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The Size Of Our Lug Nuts?

A

AVALANCHE_JIM

GUEST
Good evening Gents, I was looking on the Griots web page and see that they sell 1/2 in drive sockets with a plastic coating inside and out to prevent scratching your rims and lugs. I'm not sure what size our lugs are. what do you guys think a waste of money. I'm due for my tires to be rotated and would like the opinion of the club members. Thanks JIM
 
On my 1500 (Z-71/Z-66/NFE style 17" stock wheels) I just use a standard black 7/8" impact socket, 1/2" drive. I turn the plastic lug nuts on the hub cap by hand, using the socket and a 6" extension as a handle. Then I take off the regular lugs with an air impact wrench, and hand tighten them with a torque wrench when I put them back.

I have no damage to my lugs or wheels, including the plastic trim lugs. However, I have no burrs or significant wear/damage on the socket. As long as the socket is in good shape, there should be no problem. If the socket is damaged/worn, then it might damage the plastic lug nut caps.

The plastic coating sounds like an interesting idea. However, how durable is it? Remember, the lug nuts on our trucks are tight: 140 ft-lbs for the 1500. That puts quite a strain on the socket and lugs when loostening/tightening them. Will the plastic coating hold up to the stress?

If you have the stock 17" wheels, where the plastic lugs are easy to turn, and the real lugs are hidden, I would think that a special socket is not necessary. If you have special wheels with exposed chromed lugs, and tight clearances where the socket might rub the wheel, then there may be some merit to such a special socket.

I've had exposed chromed lugs in the past, and over time a regular impact socket had damaged the corners. This caused the chrome plating to eventually break down and start peeling from the corners. Had I had a plastic lined socket back then, maybe those lugs would've lasted longer.

That's just my two cents, opinions may vary.

-- SS
 
Thanks for your answers. You have very good points. I think ill save the cash and put it toward something better like (CHROME REAR BUMPER KIT) Thanks ShapeShifter. Be Well
 
I think waste of money Av_jim.....our lugs are hidden under plastic caps as SS has stated...
 
I have used the plastic/rubber coated sockets for other applications and have found several problems with them. When they are manufactured, they must be made so that the actual steel socket is larger than the measured size due to the tolerance needed to fit the plastics materials on the inside walls of the sockets. Once the plastics wears, which it will, the socket is no longer usable for the intended size. Also, as was stated by others, they are not very good when you need to tighten beyond certain foot pounds. I hope this helps you make a more educated decision.
 
The correct answer to the question BTW is 22mm. (y) :B:
Should anyone ever want to know, the thread pitch is 14X1.5
 
So my lug nut wrench and Jack weren’t with my avalanche (bought used and cheap so I get what I pay for), and I used a 21mm socket and it worked out better than the 22mm deep socket. Is there much difference in the two? I don’t have an owners manual or a mechanics manual for 06 avalanche regency edition and there’s just some weird things that I’m coming across that’s just odd and having to figure it out is a little time consuming. I bought a 22mm thin wall deep socket with impact and it just wasn’t snug enough to break over safely, so I used just a 21mm short socket and break over bar with 2” extension and worked perfectly. Aside from the weird fact of havin to use metric on the lug nuts, what else should I be aware of that needs out of the ordinary tooling and equipment to do the basic stuff, like change out tires on 20” rims ?
 
21mm is a tad larger then 13/16" (0.014" larger)
22mm is tad smaller then 7/8" (-.009" smaller)

20mm is well weird
19mm is about same as 3/4" (-.002"smaller)
 
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