So I got a call from my mother today because she had taken my Cherokee to the dealership for an oil change and tire rotation. She asked me if it was worth $200 to have my lugnuts replaced. The service department guys told her that mine were "swollen" I told her not to have them do the lugnuts. At this point I do have to admit that not all of my lugnuts are the same brand and a couple of them do have a different socket size (SAE vs metric) than the others but they all have the correct thread pitch and diameter for the lugs. After 10 years of maintaining my xj this is the first time I have heard of swelling lugnuts. So is it a real thing or was the service department trying to get more money from an unsuspecting customer?

Thanks guys

 

I'd try to take them off and see what happens haha. I don't know how a lug nut can swell.. It's metal it doesn't expand or contract without a lot of heat.

 

If they're the type of lug nuts that have the cheap tin caps, rust can form under the caps on the actual lug nut causing the tin caps to expand. If these are the type of lug nuts the vehicle has, take the lug wrench for the vehicle and see if it fits over the lug nuts. If not, replace the lug nuts with the solid steel type.

 

Right

And you can buy solid nuts for $20

 

I helped lift a co-worker's XJ, and the lug nuts were ridiculously tight on the front wheels. I wonder if it was the same problem. I think hers were the stock nuts, but it was so hard to get them off. Usually you can break them loose and then spin them off by hand, but with these you were turning the wrench with max effort all the way to the end, and the lug nuts were hot to the touch from the friction when we got them off. I'd never had that happen before.

 

Yeah screw $200 for that, I got my wheels locks thrown in when I got new wheels, I think it would've been like $45 for all 20

 

I bought 20 chrome acorn lug nuts on ebay I think for less than $20 shipped!

 

the cheap OEM nuts, will stretch or "swell", when over torqued. In addition to the caps swelling from rust.

 

Forgot to update this a long time ago. The dealership used an impact wrench to put the lug nuts back on. The ones I was able to break free spun by hand but 5 of them couldn't be extracted including one that was less than 6 months old, replaced due to the cap falling off the original. So 5 lug nuts had to be drilled out 2 on each rear and one on the driver's front. The 19mm / 3/4" lug wrench fit on the nuts perfectly. $20 for 20 lug nuts after shipping and then $18 for 5 studs. My mother took it to the same dealership that forgot to tighten the lug nuts on my driver's front wheel a year before which resulted in wheel damage and a sheared stud on the way home from the dealership. I have now banned my mother from taking it to the dealership for the second time, we'll see if she listens, just in case it is now at school with me.

 

Sounds like time to find another repair shop. I would have a talk with the service manager and general manager about why.

 

She takes it there because it is owned by the same people as her Favorite Toyota Dealership (Walker Automotive Group). The toyota dealership has done a fantastic job with her last 2 Toyotas (Avalon and a Camry). But when it came time to execute a service Bulletin for my dad's 2012 FJ Cruiser they dragged their feet on replacing the rear driveshaft. They were shipped out with a drive shaft that was a little too short and caused a light bucking when almost stopped and right after starting from a stand still. Instead they packed it with Grease (3 times) which got all over the bottom of the vehicle and fixed/masked the issue for 2 days tops. My father took it to a dealership close to his work and they got it done in one day. He dropped it off before work and they dropped him off at work before the dealership opened and picked him up at the end of the day and he drove the FJ home. The other dealership gets top marks from me for customer service and getting the job done. When I purchase another vehicle I will avoid Walker Automotive Group like the plague. Side note My father bought the XJ fresh off a lease at that dealership and they said it was a four cylinder. He brought it home I popped the hood and low and behold it had a 4.0 in there.