Cursed by the dreaded Ford Swollen lug nuts!

[Delta]

Ran into this issue with the Liberty last summer trying to change out the front brakes. Got all off except for one and me being the stubborn person I am managed to completely mangle it and had to take it to a shop. Had I had an impact at the time I would have probably been ok. Replaced them with some Dorman (ugh) solid piece nuts, but after one winter barely driven in salt they're looking pretty ugly. Also had this issue on the Tacoma, but this time I have an air impact and was able to get them off. I was going to replace all with new solid nuts as well, but the guy who sold me the low mile take off wheel/tires gave me the old nuts that are in much better shape. We'll see as time goes by. The Camry has the same exact nuts so I'm keeping a close eye on them as well...

 

[Lapham3]

I first ran into these 2 piece nuts with GM Rally wheels in the late 1960's. I've never liked them and have replaced them with quality 1 piece. That's generally been various McGard nuts. They are expensive but very hard and a better chrome plating job.

 

[ls973800]

How are they holding up against rust?

Not bad, actually. I purchased them and installed them for him in September 2019. They have been through 2 winters now with daily driving and in our area where they use salt on the roads. I have rotated his tires twice since installing them and they have been no problem at all.

I had read some reviews before purchase about rust concerns, but so far so good.

 

[HangFire]

I had to deal with it on my Dakota. I went with Gorilla 41188 nuts 6 years ago, and no problems since.

For rounded nuts, sometimes the specialty sockets will work. The last one I ended up grinding some flats on it with an air cutoff wheel, and then hammered on a splined socket for the win.

 

[Tim_S]

When I had my Ram 1500, read about its similar lug nuts, and replaced them with Gorilla lugs. No issues afterwards. Now driving an F150, I find the same POS lug nuts, so I replaced those with the Gorilla lugs to forestall any future issues. Both OEMs use those soft steel lugs with the SS caps pressed over them. I can see how repeated exposure to salt can cause issues with those, as can any shop neophyte who uses an impact socket that is a size too big. Easy to see how that can happen in a time is everything environment.

 

[super20dan]

cant believe auto industry is allowed to use these still. it was GM that first used this garbage back in 70,s on mid sized cars. hated them using an impact on them would tear the decorative cover right off