Recently upgraded to steel wheels for winter. Using the OEM lug nuts with washers at the moment. Should I get specific lug nuts for the steel wheels? M12 1.5, but what length? I don’t want they to stick out, as I have cover caps for the bolts (a singles large cap per wheel, not per bolt).
Just get the basic ones that are steel with a threaded hole. They'll thread down the stud and any extra stud length will just extend from the outer face of the lug nut. Similar to this:
Thanks. I grabbed a set of these and put them on. Because the bolt would be exposed inside the nut, do the nuts need cover caps? Will they rust? They look pretty ‘off-roady’ as they are to be honest, which I like! I’m going for an off-road look with this Prius.
The stud tips can and do rust. I resorted to putting a drop of oil on the the ends of each and spreading around with an old toothbrush. I did this at the fall snow tire install, and refresh about halfway through , winter. Till a couple of falls back, when I replaced the Corolla steel rims with a set of 2012~2015 Prius Plug-In rims, which can use the stock nuts.
Can I use the OEM Prius nuts with steel rims? The OEM nuts have washers. Apparantly they’re only for temporary use with steelies if the spare steel wheel is needed.
Steel wheels typically use a tapered seat to ensure the acorn style (tapered surface) nut centers the stud in the hole and maximizes the surface contact area for fastening. Long straight nuts with washers are designed for alloy rims that essentially have a straight hole where the fastener passes directly through the wheel and the washer compresses against the wheel for tightness. I wouldn't use a straight style lug nut for anything other than short term use to get myself and the car to a safe area if needed. The prius lug nuts, although straight with a washer, may be tapered at the very end to provide satisfactory seating/wedging in the spare rim holes. Been a while since I've looked at one. The more I think about it, the more positive I get that the Prius lug nuts DO have a taper at the bottom, very similar to an acorn style, just not as long, allowing them to be used for the steel wheels.
Owners manual makes no mention of separate lug nuts in the spare tire install instruction. The stock lug nuts do have a taper, can be used with the steel rim, make contact with the tapered ends only. advantage of separate lug nuts, say the aforementioned open-ended ones: they “look” more suitable, and with your stock lug nuts off you can waxing them at your leisure, keep them away from salted winter roads. Waxing 20 lug nuts takes about an hour fwiw.
The OEM nuts do have a taper, and can be used with the steel wheels. But my question is are the OEM nuts juts temporary for the spare steel wheel? I have bought specific nuts with tapers on them, and no washers on them of course. They’re open ended. Are they okay to be used exposed, or do they need caps? They don’t cover the thread, they’re open-ended.
Post 4 doesn’t answer my question though. Do I need nut caps if the nuts are open ended, yes or no? Or will the ‘drop of oil’ suffice to keep rust at bay?
Drop of oil worked for me.If you can find snap-on lug nut caps that fit, that'll for sure look better though. Tesla sells some, for owners that want to take off their aero covers, say on a model 3. Those might just work.
Or not? Oddly, rockauto does not list any studs for that Tesla, but they do for the 2nd generation Prius, and those are M12 1.5. From this thread https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/lug-stud-replacements.156782/ it looks like Model 3 studs are M14 1.5. Kind of a pain to have two sets of lug nuts, but surely somebody makes an M12 1.5 lug nut that would work with the steel wheels. Maybe these, they look pretty deep: Dorman - Autograde Wheel Lug Nut 611-263.1 The Autozone tool says that they don't fit the car, but that's because it expects the stock wheels.
