Locking wheel nuts.

[chip]

Recently realised I hadn't any locking nuts on my wheels, so after some research decided on some evo mk5 jobbies as they got good reviews.

The instructions said to torq as per car manufacturers specifications, which I believe is 130 nm. Anyone have any experience of these locking nuts and are they ok to torq that much?

[jims-terrano]

To be honest I just buy a set of second hand genuine nissan locking nuts from cncfabs, seem just fine. As for torque, no idea i just have a long bar wheel brace and do em up tight but thats just me.

[macabethiel]

I am not a fan of locking wheel nuts as the only person they seem to inconvenience are not thieves but vehicle owners when they can't find the key or as happened with my old Carlton they just seize up.

I ended up cold chiseling the outer part of the lock and then hammering on the wrong sized socket so I could undo it. It took me ages to get that wheel off.

On my BMW Mini it had some sort of offset dowels that had been badly "ovaled-rounded" by the previous owner. I ended up having to get someone at work to weld a nut on to undo it.

I tend to rely on the tilt function on the car alarm being my protection. That said I have never had a set of wheels stolen only the valve caps when it was a craze. Now I use the plastic ones that are not very collectible and can't seize on.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Like you, the first job I now do when I get a new car, is remove the locking wheel nuts... Cause way more trouble than they are worth..

I lost the whole day when I got a puncture in roadworks on the M25, the locking wheel nut broke my key, the recovery drivers universal key, split his impact socket he hammered on it, and ended up with the car spending the rest of the day at a Volvo dealership miles away from home and my job site, while they welded a nut onto it and finally got it off... It cost over £300, plus a days lost wages, I could have got a second hand set of wheels for that!!

[emjaybee]

First job I do when I change vehicle is take each wheel nut off in turn, including locking ones, and smear a bit of copperslip on the threads.

Never had a problem with any of them.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by emjaybee

First job I do when I change vehicle is take each wheel nut off in turn, including locking ones, and smear a bit of copperslip on the threads.

Never had a problem with any of them.

I used to do that, but I have read a few times recently that greasing wheel nuts is a massive no no...

After we lost the wheel off the caravan, I have stopped doing it, just in case...

[emjaybee]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

I used to do that, but I have read a few times recently that greasing wheel nuts is a massive no no...

After we lost the wheel off the caravan, I have stopped doing it, just in case...

Can't speak for caravans, but if you've got original wheels on a vehicle, you should be able to slather studs and nuts in the best grease with no problems. Manufacturer steel wheels have a shaped recess for nuts that acts like a spring to help prevent nuts coming loose.

I literally put a small pea sized (we're talking petit pois here) blob on my finger for each stud evenly spread. I'm not looking to lubricate them, just stop them seizing.

I seem to remember that most vehicle hand books suggest checking things like that on a regular basis.

I tend to run a wheel wrench over them all probably every other month, same time that I check tyre pressures, levels etc.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by emjaybee

Can't speak for caravans, but if you've got original wheels on a vehicle, you should be able to slather studs and nuts in the best grease with no problems. Manufacturer steel wheels have a shaped recess for nuts that acts like a spring to help prevent nuts coming loose.

I literally put a small pea sized (we're talking petit pois here) blob on my finger for each stud evenly spread. I'm not looking to lubricate them, just stop them seizing.

I seem to remember that most vehicle hand books suggest checking things like that on a regular basis.

I tend to run a wheel wrench over them all probably every other month, same time that I check tyre pressures, levels etc.

I was just mentioning, because as I said, I did just like you for years, with no problem in both steel and ally wheels, but the caravan was scary. It has steel wheels, I did a service, torqued up the nuts, took it 30 miles to site, re-checked the nuts with the torque wrench, just like I have done hundreds of times in the past, but this time, on the way home, the wheel fell off.

Made me a bit paranoid, when the recovery truck driver commented on the fact that the treads looked like they had grease on them. I told him it was copperslip, but he said you should not even use that.

That was when I looked into it, and there were a lot of differing opinions on cars, but specifically, when you read the manual on the Alko chassis, which the caravan is based on, they specifically say "dry bolt torque" as grease allows the bolt to be over torqued and risks fracturing of the stud.

Since then, I have avoided it on all wheel nuts, and just check them regularly, by loosening them off, and re-torquing them.

[jims-terrano]

I've heard of advice saying don't use grease on your nuts before again I've used a smear on the threads and on the back of the wheels where they touch the hub. Not had a wheel stick to the hub and in fairness only seems to do this maybe once or twice in the lifetime of owning a vehicle.

Interesting point though about grease or not to grease.

[emjaybee]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

I was just mentioning, because as I said, I did just like you for years, with no problem in both steel and ally wheels, but the caravan was scary. It has steel wheels, I did a service, torqued up the nuts, took it 30 miles to site, re-checked the nuts with the torque wrench, just like I have done hundreds of times in the past, but this time, on the way home, the wheel fell off.

Made me a bit paranoid, when the recovery truck driver commented on the fact that the treads looked like they had grease on them. I told him it was copperslip, but he said you should not even use that.

That was when I looked into it, and there were a lot of differing opinions on cars, but specifically, when you read the manual on the Alko chassis, which the caravan is based on, they specifically say "dry bolt torque" as grease allows the bolt to be over torqued and risks fracturing of the stud.

Since then, I have avoided it on all wheel nuts, and just check them regularly, by loosening them off, and re-torquing them.

There used to be a fashion for Weller Steel 8 spoke wheels. They had a flat "nut" surface, i.e. they didn't have a dishes recess to assist with the nut tightness. I know of a number of them that came loose in use.

Has the caravan wheel got a "flat" surface as this could explain the wheel doing a "Reggie Perin".

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by emjaybee

There used to be a fashion for Weller Steel 8 spoke wheels. They had a flat "nut" surface, i.e. they didn't have a dishes recess to assist with the nut tightness. I know of a number of them that came loose in use.

Has the caravan wheel got a "flat" surface as this could explain the wheel doing a "Reggie Perin".

No, it had the countersink... It is one of those things I will never know the answer to... I do know that I now have those green pointers on the nuts to see if they work loose, but even they would not have helped in that case. That caravan only had 4 nuts, where as our current one now has 5, which I have always felt is better...

[emjaybee]

Curiouser, and curiouser!

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by emjaybee

First job I do when I change vehicle is take each wheel nut off in turn, including locking ones, and smear a bit of copperslip on the threads.

Never had a problem with any of them.

The purists and most owner manuals say wheel threads must be clean and free of grease. The reason being the Torque setting will be completely false if the threads are lubricated as this will lead to substantial over tightening and risks thread distortion or stripping.
I like you use Copper Slip on the wheel face and threads but only tighten up with a normal wheel spider or better still the one that comes in the tool kit.

If you do forget to tighten up your wheels you usually get a strange clicking sound from the wheels if you have only nipped them up slightly!

[emjaybee]

I never use a torque wrench on them. I just tighten as hard as possible I think my standard wheel wrench.

[elty001]

Got to be metal on metal to get the correct torque settings.
I just use a bit of gt80 on them then wipe with a rag so the threads are nice and clean.