... 54.1 mpg (Imp)


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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 37.6 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.3 L/100 km ... 45.2 mpg (Imp)


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