I'm guessing many of you already know about this, but just in case. I took my 2017 F-150 in for routine service last Saturday. It has about 60,000 miles on the odo. When finished I was told that the tires could not be rotated because my lug nuts were "swollen". I'm 74 years old and have never heard such a thing. I talked to the service manager and he told me that the lug nuts were made of two pieces, an inner lug nut and an outer decorative layer. After serveral tire rotations the out layer gets deformed so that a socket can not be put on the lug nut and if you hammer it on it won't come off. I use my truck to pull a travel trailer all summer and not being able to remove a tire could be a major problem for me if I get a flat. The service manager advised me to buy solid chrome plated lug nuts since anything Ford sells would be the same two piece design. When I got home I tried to put the stock wheel wrench on a lug nut and it would not go on any of them. I ordered a replacement set of chrome plated lug nuts from Amazon and I'm replacing all the lug nuts now. This is a hidden issue for me at least and I'm glad that the service manager told me the truth about Ford lug nuts. I cut one of the defective lug nuts in half using my grinder to show the inner and deformed outer parts. See picture below.

Ford lug nut cut in half showing nut and outer cover

 

It's a thing. You even picked the name that everyone else uses. Nice pictures, haven't seen the actual innards of the problem.

https://www.f150forum.com/f2/swollen-lug-nuts-525925/

https://www.f150forum.com/f38/swollen-lugnuts-525264/

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/swollen-lug-nuts-365302/

 

I think most real tire shops have 1/2 size sockets and can typically (easily) remove the swollen lug nuts.

you might ask a couple shops if they do, see if you can pay for a rotation and have new ones swapped on while they are rotating.

 

Long term issue, I swapped to gorilla brand many years ago they are still popular option.

Ford was using that junk in 2011 and it's disappointing to see it 10 years later on my 2021. Bought more gorilla lugs.

 

Yeah, the first time I heard swollen lug nuts I was like....is this the same as muffler bearings (ha ha) I thought the garage as trying to rip me off.

I was able to drill a small hole thoruhg that covering and get all the lug nuts off but what a PITA. I have since ordered the new lug nuts now that I have a new truck I'll be doing the same.

 

Yep, been there done that. I attempted to do my own brakes and the nuts were so swollen (ha ha, I'm like 10), I couldn't get them off. I took it to my local shop after buying replacement nuts and told him to fix it and trash the swollen ones.

Apparently, this isn't just on F150s. My wife's Edge has the same nuts.

 

many manufacturers are using the same supplier of the same cheap crap

 

Torque specs are probably different.

 

I had the same issue at my Ford Dealer when I was in for oil change and tire rotation. The story was they were swollen from water freeze/thaw cycle. I was told they had a special wrench for removal but my lug wrench wouldn't fit. They sold me new lug nuts for around a hundred bucks. If it happens again, I will try and find the Gorilla nuts mentioned here.

 

if you bought the ford brand it will happen again.

i used a dremel with a small cutoff wheel to slice a line down the length of the nut to remove the outer piece. luckily the inner piece is just a size (or two) smaller than the cap so they are easy to remove at that point. i also went with aftermarket solid nuts and tried cheap, gorilla and some other mid-range priced version. all of them were rusty on the outside within a year of driving in ohio.