Tire store rounded off lug nuts, which is common, and where are my lug nut covers?

[jerry505]

On my annual Tesla replaced the lug nuts because they were "rounded off." Tech told me something like Tesla has higher standards. I'm not sure what he meant - if it was acceptable for another car to have rounded off lugs or what. Does anybody know? I didn't want to keep asking tech that same question. They said something about shops are coming around to better fit with their wrenches for Tesla cars. Anybody heard of this?

Also, my lug nut covers were missing. My guess is the tire store did not replace them, unless somebody stole the covers when the car was parked somewhere. I don't know where they went. I can't blame the tire store, but I will be sure to check after my next set of tires to see if I still have those lug nut covers, as well as the Tesla valve stem caps that also got swapped out for a regular set of caps. I think the tire store people just take off the caps and throw them in a pile and install whatever caps they grab. I will have to watch over those tire people like a hawk next time and there I had to get new lug nuts and now lug nut covers, and valve stem caps.

 

[Ande]

The old metal ones that were stuck on the nut were easily deformed by normal tool use.
When at SC, the car got got new nuts , new plastic covers and a tool for them . That was 9months or so ago.

 

[dduffey]

Yes, tire shops tend to use impact wrenches which will damage (and even swell) the lug nuts over time. If they get too deformed the lug nut covers will also not fit.

The first time I experienced this (not a Tesla) was when the stock crow bar/socket no longer fit and I initially thought the shop must have put on wrong lug nuts. I was surprised when I was told I had "swollen nuts".

Not necessarily a danger, just the outer layer is affected. I had them exchanged because I wanted to be able to use the standard socket in case of emergency but they wouldn't have changed them out if I hadn't said anything.

 

[gaswalla]

Your car now has nuts you can be proud of

 

[CSFTN]

Lots of threads on this going back to the beginning. For whatever reason, Tesla uses a very soft Al alloy for their lug nuts. So soft that they strip with essentially any use of a power impact hammer. Gotta both take off and put on with good old muscle power, which takes about 1 minute extra per tire.

 

[bkp_duke]

Lots of threads on this going back to the beginning. For whatever reason, Tesla uses a very soft Al alloy for their lug nuts. So soft that they strip with essentially any use of a power impact hammer. Gotta both take off and put on with good old muscle power, which takes about 1 minute extra per tire.

Not just that, the AL on the lug nuts is a sheath. The metal you see is not actually solid, which makes things all that much more problematic.

Replaced the lugs on both our cars with Gorilla lugs that closely match the originals (they are a tad longer) and could not be happier.

 

[jerry505]

So no worries with the replaced lug nuts rounding off.

 

[bkp_duke]

So no worries with the replaced lug nuts rounding off.

None. I've gone through 3 sets of tires and had the wheels off more than that many times (with power tools). They are just a much harder metal.