I had a gash in a tire and discount tire replaced it. Since I was there I decided to mount a set of Team Dynamics wheels I had been waiting to put on.

Anyways... The stock lugs ended up being a really tight fit for their impact wrench and other wrenches to fit. The Mini lug wrench does also not fit between the lugs and the wheel.

So they put spline nuts lug bolts on for me which would allow there tools to fit. When I got home I got out a 17mm socket and the socket is smaller than their tools as it fits just fine.

Should I keep the spline nuts or go back to stock and carry around a 17mm socket wrench with me?

Thanks,
k

 

Those bolts are fine. The ones I got from Discount Tire were chrome, compared to the black stock ones. That's about the only difference. If you're going to keep the shiny ones, just toss the spline socket adapter in your glovebox.

If you're happy with the stock bolts, you could carry your own socket around. Impact sockets have thicker walls to resist fatigue and failure, which is probably why it was a tight fit.

I swap back to the stock bolts on the track because it's annoying to use the spline socket with an impact driver.

 

how is it annoying? I've had real McGard SplineDrives on every car for five years now and never have an issue with using an impact

 

It sounds like I should keep the spline nuts then so that they will not have issues in the future rotating my tires.

One question, I was rechecking the torque of the nuts and also the threads. On one of the wheels the spline bolts do not go in as easily as the OEM bolts. They are harder to turn and squeak on the way in. The rest are fine. I assume the threads are correct...?

 

It takes too many hands to hold the spline socket adapter in the impact socket and shake the lug bolt out. It's just a minor annoyance, sure, but it's a pain in the butt to hold everything together, especially when it's 7am on a saturday and you're trying to swap pads. Does your spline adapter lock on the impact gun?

 

no. I use it to hand thread the nuts then put it in the impact (using the appropriate socket) and tighten them up to snug to the hub (on a low setting). I follow up with my torque wrench

 

What size are the lugs on my 2003 MCS?

 

M12x1.5