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Winter Tires

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by EyePrime, Oct 6, 2018.

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  1. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Realizing my full size spare tire is on aftermarket generic steel rim, and probably stock OEM lug nuts off from alloy wheels will not fit very well. I looked into this exact steel rim lug nuts you mentioned in other thread. Guess what, those nuts are $5-$15 each at ebay. Then I checked online Genuine Toyota parts stores. They are MSRP$3.33 and usually sold at $2.50/each online. But with shipping 5 nuts I needed for my spare steely would cost me more than $20. I ended up ordering generic aftermarket lug nuts of same spec for $9.90 with free shipping.
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah I got a pretty good deal: $31/20, $1.55 apiece. They';re nothing special, and I'd really rather have closed end nuts: the ends of the studs are exposed, and like all Toyota hardware, rusts like crazy. Trouble is the closed end nuts I see on Amazon are all about 38~40 high, I guess one-size-fits-all, but they really stick out. You have to be careful too, obviously thread pitch, diameter, but also seat type.

    Also with the ones I've got: there's no shoulder at the base, so if you just slam a socket on it it chews the paint up on the rim. :(
     
  3. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    The nuts I ordered for my steely is this. QTY 5: OEM WHEEL LUG NUT FOR TOYOTA CHRYSLER GM 90942-01007, UAP-36-034 | eBay
    Yeah, it has no shoulder at the base, but I thought tapered end goes in first as this is a conical seat. Are there any conical seat lug nuts with shoulder at the base?
     
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  4. Blue-Adept

    Blue-Adept Active Member

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    Had to get the locking lugnut's from Discount tire for my new rims and snow tires.
    The stock ones will not work.

    Discount has multiple types to match any vehicle.
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I took my locking nuts off, on the OEM rims, just got tired of dealing with them. Replaced with these, which look and appear identical (apart from an embossed number on one flute face, not noticeable when installed):



    For adblockers:

    upload_2018-10-10_7-59-31.png
     
  6. coach81

    coach81 Active Member

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    Good luck with all of this.. no snow here..
     
  7. PT Guy

    PT Guy Senior Member

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    Toyota alloy wheels are hub centric. They fit snugly on the hub, and that centers the wheel. The lug nuts have a flat face as shown in Mendel's pic. The inner most end of the lug nut has a very small conical face. This is intended to work OK on a compact spare steel wheel for the limited speed & distance allowed. I won't use these as the regular lug nuts on my snow tire wheels with conical seats.

    Most steel wheels (and many other alloy wheels) are lug centric. The lug circle centers the wheel on the hub. These usually take a lug nut with a 60° conical face. For our cars, these are about $16 for 20 on eBay. I have had one brand of aftermarket alloy wheels that had spherical lug seats and needed matching lug nuts. It's always worth taking a close look. Discount Tire sold me a set of "Tuner" lug nuts with the conical face. These need a splined socket (a pain to keep track of), but the real problem is that they aren't made correctly. The threads in the nuts aren't cut quite deeply enough and they're tight as they screw on clean lug studs. They're now in my scrap bin. I could have bought an M12-1.5 bottoming tap and re-cut the threads, but that would have cost as much as the new nuts, and I'd still have to bother with the splined socket.
     
  8. m8547

    m8547 Senior Member

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    Does anyone have a source for conical lug nuts for steel wheels that are also closed on the end so the studs don't rust? It looks like the Toyota and aftermarket options posted above are threaded all the way through, leaving the end of the stud exposed.
     
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  9. PT Guy

    PT Guy Senior Member

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    Search eBay or Amazon or your local auto parts store for acorn lug nuts. You'll need the thread diameter & pitch (M12-1.5 or 1/2"x20, or whatever fits that vehicle). You already know you need conical seat. You'll need sufficient height to cover the stud without bottoming inside the acorn nut. The nuts in Mendel's pic are closed on the end.
     
  10. m8547

    m8547 Senior Member

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    I installed my snow tires this weekend. I purchased them from Tire Rack on generic steel wheels. The hub bore is NOT oversized, which is great. It doesn't fit quite as tight on the hub as an alloy wheel, but it's good enough.

    I don't like how the axle nut is exposed on the front. I sprayed some Fluid Film to hopefully prevent rust, but I'd prefer some kind of cover. My 4runner had metal dust caps over the axle nut that sealed out any water (but were a huge pain to get off and expensive to replace after inevitably damaging them).
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    A 2" ABS end cap (standard item in any hardware store plumbing department) may fit. It does with my Corolla steel rims, with just a little play, which I make up by pushing on a "rubber band", cut from an old bicycle inner tube. With that on, the cap is a slight interference fit, needs to be sort of screwed on. And it's stayed in place through the winter.

