perfect opportunity to get rid of the locking lug nuts

 

I bought a single lug nut from the dealer. Should arrive today. I probably should have just bought 4 and changed the others as suggested. I’ve been meaning to buy a torque wrench for years so this event drove me to purchase a new tool which isn’t a bad thing.

I see I’m aging myself by calling them lug nuts too. Technically lug bolts or wheel bolts. Hard to change my thinking after so many years of lug nuts.

 

Ok, so why do Americans call these ‘lug nuts’ or ‘lug bolts’? Everywhere else they’re called ‘wheel nuts’ or ‘wheel bolts’. Genuine question.

 

According to below, it’s was an early term coined to mean what we may more commonly call acorn or cap nuts now.

“nut with a cap on the end”

https://www.etymonline.com/word/lug

Edit: other searching suggests the threaded studs may be referred to as lugs. I’ve only ever heard them referred to as studs, but I have heard of other protrusions referred to as lugs, so maybe?

 

Yeah. He wouldn't have lost his lug bolt.

-L76

 

@OP - real concern should be why did you lose the lug bolt? E.g. Does hub need replacement too (stripped hole/lug bolt) or can it be saved with a thread chaser? M14 x 1.5 if you need a tap and die set. As for lug bolts = my unsolicited $.02 - I don't like 'em. Prefer lug nuts or CLs. Agree with one of the above posters above - time to move to studs (esp if you track your car). Check out the guys at Tarett Engineering if interested. But... if you're staying OEM - you can go into any Porsche dealer, give them your VIN - and they *should* have the specific locking lug bolt for your vehicle. Porsche makes a few different ones (e.g. my 958.2 Cayenne has different pattern than my 981). Theft deterrent? Meh. The best theft deterrent is the Millennial Theft Protection Device (manual transmission).

Good luck,
L76

 

What do you think a dealer would charge to replace a wheel lug nut bolt? I'm assuming not a small amount in Porsche land? Seems like it would be a quick and easy simple trip to the dealer for one though

 

I think I paid about $11+tax at local dealer parts dept for locking lug bolt for my Cayenne a few years back.

L76

 

Was that with them putting it in or just for the part itself?

 

Just the part. DIY install.

L76

 

Aggie and Jhenson, (coming from old-fashioned machine engineering talk), a lug is a fixture with a hole used to bolt/attach it to something. Think of the wire pigtail that can permanently wire your battery maintainer to the battery. The lug is the metal ring soldered to the pigtail that goes over the battery terminal bolt and is attached by the bolt’s nut.

The holes in the hub on a car’s axal end are lug holes as are the holes in the actual hub of the wheel. We call the multiple holes arranged in a symmetrical pattern a hub. But make no mistake the holes themselves are ‘lug holes. So, the bolts/studs/nuts that utilize the lug hole can be called lug bolts.

 

Re: dealer charge to 'install' lug bolt: Should be gratis - just 15 seconds of work and takes no skill. Also no reason to buy the bolt at a dealer- there's nothing special - ldealer $11 lug bolt is the same you can get for $2.00 at any auto parts store.

Also to the poster who is positing a stripped carrier - it's much more likely that the person who changed the wheel last just hand-tightened the dumb anti-theft bolt and it simply fell out.

I know that not everyone is into DIY car maintenance, but this kind of stuff falls into the realm of general adult life skills and not mechanical expertise.

 

Nothing stripped. New bolt went in with no issue and torqued to spec.

And yes, I have the manual transmission theft deterrent device. It works for many generations other than millennial. I’m always surprised how many GenXers never learned.

 

As a gen X myself I would say most Gen X can drive a manual or have driven a manual at some point and could relearn pretty quickly.

 

I'm a GenXer too. I remember in high school so many people who didn't really learn how to drive a manual. During our driver's ed class, it was mandatory that we did at least one road drive in a manual transmission car. The car we used was a Ford Escort. I had a blast in it, but most of my classmates dreaded it.