Weird Lug Nut Problem
 

So this morning I had to take my 8 to my mechanic to have a leak fixed. I would have switched to the spare before going there, but I couldn't get the lugs off because when I had my snows changed to my summers, they used the lugs from my snows; and the snow lugs are smaller than stock. Instead I had to fill the tire and drive really fast to the shop in the hopes that it wouldn't go flat before I got there. I made without problem.

While I was getting the tire fixed, I asked my mechanic if he could switch the lugs back so that if I have another problem like this, I'm not stuck. So he did.

When I left there to go to work, I noticed that the car was handling a lot better than it had been. I've been having problems since I got my snows off with vibration and noise that I didn't have before I put them on. Meaning my summer tires ran fine at the end of last fall, but ran like crap when I got them put back on in spring. I've had the dealership look at the car, I had my mechanic look at the car, I had a tire place look at the car. All of them said it was my tires (Kumho SPT w/5000 miles on them) that were causing the problem. Flat spots, they said. So not wanting to shell out another $600 (or more) for tires after less than a year, I've been driving them in the hopes of making it through to winter. Now they run great again.

Could changing the lugs make that much of a difference? I mean you can notice a significant weight difference between the stock lugs and the lugs that came with my snow wheels. The stock lugs are a LOT lighter. I never noticed the weight difference before.

Any thoughts?

The weight diff in the lugs is very minimal 'cause they are close to the center of the axles.

The only other thing I can think of is the diff type of seat. Maybe your snow rims nuts are for ball shape like Hondas and the stock ones are straight cone shape. If you put ball shape nuts on to cone shape seat, you will not get enough contact area to hold the wheel properly.

my 2 cents,

Terence

You may be on to something Terence. The lugs from my snows are a different shape and weight than the stock lugs.

The difference in performance is astounding. I have next to no vibration and the mushy turn feeling has gone away. I never thought that lug nuts would have that much of an impact on performance.