Buyer beware with used

[jhammy49]

"swollen lug nuts" . Is that related in any way to "blue balls " ?

Who doesn't love a good blue balls joke. Classic!

Just about all used cars have something bad hiding and waiting for you to find. If it turns out the worst thing you find is some swollen lug nuts, I'd say you lucked out.

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[GJarrett]

Also sounds like swollen nuts to me. I hate these chrome capped nuts.

On another note...

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/4-pc-locking-wheel-nut-remover-set/A-p8320954e

... it's not very reassuring to know that all it takes for a thief to take your wheels that are protected with wheel lock lug nuts is a $33 kit.

 

[jhammy49]

On another note...



... it's not very reassuring to know that all it takes for a thief to take your wheels that are protected with wheel lock lug nuts is a $33 kit.

That is kind of depressing. Though I have always thought that if a thief wants my stuff and willing to put in the time there is not much I can do. I just try to slow down and discourage the bad and lazy ones.

 

[Jobodizo]

I also had the, eh hem, swollen nuts issue. I had a Pirelli replaced at Firestone (long story) and they over-torqued the nuts with a 12pt. Nothing like a hammer and dremel to "fix" the problem.

Who makes the best aftermarket nuts for our cars? I've seen a lot of listings on CJ and AM for Gorilla. I'll probably just replace all of them when I put the summer wheels back on in a couple months.

 

[jhammy49]

I also had the, eh hem, swollen nuts issue. I had a Pirelli replaced at Firestone (long story) and they over-torqued the nuts with a 12pt. Nothing like a hammer and dremel to "fix" the problem.

Who makes the best aftermarket nuts for our cars? I've seen a lot of listings on CJ and AM for Gorilla. I'll probably just replace all of them when I put the summer wheels back on in a couple months.

I have all Gorilla. 4 standard nuts and 1 locking on each wheel. And I went all black against my 15 PP black wheels. I love the look.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

... it's not very reassuring to know that all it takes for a thief to take your wheels that are protected with wheel lock lug nuts is a $33 kit.

I may be wrong, but those don't seem to be all they would need and it would not be quick. The tool looks like it would easily remove a locking lug other than ones who have an outside cylinder that turns freely. But the tool would be unusable again until the lug is removed from it which would take some time. The only way to avoid that delay while exposed to being caught in the act would be to have one tool for every locking lug on the car. Which is one reason why I have 20 locking lugs.

Any prevention device can be defeated or we wouldn't have Mission Impossible movies. All they can do is slow the bad guys down or make cost/risk exceed the reward. Using 20 locking lugs, not only increases their risk and workload, it's also like the joke about not having to outrun an attacking Grizzly as long as you can outrun any of the people you're with. A thief is going to go after cars with no or one locking lug first.

Tip: next time you have tires off your wheels, use a Sharpie and write a reward offer inside for anybody who removes the tires. Make sure you tell your tire guy and whoever you sell the wheels with tires to down the road. ;)

Sure the real pros know there could be a reward offer inside but you might ruin the day of some amateurs.

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