05/14/2026
I apologize for the long post... But, let's talk lugnuts...
It doesn't occur to most people that lugnuts need to be replaced from time to time; but it's true.
Below you see a series of 3 photos. The first one shows 3 intact(still weak and worn out) lugnuts next to 2 that have broken off the vehicle. The problem that leaves, is that now there are still 2 partial lugnuts still torqued down and holding the wheel on, and no way to access them with a tool. This means... We drill.
After 6 broken drill bits, 3 stripped out extractor sockets, 2 broken chisels, and countless hours... We almost have 1 removed. This provides a world of headaches for everyone involved from the vehicle owner to the shop doing the work and any schedules involved with either.
The second photo shows what appears to be a solid lugnut and one that you can see is warped and twisted. That is your clear indicator to NOT reinstall this set of lutnuts. Spend the few bucks and buy a new set. Otherwise, you or your shop of choosing will be spending a lot of time and money to pull them off in little pieces like you see in picture #3.
Now some people are going to say it's because they are spiked lugs, and those people aren't exactly wrong. The longer the lugnut, the faster it weakens the metal. But this still happens to even the short open-ended ones as well.
We hope this helps some of you who may not have known what to look for. This is not the vehicle owners fault or the previous shops fault, its just bad luck. But if you are running lugnuts more than 2 or 3 years old and your wheels come off and on your vehicle a lot, I would strongly recommend inspecting them for twists, cracks, weak threads, and anything else that might make you second guess their strength and durability.
Please let us know what we can do for you!
