How tight to torque aluminum lug nuts?
 

I really have no idea, I set them to factory spec, but the person who rolled the fenders said that they shouldn't be that tight because they can strip easily. Does anybody really know??

I would torque to specs

which specific lugs are they?

I typically torque to 80-85 ft-lb.

They're aftermarket aluminum locking lug nuts. The answers that i'm getting are to torque down to factory specs which is 80-85 ft lbs whether they are steel or aluminum?

Have never heard of "aluminum lug nuts." Personally I have never seen aluminum lug nuts nor would I use them on anything I drove. Are they magnetic?

DG

I would say that if you CAN'T torque them to spec, or are even suspect, don't use them.

The lug nuts are made of "Dur-aluminum" which is supposedly stronger then regular aluminum which might explain why theyr'e so expensive. The online store I bought them from called them "Honda" locking nuts, even though they have a thread pitch of 12x1.5 and will fit any other car with the same thread pitch such as an RX7.

I checked the torque specs for Honda cars, and they have the same spec we have... 80 ft lbs. Which means that torquing them to factory spec should not be a problem. I know a lot of people on here have the expensive "Ray's Aluminum lug nuts" and im pretty sure they don't torque them down to below factory spec, so i'm just gonna torque down to spec and not worry about it, thanks anyway for the help

yah... if they cant handle 80ft.lbs, i wouldnt trust them to keep a wheel on while driving. just do 80. they wouldnt manufacture them if they didnt work right (we all hope so anyway)

Honda does not produce Aluminum lug nuts. Never heard of "Dura Aluminum." I deal with 7075, 6061, 4043, in all heat conditions. Never "Dura Aluminum.'

Hey! Toyota wouldn't sell a car if they knew it had defects, right?

Lawyers are rich because of these types of crap. They're made in China , right?

What's the worst that could happen? It's only a wheel.
Ok, Let's take a close look at this product. What are they designed to lighten, other than your wallet?
Rotational mass? No. Too close to the center.
Unsprung weight? Couple of ozs?

What is the yield of this material?

DG

Lightweight lug nuts are pretty pointless. Just be safe, not sorry, and try not to make an appearance on a YouTube video of all your wheels falling off at Autocross.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duralumin

Its 2000 series Al-Cu, and according to wiki, its yield is 450MPa

My personal choice to help keep my Fikses from walking away :)

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GOR-21133BC/

Aluminum lug nuts make as much sense as aluminum exhaust headers/turbo manifolds.

FYI they are NOT made in China they are made in Japan, and are made of the same material the Ray Engineering lug nuts are made of. Also I didn't buy the lug nuts because they were aluminum, I bought them because they were a very unique type of locking nut I'd never seen before.

This conversation is starting to get very immature :scratch:

Welcome to RX-7 club ;)

Honestly? I'd be laughed at if I cited "Wikipedia" in an engineering report as a "credible" source for metalurgical data.

The ONLY reference site where you can reference yourself.

GD

Folks are gently (ok, maybe not so gently) saying that what you bought isn't such a smart move given the metallurgic properites. I'll chime in to say that there is no lower bound on the endurance limit curve in fatigue for aluminum alloys.

As such, can you really blame others for giving you a hard time for buying something so safety critical based upon its looks? Since you mentioned maturity I just have to ask: Did you audibly blurt out "Ohh man.... Shiny!!!!" like my nephew does when you bought these? :stickpoke

Hope you don't take that the wrong way but I made myself laugh so I had to share. In all seriousness I wouldn't try aluminum lug nuts unless I had a heck of a lot of technical data on them and it sounds like you don't have that if you're asking questions about something as basic as a torque value. Without that you'll definitely be running them solely on blind faith (and contrary to the advise of some smart folks who you asked for help).

Fuck, who cares. Torque them to 80 and call it a day.

My last set of lugs on my old car were alloy and OFF BRAND at that. My front wheel started to rattle really bad and i pulled over and realized i didn't tighten them all the way.

Did they strip out? No. I just stood on my ratchet until i was satisfied (torque wrench for lugs? Pfft) and the only time they came loose after that is when i needed to remove my wheels for whatever reason.

Anti seize or a bit of oil on the threads allows you to tighten them a lowered risk of stripping and that should be a given on even steel lugs. Just lube the threads and dont worry about it.

I think my problem is that I listened to the guy that rolled my fenders and he told me that aluminum lug nuts should only be torqued to 20 ft lbs. Hes a nice guy, but I have to say that i'm an idiot for believing that. I do know a lot about the lug nuts I bought, I know they are hardened aluminum and are designed for rims, and if they are designed for rims, then they obviously can handle 80 ft lbs... period.

and FYI, I didn't buy the lug nuts because I thought "oooh shiny!!!" I bought them because like I said they have a unique lock that iv'e never seen before. Ive seen a LOT of wheel locks, and most of them you can buy on ebay or at your local auto parts store. I wanted something that was unique not as in "cool" but unique as in the locking key is NOT some common locking key a guy will have lying around in his garage.

The pont here is... they wouldn't make aluminum lug nuts if they couldn't be torqued to OEM spec. The only reason why I was even worried to begin with is because I listened to the guy at the body shop I was at which I never should have done. I will never torque any of my lug nuts to 20 ft lbs, i'm gonna torque them to 80 lbs., they're not gonna strip, im not gonna use grease and there is not gonna be a problem. Thats what I get for listening to some guy at a fender rolling shop :facepalm:

I can't blame you guys for flaming me, because I DO appear to not know what i'm doing and to know nothing about cars, when I actually know a lot about my car and lug nuts. I'm use to ppl thinking that so it doesn't bother me anymore :lol:

I did my own reseach on google, and found nothing about special torque specs for aluminum lug nuts, you torque them down to factory spec. Maby I should have done my own research first before starting a thread :facepalm: