Two-piece lug nuts still used?

I had a 2007 Corolla. One day in Discount Tire I sat in the watching window while the technicians rotated the tires. I expected a short simple process.

Instead the technician took 20 minutes to remove one of the 20 lug nuts, using 6 different tools both powered and manual. Plus some lube and gunk-dissolver.

Seems in 2007 (at least that year) Toyota used a two-part lug nut, with different metals in each part. The core different from the presentation part. And I think many in TW are materials-savvy enough to know the effects of different metals heated/cooled repeatedly.

I had to buy 20 new single-cast lug nuts to be sure I could remove any of the lugs by myself anytime.

Has Toyota repeated this particularly spectacular maneuver?

 

Toyota has used the same washer lug centric 2 piece lug nut since the 80's. So ya its the same.

I rarely see them fail, Dodge is famous for this, but Toyota not so much.

What happens to them is techs use the wrong socket, or a shallow on a long lug and it causes stress on the housing and they swell.

Also if in a rust belt they can swell from corrosion.

I wouldn't worry about it. Search lug nut problems on here and you'll see its not a common issue.

 

Thanks for that

I tried a search first, maybe not as extensive as could be but ... did not immediately bring anything up.

Well, maybe the single-cast was a Discount Tire special, maybe they finally got some of their "courtesy rotations" money back. Either way, I did not think they put a show on for me especially to gain more money, so perhaps it was just being in Ohio with weather extremes and road salt. And maybe a little bit of a technician doing bad things.

 

@RichochetRabbit very smart decision to replace the bad lugs. The one piece will never give you the same issues the two piece would.

 

I was a mid level ford dealer tech for 5 years recently and watched over the quick lube guys, I hate 2 piece lug nuts and it doesn't matter about being in the rust belt or the wrong socket size, I am in New Orleans and a few times have seen them get swollen after only 4 or 5 rotations. I replaced my Tacoma lug nuts years ago with one piece lug nuts I bought off Ebay, Dorman also makes good one piece lug nuts.

 

I've been needing to get them for my F150. Do you know if gorilla lug nuts are good?

 

I have never seen any issues with gorilla locking lug nuts, in the back of my head I have worried about how thin the metal for the lug nut key is, always seems like if a lug nut is too tight the key might break, never seen it happen though. I should mention they are very easy to remove with just a normal socket, much easier then other locking lug nuts.

 

Awesome!! Thank you!

 

@Squirt most locations carry West Coast install kits and can get you taken care of by installing them for you.

 

Sweet! I'll have stop by sometime.