Tell me about "Warped Lug Nuts". Took my truck to Ford dealer last week for an oil change and tire rotation. They called and told me I had warped lug nuts and wanted an additional $125.00 to replace them. I asked if this was like "blinker fluid" and they said No...its a real thing. I declined the service. Ever heard of such a thing? It's an F -150.

Just say no. They don't warp. They may round off a couple, but not warp and that would be the fault of whoever used the wrong socket to remove them. And fire that dealer.

There was a thread here last week about this. It’s caused by the aluminum shell on the steel lug nuts corroding and distorting, sometimes to the point your lug wrench won’t fit. Check them out, replace with all steel nuts.

Did they look like this?






I posted this thread a couple weeks ago on the same issue. Come to find out, it ain't just Ford.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...s/17325208/re-good-job-ford#Post17325208

From the link:


The capped lug nuts can be found on many post-2010 model years of the Fusion, Escape, Flex, Focus, F-150, and F-350. Consider yourselves lucky, F-250 owners.

Unexpected costs of two-piece lug nuts ∞
Because the lug nuts don't swell in a predictable or uniform manner, even roadside assistance services like AAA often can't remove the lug nuts roadside. Instead, owners need to use a towing service.
When at the shop, owners are told they'll need to replace the lug nuts and at $8 a pop / 5 per wheel, the costs can really add up.
Plaintiff Robert Desotelle says he and other owners must pay to replace the swollen and cracked lug nuts, and then cover the labor costs to remove the bad lug nuts. Desotelle says he paid $58.28 in repair and replacement costs for just one of the four wheels on his Ford Fusion.
Ford has been staunchly unsympathetic when it comes to complaints about lug nuts and says "the plaintiffs talk about swollen lug nuts as if the lug nuts should be indestructible and the warranties should last forever." Lug nuts shouldn't last forever, but they also shouldn't be impossible to remove without special equipment after 10,000 miles.

Had them , chiseled the caps off myself and removed the actual lug nuts underneath. Replaced with one piece . It’s a real thing

This sounds like a purposefully engineered defect…

Yeah…that’s kinda what they told me. Looks like they’d have lug nuts figured out by now. And maybe he said “swell”…not warped.

This is a good reminder to check the type lug nuts one has on a vehicle. Replace them if capped with Al preemptively, to avoid being stranded.

By the title, I thought this thread would be about our current administration.

Another result of our helpful Dept of Transportation and all the road salt they dump on our highways.



Jerry

Thought you were talkin' about liberals............... dang....

Always hated the salt.
Until they started using brine.
If they had used brine in the late 70s-early 80s, those cars would have
rotted out while you watched.

More to do w aluminum coated lug nuts and so.e phuqck head using an impact on em.

From what I’ve read, it’s primarily caused by heat and corrosion and resulting distortion.

No disagreement here but had they been steel there would have been no issues and if they hadn't been hammered on they may have lasted a little longer.

If Ford wasn't the first, they certainly strive to be the best at screwing up something as simple as a lugnut. This is why I absolutely HATE Fords. They engineer failure into every vehicle and I won't buy another.

Kinda silly to think it's only Ford or only certain models of Ford. My wifes Buick has the swollen lug nuts and there are lots of Youtube videos where mechanics show what they go through to get theses lugs off all brands.

Alrighty then.

LOL

If you are in the habit of taking your truck to the dealer for an oil change (?) and tire rotation then it was the dealer that fugged up the cheap-ass two piece lug nuts and they should be replacing them gratis.

Winner, winner,.....

My question would be:
“How do you propose they got warped?”

Problem resolved!

Toyotas have excellent lug nuts.

Order solid chrome lug nuts and replace the capped, two-piece crap that is on vehicles nowadays. I do this on every vehicle purchase and save myself heartache if/when I need to remove them.

EBay is your friend...

I have no idea if this is the size needed for an F-150.

I have never owned a F-150.

Timely thread… I just got back inside (105 on my porch) because I got a call from a guy outside the gate of the storage yard that needed to drop his boat until he could get his pickup serviced at the Ford dealer…
Newer truck, not sure of the year, but it went into limp home mode on his way home from vacation… Trying to maybe help him, I asked if his transmission fluid level was ok and he told me that the new trucks don’t have anyplace to check or add fluid and that it’s considered a dealer service gig now …WTF??? He let it cool down a bit and we disconnected the battery so maybe the computer would reset but when he tried to restart, I didn’t think he was gonna get it going….. kept cranking and cranking and finally got it started…. He pulled down the driveway and parked in the shade….need to go see if he’s still there or waiting for a tow….at least I have ice water if he needs it.

They aren't that hard to get off.

Go to a real parts house, buy 1/2 sized sockets. (Will help if you explain what you are doing)


They will usually work, with a breaker bar.
And aren't too hard to get the nuts out of.

Can you give me a link to “a real parts house” in Kenai or Homer?


hint: I already know the answer! 👍🤣

I'm still trying to figure out what a 1/2 sized socket is ???

It’s a tweener.

18.5mm, 19.5mm, 20.5mm.

In the case with my daughter’s car,

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...s/17325208/re-good-job-ford#Post17325208

full sizes were either too big or too small.

