ELI5 - Aftermarket lugnuts
 

Hi,

This might be a dumb question or maybe I'm just not spending the time it takes to learn it but I need to understand aftermarket lugnuts better. I've got Enkei EKM3s on my TSX and they have deep and narrow boltholes which I've scuffed up with the stock lugnuts (and corresponding wide-ish socket wrenches) so I'd like to swap out to skinnier lugnuts but I don't know where to start.

I know of McGard and Gorilla but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for and where I'm supposed to get these. There seem to be so many fricking kinds!

Could someone be charitable and explain it to me like I'm 5?

thanks,

I just had the same problem today when I tried to swap in the new wheels. The socket won't even go on the lug nut. I heard garagefive in Richmond has the longer/skinnier lug nuts for sale, im gonna try and go there tomorrow.

Thread pitch for Honda/Acura's are 12x1.5 and you will need 60 degree acorn seated for aftermarket wheels. So if you were to search using ebay for example, you can type in "12x1.5 acorn gorilla" or "12x1.5 tuner lug nuts" or anything similar with those key words.

Rockauto is a good option for OEM style options.

Skinnier lugnuts should weigh less, giving you a slight performance increase. Also I would tell a 5 year old not to eat them, my dog ate a lugnut one time

Muteki sells small diameter lug nuts that should fit smaller holes. However, they're known to flake and fade quite easily.

http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-278973017...-save-20-3.jpg

Thanks, few more questions:

1) Are all aftermarket lugs skinnier than OEM? Or do they have to be labelled as such?
2) What are these spline type lugnuts? What are the advantages?
3) What are the brands I should be considering? I'm not looking to break the bank but definitely want to avoid the unreliable ones.

thanks,

1.No. You want Tuner Lug Nuts.
2.Look at the pic above your post. The head is smaller than OEM style, so they clear mags with small bolt openings.

They come in varying seat style, length, pitch and drive style. Basically, you want a 60 degree, acorn seat with 12x1.5 thread pitch - length, open/closed end, drive style and colour is up to you.

If you never want to touch the lughole with your tool, just get inside driven nuts, they usually come in hex or 9pt.

Where do you buy these locally and what are the price ranges?

Any tuner shop should have them. Also it would be noted that unless the angle of your stock lugs matches the seats on the rims, DO NOT use stock nuts with aftermarket wheels.

I got a set of tuner lugs from Overseas Auto for $40. good stuff :thumbsup: