Lugnuts going from stock steelies to alloy

Wanting to swap my steel wheels for oem alloy wheels.

I know I'll need different lugnuts, I see they come in 2 different lengths


Going from the stock steelies on the truck to the alloy version.

Studs seem pretty short to me.

Anyone do this swap before?

 

I’ve been trying to sell 17” alloy oem trd sport wheels and lugnuts. The oem lugnuts are by McGard.

i have steel wheels on the truck now with McGard lugnuts shaped for the steel wheels.

i could also sell the lugnuts separately; i haven’t created listing anywhere yet, but they would fit in a flat rate envelope or box.

 

FYI - the studs are not too short. The lugs used for alloy wheels are the "extended thread" type where the smooth body on the outside of the threads goes into the holes on the wheels and the wheels ride on those.

 

Thanks

I'll look into the mcgard lugnuts.

Thanks Jason.

I guess I should re-phrase my question

I've seen the style Jason posted for sale on line offered in two different overall lengths.

I thought all the studs were the same length from the factory regardless of model?


As far as the ET style lugnuts I'll need, just wanting to figure out the length.


I've seen some at 1.437" and others offered at 1.831" length and others at 1.398"

 

I suppose I can always measure one of my studs to see where I am at length wise.


Figured I'd fish around here first.

 

I typically buy genuine OEM parts but when I saw the price for OEM toyota lugs for alloy wheels -- with their shitty, damage-prone fake-decorative-cap design -- I looked for alternatives.

I'm carefully testing these inexpensive 3rd-party lugs on my 2014 4.0L 6MT TRD OR with stock 16" Toyota alloy wheels -- 2 of these black nuts per wheel, re-checking the torque regularly. Fit & finish, thread depth, contact, etc. all appear perfect. The body of the nut is solid metal, unlike the OEM toyota lugs. About 850 miles on them so far, with 4 or 5 torque checks so far, and none of them have loosened at all.

(Regular torque checks at 50, 100, 250, 500 miles.. a pattern I will continue out to 1K, 2.5K, 5K, and eventually 10K miles. If they hold tight to 10K miles I'll consider them fully-qualified and trustworthy.)

Hard to beat for $23 a set in black or $16 in chrome. They're also ~10-15% heavier than the OEM lug nuts, which I consider a good sign.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ED74XFO/




Here's a pic of one of my alloy wheels, for reference / comparison:

 

I did this exact swap, the ones you want for the alloys are about 1.5" long.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J6DQ8YB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

The issue isn't just length. Steel wheels use a completely different style of lug nut that clamps differently than lug nuts for alloy wheels. The two kinds of lug nuts are not cross-compatible.

As far as I understand it:

Alloy lug nuts have a large flat clamping area (including a huge captive flat washer) that mates with a flat machined surface on the alloy wheel. This is to prevent "stress risers" (pressure-induced cracks) from forming on the aluminum alloy wheel.

Steel wheel lug nuts have a different & sharper clamping design because steel can much more easily tolerate very high localized compressive loads.

 

Dude, thank you!

Exactly what I was looking for!


I appreciate your help

 

Whatever new lugs you try, don't take Amazon reviews or my word for it --

Check the torque on all 24 of them repeatedly at increasing intervals until you are fully satisfied that they hold tight over the long term.

50 miles.. 100 miles.. 250 miles... 500... 1K... 2.5K.. 5K... 10K should do it.

 

Yep, I'm a freak for torque specs.

Especially with how little lugnut torque these tacomas take.

Always has me on edge

Thank you

 

i have bought a few full steel dormans and always worked great. I got sick of the wrapped steel oem nuts corroding and expanding, not fitting a socket anymore. I have these rims on here for sale, need a paint job but prob give away at this point. too bad youre on the other side.

 

Interesting.. in my case the wrapped steel didn't corrode (California, no road salt,) but the outer wraps got damaged anyway just by normal careful use of an 1/2" impact wrench. I wonder what Toyota was thinking with the flimsy outer covers on those lug nuts. Maybe they are designed to slip internally, as some kind of torque-limiting device to prevent grease monkeys from trying to apply 130+ ft. lbs to them.

 

I suppose, since this is also related to the wheel swap question.....
Tpms sensors.
I've heard the sensors inside the steel wheels won't work with the alloy wheels because of the angle difference of the drop center.

Anyone have any suggestions for a universal programmable sensor?

Trying to avoid all of the potential problems that will pop up when I do the swap over.


I have access to a tire machine at work, I'll be mounting and balancing myself.

 

I don't know if these are "universal programmable" (not sure what that is,) but I recently did new tires myself (remove, TPMS + remount, inflate, balance, mount on vehicle, program TPMS) and these sensors fit perfectly and work perfectly, so far. (About 1,500 miles on them.)

https://www.tpms.com/Toyota-Upro-TPMS-Sensor-315MHz-p/upro0103set-toyota.htm

Note, a set contains 4 units, if you want to rotate in a full-size spare remember to buy an extra TPMS for the spare. But also note that some (maybe all?) 2nd gen Tacomas will only register 4 TPMS IDs in the TPMS ecu, so the spare tire TPMS will not work right unless it is manually reprogrammed into the TPMS ECU every time you do a spare rotation. (If you are doing a 5-wheel rotation.)

I have & use an Autel MaxiSYS MS906TS scantool to do the TPMS reprogram. I'm sure there are other less-expensive TPMS programmers that could work but YMMV as far as exact compatibility w/ your truck.

 

Thanks

 

Got everything swapped over today, road force balanced, new lugnuts and sensors. I did the dismounting, mounting and balancing myself which is always nice. Able to take my time and be thorough.

I wound up doing the mikkupa lugnuts, being very diligent on re-torquing them.

Used dill 1204-A sensors, easy easy, came pre programmed, just had to upload IDs through the obdII port then scan them again. Normal process.


No tire light, nice and smooth and I'm pretty happy so far!


Always liked the look of these wheels

 

IIRC steel used ball seat while alloy uses flat.

I think my methods use conical.

that’s one pain of having a steelie spare. Carry different lug nuts

studs are probably the same and not sure if they’re worth upgrading or to longer etc

versus cars that come with bolts being switched to stud for easier wheel changes including track