ve never messed with my Fiesta much - just get the oil changed, put gas in it, enjoy 40+ mpg.
Well, after almost 170k miles, brakes were needed. Not a hard job, really, but there was a moment today when I thought, "Ok, Im calling a mechanic on Monday..."
Why? Because of lugnuts.
I told my friend about my defeat due to not being able to get lugnuts off. They were stripping, sizes werent right (online it says 19mm, but that was NOT fitting, 20mm fit but the lugnuts were getting STUCK in the socket. Stuck so bad that Ive spend half an hour and one is still in there...Though now I have a good idea how to get it out.
Anyway, about that buddy of mine, he sent a video about two ways to fix the lugnuts - one was using a 'flip socket,' which is half mm sizes, so instead of 19, it's 19.5 etc
Eh, I want this done now, no time ot order off Amazon.
The other was to destroy the outer aluminum cover on the steel lugnuts.
Apparently, around 2010, Ford changed to a 2 piece lugnut - steel with an aluminum cover. And that cover can 'swell' and make it VERY hard to get off.
Basically, my lugnuts looked like spline lugnuts due to deforming and such.
So I thought I'd give it a try.
Tools needed:
-Hammer
-Punch or chisel (I used a punch because I dont have a small chisel)
-flathead screwdriver(s)
-pair of pliers
Some of these took, literally, less than a minute and it was done. Some were more difficult, though and took two or three minutes. But brakes are done and Ive replaced the fronts (I'll do the rears later, I was SOAKING wet from sweat) with spline drive lugnuts from White Knight from AutoZone.
I couldve just removed the covers and reused the stock units, but, again, one is still stuck in a socket.
Basic instructions:
-use punch to puncture the outer layer
-use flathead to start 'cutting' the outer layer and prying it away from steel center
-Eventually you'll hear the 'pop' of the piece separating, use pliers to pull it out
-done
Pics:
I bought 16 soild, one piece lugs for the 04 Focus for exactly the same reason. F-dat mess.
Had that happen with my sister's Dodge Nitro. Just sent it to the tire shop for them to deal with as it needed a tire anyway.. Those lugs suck a**
Oh, yeah. Been there done that more than a few times. Here are the remains of the lugs from one wheel on my daughter's Escape:
From now on, whenever we get a new or new-to-us Ford, the first thing I do is replace the factory lugs with one-piece models.
wae
PowerDork
8/20/22 5:04 p.m.
There was actually a class action lawsuit about those a while ago. I don't think anything came of it, though.
Mopar was also big with those. On the Neon, the caps would just come off cleanly and then I'd have to use an 18mm socket instead of the 19. On the PT Cruiser that I babysit occasionally, they swell up and get stuck like the Fords.
Awful design.
Yep, they are a real PITA. I bought a set of “flip” impact sockets off the ‘zon that give you the odd sizes above what they’re supposed to be (20 mm vs 19 mm) along with two sets of solid lug nuts to replace the OEM ones on my wife’s Fusion and my daughter’s Focus a couple of months back. I won but it took more effort than it should have.
Will
UberDork
8/20/22 5:55 p.m.
Why did they do this in the first place?
No fwd fords in my wrenching history, but I'll remember that. Did have that problem with some '90s GM... except I think the covers were a very thin SS. Not sure. Never put one back on, though!!!
Was stripping a 68 Fury III for a friend. He wanted the rear before the yard got it. Taking the wheels off, one side came off ok - typical rust and age; nothing surprising. Fought the other side. Broke a couple cheap sockets. Found one of my good 3/8 drive 6 points - broke the 3/8 to 1/2 adapter! Gave up for the night. Over night I remembered Mopar used left hand threads on the drivers side, for a while!!! Glad that well meaning engineering thought went away (almost). Kinda got caught by it on my FL 50, but remembered before I broke anything!
My 03 Ram 1500 had the same things, much frustration.
The Trick.
Get a 19mm deep well socket. Yes they are 19mm. Hammer the socket on. Now you have the socket on, you need a way of removing it.
