Lug Nut Warning!

[sunnysmith]

Hi Guys,

When he was replacing the wheels, Bob noticed a major problem with the existing lug nuts:

Look at this Picture

The lug on the left is the one that came on and the lug on the right is one from BBS. The threads on the left lug do not extend all the way to the end. There is very little thread being used, and the threads in several lugs had started to fail. I am not sure if these lugs are stock or not, but they are the ones that came on it from the dealer. This is a dangerous situation. If the lugs fail, you could be in great peril.

I urge all of you to pull one lug off your van and just check it to make sure it isn't like this. If it is, you should replace them.

-Sunny

[Ceej]

Edit: Was able to see them.

What is the stud? 12 x 1.5 pitch?

CJ

Edited March 13, 2011 by Ceej

[Hal]

I got a set of Ford Focus wheels to put on my TC. I test fitted them before mounting tires and figured out what the problem is.

The lugnuts that come on the TC are the type called cone washer nuts. The cone is a washer that spins freely on the nut so that they can be torqued down without any binding. The cone part is a washer and as such is not threaded. This works fine on the thinner steel wheels because the stud is long enough to reach well in to the nut which is threaded all the way.

Alloy wheels are thicker in the area around the wheel studs. So when you try to use these cone washer nuts with alloy wheels the studs are not long enough. They are only long enough engage 2 1/2 threads in the nut with the wheels I got.

The stock lugnuts are great for steel wheels, even better than the standard open end lugnuts due to the washer design. But if you are going to use alloy wheels, you will have to get lugnuts that will allow more thread engagement. The type you get will depend on the wheel. Some will use a cone type and some will need the straight "tuner" types.

Bottom line: If you put alloy wheels on your TC you must get lugnuts made for those wheels.

Also the threads are the standard Ford 12 x 1.5 pitch.

[azdamay]

Thanks for sharing that info! What kind of Focus wheels did you end up putting on the Transit?

[Hal]

Don't have a pic of them on the TC yet. The tires I want are on backorder at TireRack. But this a pic of them on a 2012 Focus

Any wheels of the 2012 Focus will fit the TC. Don't get any for earlier Focuses since they are 4x108 rather than the 5x108 on the TC.

[azdamay]

Wow that's weird. I saw those on the internet the other day and was thinking those would look awesome on the Transit Connect... and that's what you got. LOL. Nice choice. If the TC wasn't a company-owned vehicle and I had some spare money, those would be my choice as well.

[Transit Connect Guy]

Wow they do look nice....I shall call it the Focus Connect..lol....

[marrigoshiy]

Hi. I bought a Connect (03) my first car! I love it to death and refuse to part with it despite it's multiple problems. I was wondering if anyone had experience of wheel nuts that seem to be very bad quality. When I change the wheels or sevice the brakes and try to screw the nuts back on, there are always.... ALWAYS two or three nuts that spin having had the threads chewed through like butter. The nuts and the bolts are genuine Ford parts from my local Ford centre. They cost 8 EUros each and every time I change the tyres I end up spendy about 40 Euros to replace the nuts (sometimes the bolt as well but not always). I'm not over tightening them. I do it by hand and 'don't' jump on the wratchet but always end up with teo or three nuts that need to be thrown out. Are the Nuts just made from a particularly soft metal or is there an alternative type of nut that I can buy because I'm sick of buying crap that doesn't work from Ford?