That’s a new one on me! I always just grabbed a standard socket if none of the metric ones fit.

The other thread was the first time I heard of it. These things were so distorted that neither metric nor SAE sockets fit.

Yes, I had my lug nuts all changed out on my F-150 at 90,000 miles.

I have my tires rotated and balanced about every 5,000 miles.

I had the service tech show me that the lug nuts and my wrench to remove them would no longer work.

Easy to have them replace with quality lug nuts.

I'm thinking they might possibly have been messed up but warped was very bad description

Or just Amazon, even.

Yes, it's a well known issue with Ford and is the subject of a couple of class action law suits.
Also, several posters here don't know [bleep].

Had to replace the nuts on a 2014 Focus for the covers stripping out. Same thing happened on a 1981 Olds Cutlass that I had. Cheap crap stamped covers suck. Definitely want to buy solid replacements.

Had it happen on Jeeps and a Honda even. It seems most all manufacturers are going to them in an effort to cheapen out.

2021 Jeep Renegade, supposedly has same type of lugnuts.
$44 for a new aftermarket full set.
Changing them when changing wheels.

If you're ever in a jam, hammer a 12 point socket on and spin it off. Watched a ruski get all the nuts off a car except the locking lugs. He pinched the crap out of his fingers with channeloks trying to spin off the locks. When he gave up.....I nabbed them in 2 minutes.

IT took a cutting torch when it happened to me.

Somewhere I have a reverse easy out set. Spiraled socket thing. Those tires guys, no never sieze, impact set to about 1000 pounds. I have seen some dandy butress threads except the butress is wrong way.

Dont even mention left handed old Dodges or lug bolts

Speaking of Ford, you see those 7 hole wheels, or 6 hole but not chevy 6?

Saw a 6 hole Chevy Black Widow once.

Yes, they do bulge out of shape over time. It can be better to replace them.the Ford lug has a threaded steel piece inside, covered by a shroud of another metal that forms the lug flats. It's the shroud that bulges out shape and can look like it will separate from the steel threaded piece.

I replaced mine after the years with solid steel lug nuts.

I'd say if they are bulging, replace them. Not only do the steel ones look better, they're not going to fail you.

My Dodge had the same crap for lug nuts on it.

It didn't show and I never realized they were trashed until I attempted to remove them and found there wasn't a sockett made that'd fit them.

Fortunately the truck was in my shop at the time and not sitting beside the road with a flat.

Hammered on a impact sockett, one by one and took them all off and replaced them for 20 some-odd bucks via Amazon.

I doubt any auto manufacture makes their own, they buy them all from the same Chink, no vehicles immune.

None of that crap on my 1995 Taco!

Any engineer who would spec an aluminum cap on a steel lug nut is an idiot.

It means the monkey they have doing the tire rotations used the wrong tool, screwed up the lug nuts, and now they want you to pay to replace them. An ethical company would say "sorry we screwed the job up but we'll make it right" then they'd fix it right on their own dime. This is a car dealership we're talking about though, so ethics don't apply.

Was 60 miles out in the boonies last fall on one of Cookie's photo runs. A young couple camped nearby with a spiffy new lifted truck wearing custom wheels. One went flat and the owner found out none of his equipment would fit the lugs and no one else had equipment that would work either. Local tire shop drove down and changed his tire. Never did hear what the cost was.

Just had to change these crappy lug nuts on my 2014 Silverado.

Did you read the thread identifying the problem?

Pay $60,000.00 or more for a new truck and they put on lug nuts not worth a democrat. Got it.

Pounding a tight fitting socket on the stripped out stamped cover nuts does work to get them out, had to do it on four of them on that Focus. I think that the covers are stainless steel, a least on the ones that I've dealt with.

Al.

Sounds a lot like a certain maker of rifles - make something with a defect, and everyone who likes the brand will try to deflect the fault to the users or other outside factors.

So since then Toyoda has apparently forgotten how to install lug nuts on new vehicles! Consider yourself lucky!

---Toyota recalls new bZ4X electric vehicle after wheels start falling off---

If you paid $42,000 for a car, the least one might expect is to have its wheels remain firmly attached to the vehicle instead of, say, falling off at a moment’s notice. And yet here we are, Toyota.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japanese carmaker has been forced to recall every single bZ4X sold since its recent release earlier this year — around 2,700 cars globally. The cause? Well, it’s the darndest thing. You see, the wheels keep popping off at the exact worst times. Hell, anytime it pops off after exiting the factory floor is probably the worst time.

Click Here

Ha! You just now realized that??


Jerry

Once had a jeep that had the caps eventually come off of the nuts. The caps loosened up early on and eventually came off. A metric socket fit perfectly on the bare nut. I think it was 17mm but the jeep is long gone now. I thought that the caps were chrome.

I have had a toyota now for as look as I'd had the jeep and the nuts are just fine.

"Warped Lugnuts" loosely translated means we cranked your schit down with an impact wrench and no anti seize.

For crying out loud, read the posts! It is not necessarily an over tightening problem. Over time, the “cap” begins to separate from the lug. It often bulges out of shape.

It is a design problem.

Read the thread?

Shirley you jest!