Hammer the ratchet end of the socket up, down, left, right, in that order and enough times that you can slip the socket off easily. What you are doing is peening the chrome cap back down onto the base lugnut.
Do the other three.
Remove them as normal. Feel free to throw them away and replace with single piece acorn nuts.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
The Trick.
Get a 19mm deep well socket. Yes they are 19mm. Hammer the socket on. Now you have the socket on, you need a way of removing it.
Hammer the ratchet end of the socket up, down, left, right, in that order and enough times that you can slip the socket off easily. What you are doing is peening the chrome cap back down onto the base lugnut.
Do the other three.
Remove them as normal. Feel free to throw them away and replace with single piece acorn nuts.
Dude, Ive beat the tar out of this socket/lugnut 'combo' and that lugnut aint coming out. Im going to try something tomorrow, cutting away the 'base' of the aluminum cover and then seeing if that helps any. It might not. I might be out a 20mm socket.
03Panther said:
No fwd fords in my wrenching history, but I'll remember that. Did have that problem with some '90s GM... except I think the covers were a very thin SS. Not sure. Never put one back on, though!!!
It's not just the FWD Fords, the Expedition had them, too.
I seem to recall this same basic idiocy on my '76 Olds Cutlass. Very pretty wheels in body color with trim rings and center caps. The lug nuts however were two pieces--ugly plain steel nut covered with a pretty shiny metal cover.
So apparently it's nothing new, but for whatever reason, manufacturers still do it.
GM has used those since 1982, certainly, because that's what's on my Camaro. I'm pretty sure they were on things in the 70's, too, and yet still, the manufacturers use them because they are cheap.
I'm a bit surprised there is anybody on the planet that didn't already know about the 18mm trick.
I changed the tire for a lady on the turnpike about a month ago on her expedition. She said her tire wrench didn't fit. Sure enough- it was these stupid lug nuts. I used the jack arm to hammer the lug wrench on but man, it's was really tough getting them off and on, more than half luck I'd say. If I had a Ford or anything else that used these I'd change them out asap.
It's not just since 2010, my 97 mustang has similar jacketed lug nuts.
Not 100%sure they are the originals, but been on there since at least 2002
This had to be the bean counters answer to the stylist request for chrome lug nuts. No engineering wa involved.
Probably with a side of corrosion resistance
hybridmomentspass said:
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
The Trick.
Get a 19mm deep well socket. Yes they are 19mm. Hammer the socket on. Now you have the socket on, you need a way of removing it.
Hammer the ratchet end of the socket up, down, left, right, in that order and enough times that you can slip the socket off easily. What you are doing is peening the chrome cap back down onto the base lugnut.
Do the other three.
Remove them as normal. Feel free to throw them away and replace with single piece acorn nuts.
Dude, Ive beat the tar out of this socket/lugnut 'combo' and that lugnut aint coming out. Im going to try something tomorrow, cutting away the 'base' of the aluminum cover and then seeing if that helps any. It might not. I might be out a 20mm socket.
Is it still attached to the car, torqued to 100ft-lb?
DrMikeCSI said:
This had to be the bean counters answer to the stylist request for chrome lug nuts. No engineering wa involved.
The amusing part is acorn lug nuts can be bought in bulk for a buck or two apiece but the two piece lug nuts can run $15 each.
My 2012 Highlander had swollen nuts too. Twelve point sockets may exacerbate the problem. Mechanic friend said buy replacements asap, so I did.
OHSCrifle said:
My 2012 Highlander had swollen nuts too.
He he he he he. I'm still a twelve year old .
Funny .. I've had this same general type of lugnut on various Hondas that we've owned since 1991. A few of those were very high mile cars, living all their days in WI. Never ran into this problem on any of them, ever. Wonder what they do differently vs. Ford, "Mopar", Jeep, etc.?
I'm sorry, but the bare feet in the garage pic just makes me cringe ... all I can think about is how po'd my wife would be when I bloody up the kitchen floor after the inevitable carnage.
