Okay, I'm a little puzzled on this one so I wanted to see if anyone else had any suggestions.

I have some 17" rims/tires that I drive on during the summer time...well since it's winter I put on my 14" snow tires and for some reason....the lug nuts on the front driver side keep coming loose after I drive it for 5-10 minutes...tighten them back up ....drive the car again and the same thing....any ideas? oh ya, i use the same lugs on both sets....the winter tires are 195 and the 17's are 215's.....

 

Are you actually torquing down the nuts to 90 ft-lbs or are you just tightening them by feel?

 

and are you tightening them in a criss-cross star pattern?

 

It's a 4-lug pattern so cris-cross....and I tighten them until the car starts to move slightly...same as i have done for the past 2 years.

 

Just do yourself a favour and get a torque wrench, tighten them down to 90 ft-lbs. If they still come off you know you have some issues. Doesn't really matter what pattern you tighten them in.

 

It does matter what pattern you tighten them in if you have disc brakes on any car, if you tighten the first bolt to 90ftlb (with all the rest still loose) and then go across and do 90ftlb, you are going to warp the rotor. This is a fact and any good tech can tell you that. Make the lug nuts snug first then go around and torque them down.

Also the shape of the surface of the lug nut that touches the rim is designed for a certain type of rim, lug nuts are not universal at all. Maybe they worked in the past on both sets of rims but by now the lug nut contact point must be warn to a slightly different shape.

Go to a wheel place and pick up some good lug nuts for your winter tires and rims and dont take a chance on getting killed over 40 bucks or whatever they cost.

 

I did as you guys said and snugged them all up and tightened them down to 90 ft-lbs. the same ones still come loose. i'm using the lug nuts that came with my rims for both sets right now...I'll go purchase some factory lugs and try those with my winter tires....if that doesn't work...what next?

 

Are both sets of wheels (rims) OEM Honda factory ones? Is one set aftermarket? You did not state which, so you have us guessing. Honda factory wheels use lug nuts with rounded seats. After market wheels might be rounded (less likely), or cone seats, maybe magwheel flat seats. If you look at the seats and try them with the wheel off the car, that is, without the lugs, you can feel which one seats tightly. If you are still not sure which it is, go to the experts and get the right nuts. $28 a set from Autozone or Checker, or wherever, is cheap compared to your life. You wouldn't want to lose a wheel/tire on the road, would you? Also, if one of the wheel sets is aftermarket, there might be an issue with the hubcentric. Also, YES, it is important to tighten the nuts in a criss-cross pattern. Just like torqueing anything, you have to do it cross-wise.

 

I would guess that the 17" wheel set is after-market, since Honda doesn't make 17" factory wheels (to my knowledge, at least; so correct me if I am wrong). See if your lug nuts are cone seats or rounded seats.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mangotreemechanic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would guess that the 17" wheel set is after-market, since Honda doesn't make 17" factory wheels (to my knowledge, at least; so correct me if I am wrong). See if your lug nuts are cone seats or rounded seats. </TD></TR></TABLE>

the AP2 wheels are 17inch

 

the aftermarket wheels are the ones that work fine, its the factory 14" steel wheels that don't fit right. Its as if the wheel won't tighten against the hub all the way, causing the wheel to not be on straight, causing a vibration which in turn loosens the lugs. but...why would the aftermarket wheel turn on better then a honda factory wheel? not to mention, I've used this very same 14" steel wheel and lug set the past 2 winters, and now suddenly they don't work....stir up the pot a bit? cuz I'm confused

 

it's 80 ft/lb not 90

star pattern when tightening

runs ROUND seat on oem and TAPERED seat on aftermarket(most of the aftermarket)


what happen most of the time is that you tighten the first lug too much and it makes your rims to seat in an angle, try line up the hub, hand tighten all four lugs then torque it down. the worst you could do is torque down one lugs and then the other, the hub will actually seat on the stud(which will break or stripe according) and shakes like a ****.

 

Yes the correct lug nut torque is 80lbs. (which actuall ends up being much less than the 'just make em tight enough' method a non-tuner would do.

If your using OEM lugs on aftermarket wheels that could be your first problem. Also make sure the studs are not broken.

 

iam7head : as mentioned before the problems isn't with the aftermarket wheels. the aftermarket wheels drive fine on the car...and yes i'm using the lug nuts that came with the rims....so yah no problem there....and obviously the studs are fine.

the problem is with the 14" OEM Honda wheels, my car, and I'm using the lugs for the aftermarket wheels on the OEM wheels.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by uhcord98 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">iam7head : as mentioned before the problems isn't with the aftermarket wheels. the aftermarket wheels drive fine on the car...and yes i'm using the lug nuts that came with the rims....so yah no problem there....and obviously the studs are fine.

the problem is with the 14" OEM Honda wheels, my car, and I'm using the lugs for the aftermarket wheels on the OEM wheels.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There you have it, you are suppose to use OEM nuts on OEM wheels, aftermarket wheels with aftermarket nuts.

something round will be make a good seat with something straight cut.

 

I'll try some new lug nuts...BUT it doesn't make any sense why I drove for two winters with the OEM tires on my car using the same lugs I have now...

 

Here's a stupid question but.. Did you ever check the hub centric ring for corrosion buildup. Sure you've got steel winter rims but.. If there's corrosion build up on your ring, your wheels won't fit on there snug. Thus causing the lug nuts to walk out slowly.. I've seen quite a few vehicles come in like that...

 

Hub centric ring...like on the wheel? Ya they are fairly rusty if that's what your referring too...what do i do to fix it?

 

What may be happening here is the aftermarket nuts are bottoming out (on the stud) before the rim is tight enough on the hub (factory wheels are thinner than aftermarket wheels, so the nut has to go deeper on the stud). You really need to get some factory wheel nuts (the ones that the stud goes all the way through). Good luck