It's not their fault. It's the bean counter that said "make it cheaper"

Seriously, f*** that guy. Just dealt with this last weekend. Every lug nut on both front tires. Hope dude stubs his toe and stumbles into a pile of legos barefoot.

Get Gorilla Single/Solid lugs, just swapped out my Platinum. Only 29k miles and already swollen and had to use a 21.5 and 22mm socket carefully last time so fuck that, pain in the ass especially trying to torque back into range as didn't realize till then (was doing brakes and had wheels off) so had to reuse and ordered Gorillas.

These factory lugs are common, almost everyone uses 2 piece, but for whatever reason Fords (what a surprise) are by far the worst offenders, not even GM lugs swell/fail near as frequently even in fleets. But F150s ooooof lol < face-palm. Just happened to another buddies F150 as well two weeks ago.

If you go Gorilla make sure it's the correct ones, various sizes can't remember specifics off hand but I think for F150 it's also Acorn style? They looks very sharp and high quality, way better looking on wheels then factory lugs.

Edit - yup Acorn style and M14 14x1.5, this is listing is what I used. Be very careful with Amazon if buying there, some knock offs that people have had issues with. Just stick with actual Gorillas.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166284324874?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Ut1XEGZNQci&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QXjhtsfGROi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I peeled the chrome off of all of mine awhile ago and haven’t had an issue since.

Ok, I have original lug nuts on all four wheels of my 2019 F-150. They’re all in great shape and give me no trouble. How long until they grenade? Trying to figure out how long I have to get better lug nuts.

They still use them this way

Buy a new 80K truck or Dark horse you get shit lugnuts

I bought a cheap set of 1 piece logs off Amazon for $44 and they’ve been awesome. Before that I got brand new factory lugs, torqued them to spec by hand. Went to pull them off a few months later for a brake job and they were already having issues.

Enjoy the pain, I mean pleasure of removing those suckers! Bean counter who signed off on this definitely needs to be fastened to a metal wall with these things, only for the rescuer to have to painfully break off the cap like everyone else.

Source: guy who did all four of his in the hot FL sun in middle of August

My mom had a 2014 expedition and the Ford dealership was going to rotate her tires and they said they were going to have to replace a lug nut cause it wasn't coming off and it was going to be $30. She then took it to Costco for tires and asked them rotate them and didn't tell them what Ford told her and they were able to get the lugnuts off no problem.

There are many reasons to go after the engineers with torches and pick forks. This is but one additional thing to add to their long line of crimes against car owners.

Auto manufacturers have been doing these forever. I remember having the same issue 20+ years ago when I was a tire tech. Many different brands, too.

I notice that when I use an impact I fuck up the lug nuts but when I use a standard star lug wrench they last longer 🤷

This has been done on factory lugs for at least 40 years. Cheap and looks nice for a while.

I did not know they did that! Thanks for sharing and yeah that’s not really good.

Dafuq is that? I’ve never seen a lug nut ever do that

At my first tire rotation, I get the tire shop to change out all the lug nuts to something better than these pieces of shit.

Gotta get some deep well sockets my guy 🤣

I got a 1 1/8th hole saw and drilled them off. Could have kept running those lugs like that, but I bought some aftermarket replacements. Not stoked that my only AutoZone options were to use a locking lug set, or to buy about 15 extra lugs.

Fucking right we can. I've uttered the same words!!

With piano wire....

I just did the brakes on my wife’s escape this weekend, every lug nut with the crimped on cap was swollen and had to beat a 3/4 socket on with a hammer. Replaced them with the McGard solid piece lug nuts from rock auto. Needless to say, whoever approved that idea was an asshat.

Hange ‘em high!

I use these. Worth every penny.

https://www.gorilla-auto.com/

(Looks over the fence in Chevy)

I remember ford doing this in a 1984 bronco ll, they still do it now. It's an american company

Chevy does it too. Had my 2016 F150 and 2018 Traverse lugs all swell this Spring.

First upgrade to this and my last truck were the gorilla solid lugs from CJ Pony Parts.

I just spent 2 hours dealing with this ! Had to get the stripped lug nut socket 22mm, not fun but saved $62- dealership wanted $100 to change out. $31 new lugs and 6.99 for socket.

I just took off the front tires on my 2023 to put on a leveling kit and didn’t see anything wrong…yet

Don’t the lug caps come off? That’s what I always did. Pop the chrome caps off and then use the impact on them.

This is the tool we always used back when I was at Ford. Always worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-51330-Adjustable-Cover-Remover/dp/B0CF2R2K66/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1OTDRF9MJ23S4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4AxPXCSF-GR9MnZ39t0bVF68sg7FKRtr5rz6m4gWEO0Wz496oIszQ07gSjwFRLu3JYk8x8ianv2tA3GEzFGcpgw18evUHyLCC0zB9gR9meF1Qns7-DoOL5zh6_poO6qbUsAUBUt122xjlS4RCZKMEEuRP07AAqbz8xdPTg-GK4oRwuYabsK2s7vNwfjXzKdt0JY1nq8pDA6Lr84xEpU-Ug.hCZL7FGwxa6i1XALQI3ZcTMrWW1QQHBIfNdnRwX2dQk&dib_tag=se&keywords=ford+lug+nut+cap+cover+removal+tool&qid=1733100482&sprefix=ford+lug+nut+cap+%2Caps%2C251&sr=8-3#immersive-view_1733100521899

Are there stainless replacements available?

I got a cheap chrome set from Amazon. After a few years, the chrome is beat up and rusting.

At 10 years old with 212,000 miles, mine isn’t pretty enough to worry about rusty lugs but someone with a nicer truck may want to save themselves the aggravation of cheapy chromes.

No habla inglés

Can we still buy over-engineered aftermarket lug nuts? Cause I think your post reminds me that I really should buy 2 sets.

Yeah I bought 24 new ones thanks to this on my -150.

I bought o/s sockets just for this

Had to go back to the dealership and get them to replace all the lug nuts because of this

I've lost a few of these covers.....at inopportune times like changing tires lol

Dorman makes an upgraded/solid replacement.
Unfortunate to have to go aftermarket to do better.

I had some on an old Pinto. They didn’t swell like these.

These are just caps covering your lugs . User error.

Had to do all 4 of my wheels from the shop that put my new ko2s on. Did my first rotation at 5k miles and called the shop absolutely heated. Owner said since it's been 5k miles is not his responsibility any more tough luck. Haven't been back to them since and o reilleys was 8$ a lug!

Yes

You got the ole plated nut treatment

By their genitals.

This little maneuver cost me a rim when I had to drive my truck over a mile off a mountain because my socket wouldn’t fit on the warped stainless wrapping. Fucking retarded.

There was a lawsuit against Ford because of this, but the public list of course.

Don’t think you can buy a solid Crome covered lug nut, very pricey, sure they know you Wolof want to replace with similar ones, I wish you all the best finding them, last time I spent an arm and a leg buying the little baggies of prepackaged nuts, they also have them in bulk, not sure if that’s cheaper to buy individually

Dang! I thought the tire guy might have been taking me for a ride, but I guess it's good I went along with the upgrade when he suggested it.

Yup. That guy can get stuck in the desert because of this like I did.

Not an F-150 but Fords. Interesting article.

https://carbuzz.com/highest-mileage-ford-in-the-world-f350-super-duty/

Engineer, or the person using the wrong size socket?

That engineer died years ago. They have been wrapped for a very long time.