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Mini Cooper alloy wheel nuts


Ben Hutchings

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I'm looking for replacement wheel nuts that might not rust in a year. These look pretty good: Stainless cap, 3/8 UNF, correct angle, and captive floating washers which should be kind to my alloys - https://www.bullmotifminispares.co.uk/product/tyres-wheels-alloys/nam9075/NAM9075 

The only question is depth I think. Anyone had experience with these on a standard stud/hub setup? 

(I could have sworn I upgraded to M12 studs about a decade ago... I'm now wondering if I helped someone's else do it as I distinctly remember fitting some! going mad...)

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Ben, maybe worth actually converting your car to M12. Honestly, they are so much more reassuring when you see them fitted.

Then buy a set of genuine ford wheel nuts.... (depending on what wheels you have fitted, but the ford have the 60 degree taper)

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I've driven small Triumphs for over 30 years, including for many years as my daily transport and a number of RBRRs, always on standard studs, and I've never had a wheel stud fail. I can't speak for Ben but I feel no need of anything "more reassuring".

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3 hours ago, Clive said:

... maybe worth actually converting your car to M12.

Yes true... not expensive is it, seeing that I need to buy nuts anyway and there's more choice in M12. There's a Land Rover place about half a mile way so next time I pop out for milk I might see if they have any Freelander studs in stock 😬 

3 hours ago, RobPearce said:

... I've never had a wheel stud fail.

You are fortunate, or just very careful! One of mine stripped, which is why I replaced it. It's coming back to me now, but what I can't remember is if I just stupidly over-tightened it or what happened. I seem to remember it was bent somehow 😳 

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Ben, there are several varieties of the freelander stud. If using steel wheels you need to be careful about how far the thread goes. ie it needs to be almost to the very bottom of the stud.

I used ford studs, seem to work just fine. Just had to grind an edge off the head, not exactly difficult. And the ford nuts have stainless caps on (or some do) 

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The reply to this topic ties in neatly with my requests for advice on the forum a few weeks ago regarding Spitfire 1500 replacement tyres.

I duly opted for the Falkens but in the process of fitting, my normally tried and trusted tyrefitters managed to strip the offside rear studs and were unable to refit my minilite alloy.  Luckily my spare is a steel wheel so managed to refit this to get me home. Despite their kind offer to replace the studs FOC I decided I would rather attempt this myself!

This led to my second forum request on replacing the standard with longer 47 mm studs and after good advice from you Ben, Glang and Sparky Spit and using a combination of the advice given I have the new studs fitted and can offer a few additional tips on fitting.

The G clamp I had to press them off would not fit but a few doses of penetrating oil followed by tapping the stud gently sideways with a nylon hammer got them moving and they tapped out easily with hub and splines intact.

As noted the XL stud will not fit with the hub on so I placed the stud as far as it would go into the hub then moved the stud to scribe a mark on the backplate using this as a guide to drill a small pilot hole. I then used an 11mm drill at an angle to scallop out just enough space in the backplate for the stud to be fitted.  This small hole and depression was easily refilled with metal epoxy putty.

I had trouble fitting the new studs as the splines were 0.2 mm oversize and 3mm from the base of the stud compared to the std ones which meant that they had to be pulled in further to fully seat. I rectified this by polishing off the japanned finish on the spline and rounded off the leading edge and seated them using a column of large washers as spacers with wheel nut and brace.

During the 4 years of ownership I have never needed to remove a wheel myself - no punctures and the garage services/checks brakes etc so was quite shocked to see how marginal the available thread is with std studs and 'Spitfire' supplied Minilite alloys.  Being philosophical, the tyrefitters may have done me a favour as they had clearly worn through time and the wheel may have fallen off. For the record I was present and they were not using an air tool.

This is clearly not an issue with the std steel wheels but with wider alloys and std studs you will only have a fraction of a gram of metal at best holding the wheel on, worse if worn so certainly worth checking and watching closely as it may become a safety issue.

I have not had a chance to road test the Falkens yet but will report back as promised - thanks again for the help.

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All bar two of my small chassis cars are on the standard studs and nuts, and no the been an issue.

But, the Mk 3 Spitfire kept stripping studs, 1 or 2 a year. so decided to buy new, and it was Freelander ones that won out.

Herald Estate needs longer studs, so M12 won out again.

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