Hi folks,

In my search for some replacement wheels for my '85 928S, I seem to recall some mention of a special socket for removing the wheel lug nuts. But doing a search is not turning up the info I seek.

Can anyone tell me if there is in fact such a special socket, and whether or not it is recommended to use? And the why would be nice too.

And of course where to get it (local P-car dealer, one of our sponsor vendors?).

I see that the folks at 928 Specialists list a tool, but no pic:

Tool P300 - Wheel Lug Nut Soft Socket
000.721.300.00

Could this be the mystery tool?

Thanks!

Ed

 

928 Int'l sells a wheel nut socket that has a plastic "liner" in it to help you avoid wrench marks on your anodized wheel nuts. I have one and have used it since I replaced the wheels and nuts on my car several years ago. Need one? It's up to you to decide. If the black wheel nuts on your car have already been damaged by somebody with an impact wrench and/or a plain socket, it won't do you much good. If you have new or undamaged wheel nuts, the plastic will help you keep them that way.

I found with the previous nuts that the careful use of a hand wrench with a 6-point socket didn't damage them. A 12-point socket or the impact gun might leave marks.

HTH!

 

I see, ok, that must be what people were talking about. No need for that for me right now as my wheels and lug nuts are not exactly concourse.

And I'm pretty sure my deep sockets are 6 pt, but I will double check.

Thanks!

 

You might be remembering the locking lug nut socket...

Many owners have one special locking lug nut per wheel.

The old versions used a key to lock or release the hex sleeve on the body of the nut - no special socket required.

The newer version uses a round-body nut with keyed protrusions around the base, which require a matching (special) socket to install or remove.

 

I bought a soft socket about 9 years ago. I screwed the thing up within a year... the plastic cracked.
Don't bother with it unless you are doing concourse - and when you do, don't let ANYone overtorque your lugs, the plastic just can't handle high torque.

 

Use anti seize and 96 foot pounds with a torque wrench...not the air to tighten them. They are magnesium. Send an offering to the 928 shrine.

 

Just buy some new black wheel nuts from 928 Int, in fact even the used ones I got from them looked new and only cost $1.50 each (from memory).

It's a lot cheaper than removing a corroded wheel nut than has rounded to the point where you need to drill it off.

 

More good info. Especially the torque specs, and the anti-sieze. Thanks!

And I may have to invest in a new torque wrench. My old one is one of those bar gauge ones, where the rod/needle moves along the indicator. Was probably anot all that great 20 yrs ago when purchased, and is now goodness knows how out of whack.

Ok, good excuse to run over to Sears this weekend to see what they have. Thanks again.

 

woodsrider wrote:
"... I may have to invest in a new torque wrench. My old one is one of those bar gauge ones, where the rod/needle moves along the indicator. Was probably anot all that great 20 yrs ago when purchased, and is now goodness knows how out of whack."


If it were me, I'd save my money. Those click wrenches are the delicate ones. The beam wrenches are the ones that _don't_ go out of whack. Quite accurate as long as you float the handle.

They're kinda like those fancy Russian space pencils - low tech, cheap and tough, even though they won't write upside down under water in zero G.

Will
... mutter, mutter ... good enough for Henry Ford ... young whippersnappers ... mutter, mutter ...

hmmm ... on second thought, the click wrenches were probably invented for the assembly line, to save the few seconds per bolt required to focus on the bar and scale.

 

For most folks, the click type provides the fastest and most consistent results. A well-trained user of a bending-beam wrench might have better accuracy than a click-type that's been dropped or abused. The well-traned user knows that the parallax error requires that you look down the straight bar, not the bending beam, when determining the indicated torque. Doing wheel nuts is a challenge with a bending beam wrench only because it's so easy to look from the wrong place.

Harbor Freight sells a 1/2" drive click type for less than $20, and sometimes for about $12 on sale. It's hard to justify not having one.

 

$20? Jeez, that amazing. I'm driving right by a Harbor Freight tomorrow am (on my way to Heinrich's to look at some wheels that he has btw) and was considering stopping in their to buy a pair of jack stands (to go with my killer lift bar thing that I got from porken). Now I'll definitely stop in there.

And for the bar type torque wrenches, yes I've heard they can be amazingly accurate for how simple and crude they look. But mine is really old, and the needle/bar thing is off center now, so who knows. I never use it anymore, so a new one is in order. Either a cheapie from HF, or a slightly less cheap one from Sears (but no fancy expensive torque wrenches for me unfortunately, at least not right now).

Ok, thanks guys.

 

I have considered the Harbor Freight torque wrench. I wonder how accurate they are compared to a name brand tool. I would pick one up in a minute if I knew for sure that they are accurate.

 

Same here. It didn't last long, and that was just using it with hand tools.

 

I guess the definition of "accurate" is a moving target. I have a fine set of Snap-On torque wrenches that I've had for years. When I was wrenching regularly on expensive stuff, I'd have them calibrated at least once a year. On a lark, I took the 3/8" HF wrench to the guys who are doing cals on some wrenches at a power plant project, where torque wrenches are used to button up the delicates on gas turbines. Guess what-- worst reading was less than 5% off anywhere in the scale. I'll look at it again in a year.

For most tasks, like tightening wheel lug nuts, the consistency from stud to stud is at least as important as the actual torque value. Both of those are affected by how clean the threads are, and what you use to lubricate the end of the nut where it seats in the face of the rim. So how accurate does it need to be? +/- 5% accurate and similar repeatability on consistently prepared wheel nuts should be adequate, IMHO. It's way better than the usual "that's tight enough" that sometimes varies from "just barely snug" all the way to "middle linebacker with a 3' cheater" tight. And that range is on the nuts on one wheel...


I didn't look at a current ad from H-F. The last one I saw expired 3/27, showed the 1/2" click wrench at about $13. Different stores/markets have different sales periods.

 

I think it's funny that so many are concerned about the cheap lug nuts when it is the wheel that needs the protection. If the socket is the corret size with a tight fit, there will be minimal damge to the lug nut for years to come. This of course depends on whether you are removing your wheels weekly or a few times a year. Buy a good quality deep well socket for this. THEN, wrap the outside of it with electrical tape. That way, when you pull out the air tool to remove the nuts, the wheel is protected if you slip off the stud. This shouldn't happen if you know how to work the tool and when to let go of the trigger. Never the less, sometimes our coordination isn't what it should be and we kinda miss slipping the socket over the nut and hit the wheel slightly. This is where that eletrical tape is going to save you. Don't waste your money on a socket with protection on the wrong side! Last I checked, the wheels were more expensive than the nuts!