    If your rim's opening is only slightly over-sized it may fit. FYI, the inside diameter of that end cap is 2 3/8". Another requirement is for the opening to have a bit of a lip, the more the better.

    And yeah, when exposed everything rusts up real fast; Toyota's attention to rust prevention is near-nil.
     
  12. PT Guy

    PT Guy Senior Member

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    On ebay you'll find dome center caps--you need to specify the diameter and the finish--chrome, black, etc. You can also find some Toyota emblems to stick to the center caps. I did that--looks OK.
     
  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    It takes more than just the diameter though, especially if it's something non-stock. Some caps go inside the bore, some push over the outside of a lip, or inside, and the clips on them are all over the map. Just gamely shopping on EBay I think you could end up with a lot of duds.

    If you're not picky about appearance, and find something local and cheap and verify it fits, that'd be preferable.
     
  14. KP7

    KP7 Member

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    I just purchased a prime and am looking at getting a set of Michelin xice and rims to combat winter shenanigans on MA route 2 and to get through Vermont and Maine to visit relatives. I usually get aftermarket tires and wheels from town fair tire but then got concerned with this talk of lug nuts not fitting. Do I need to be concerned with that or is it something that they make sure to get the proper lugs when I buy the full wheel set?
     
  15. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Don't worry, any reputable tire shop will fit aftermarket rims with appropriate lugs. I just purchased set of aftermarket wheel and Xice mounted and balanced from Discount Tire Direct. They included set of lugs as "installation kit" for $45.
     
  16. KP7

    KP7 Member

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    Thanks, Salamander_King. That's what I figured, but having just joined the boards I'm in a bit of an information overload state.

    Edit: And what do you do about the TPMS sensors? I wasn't planning on getting a second set and hope to just ignore the warning light during the winter.
     
    #36 KP7, Oct 18, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2018
  17. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I know what you mean. There are way too much information here (both useful and not so much, IMHO). lol But in general, as far as Prius (including Prime) is concerned, especially when new or newish, you can safely ignore most of those information and just driving it is fine.

    As for the TPMS, if you search the forum, you will find many threads discussing that topic especially on what to do with winter set of tires. While I had winter tires swapping on the same OEM wheel and TPMS twice a year, I did not have to worry about that issue. But now I have separate set of rims with winter tires, I decided to go WITHOUT installed internal TPMS sensors. Yes, you will have the TPMS warning light on the dash while you have winter set of tires on. But I purchased aftermarket external TPMS monitor instead at ~$50. This was primarily for cost saving. Installing internal TPMS on winter set of tires will cost you at least $100 more for the sensor plus hussle of registering the TPMS IDs onto car's ECU every time you swap tires. If you are going to have the winter tires on new rims installed at tire shop, you may not have any choice but purchase new set of TPMS and have them register them to the car or remove existing OEM TPMS off from summer tires and install them into the winter tires. Either way it will cost you, and make the tire swap very inconvenient. If you have a mean to change mounted tires yourself, some shops may agree to install tires onto rims with regular valve (no TPMS), but most likely they will not install onto your car due to legality of installer disabling functional TPMS. If you have not looked around, you may want to check out Discount Tire Direct or TireRack for winter tire and rims. You can purchase set, and have them mounted and balanced without TPMS and shipped to you. They will include correct lugs needed for installation as well. All you have to do is to swap tires when it's time for snow tires. My aftermarket alloy wheels and Xice 3 set from Discount Tire ended up costing me ~$450 TOTAL after all discounts and rebates (including non-TPMS valves, set of lugs, mounting, balancing, and shipping). All I have to do is to swap tires myself. I bet you will not find any local shop that will come even close to this price range.
     
    #37 Salamander_King, Oct 18, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2018
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  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I would go with this if at all possible.

    Funny: Mazda has manage to implement TPMS so that owners can swap between tire sets and the car recognizes the sensors with a bit of driving. They might need to do some intial handshake, not sure. I see their sensors on a Canadian dealership website for $35 (CDN) apiece.
     
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  19. KP7

    KP7 Member

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    Thanks Salamander_King I appreciate the advice. I'll keep digging into this to see what works best for me.
     
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  20. R2s are not studdable.

    I’ve used the R2s on two priusses. They’re mediocre on slush and borderline terrible on ice. For all that Nokian and others have boasted about these tires, I was very disappointed with these overrated tires, and will be selling mine online. Also they have some kind of rolling bus hum noise that I find very depressing to be stuck with listening to.

    This year I am getting Hakkapeliitta 9 studded, and I expect it to be all and beyond what has been said about the R2s. I will also be doing some new noise test videos... not to compare R2 vs. 9 road noise, but to compare stock all season vs. 9 road noise. Charged Up did a blurb about this last year, and I’ll be adding new video comparisons.
     
    Tideland Prius likes this.