New wheels + wrong lugs/studs = no fun

9650 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by bigwiki, May 23, 2008

W124_fan

Discussion Starter · May 11, 2008

I picked up some 06 16" e350 takeoffs on craigslist. I dropped off the wheels to be swapped out at my local tires plus. I returned to find the same wheels on my car. They said the lugnuts wouldn't tighten to hold the wheel on. I went out and looked and sure enough the lug was tight but the wheel had a wobble.

What lugs do I need to order? My car has the stock 15" and these replacements are 16"'s with the proper et (can't remember exactly but I made sure before I bought them).

My car is a 91 300e.

Thanks,

Chautauqua

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jgajito

· #10 · May 13, 2008 (Edited)

New post, Old topic...

W124_fan said:
I picked up some 06 16" e350 takeoffs on craigslist. I dropped off the wheels to be swapped out at my local tires plus. I returned to find the same wheels on my car. They said the lugnuts wouldn't tighten to hold the wheel on. I went out and looked and sure enough the lug was tight but the wheel had a wobble.

What lugs do I need to order? My car has the stock 15" and these replacements are 16"'s with the proper et (can't remember exactly but I made sure before I bought them).

My car is a 91 300e.

Thanks,

Chautauqua

Here's another one, take your old wheels and old lugs off the car, place the lugs in the wheel and from the back measure the distance it sticks out.

Then take the new wheels and old lugs and repeat the process of placing the old lugs into the new wheels. You will notice how short they are. To poperly fit, you will have make sure they stick out as much as the original wheel with the original lugs. This proper fitment assures that the proper weight on the lugs are distributed and that your wheels don't go flying off or that your hub doesn't crack due to improper fitment.

Go to your local Pep Boys, Kragen, or AutoZone, whereever you are and show them the lug and tell them how long you need. Most aftermarket wheel replacement usually fit 12mm x 1.5 inches and I have used BALL(this dependes on your wheel) for most OEM Wheels I notice CONICAL.

:bash

AMM after typing all of this, I just read "alydon's" reply,... basically the same thing he said---\/\/

alydon said:
I don't know for sure, but one test you can do is the following:

1. Take one of your old wheels that you took off (if you still have them - or use the spare wheel - doubt you got rid of that one) and put one of your original lug bolts through the lug hole and use a ruler to measure how far the threaded shank sticks out from the back of the original wheel.

2. Put the same lug bolt in the new wheel and see how far the threaded shank sticks out the back of the new wheel. The amout of shank showing should be about the same (within 1-2 mm - no more or less).

3. If the old lug bolts show an adequate amount of threaded shank, then measure the old lug as a guide to order from Rad. If the threaded shank shows shorter than the original setup, you need a longer lug bolt from Rad. If the original lug shows too long, then you need a shorter lug bolt. Remember - the measurement is from the ball to the end of the bolt - not from the hex head to the end of the bolt.

It's important to have about the same amount of threads showing - too short and you have a serious safety issue, too long and you may damage the rear parking brake or not fully seat the wheel.

Al

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