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Writer's pictureRahrena

Deformed ("Swollen") Ford 2 Piece Lug Nuts: Why we hate them. How to be PROACTIVE.

Updated: Sep 11

Ford is not the only company in the world that had the brilliant idea to do a 2 piece lug nut on their vehicles, but regardless of what make your car is, it's important to check your lug nuts BEFORE an emergency roadside situation. We're going to be looking swollen / deformed ford lug nuts at lugs from our 2013 Ford Escape SE. (Quick note- there are affiliate links in this post where we make a commission of any sale made through these links- it is not any more cost to you and we appreciate the support if you decide to purchase one of these products- thanks!)


Most people call them "Swollen" lug nuts. These are usually identified when the factory lug wrench no longer fits the lug nuts on your wheel and ... "how did they just... get bigger?!" "What the heck. Why doesn't my wrench fit anymore?"


Or another common case: "My mechanic just charged me for a whole new set of lug nuts when rotating my tires?! They said they had to destroy the lug nuts to get the wheels off"...


Well the truth is that the lug nuts don't just expand on their own. These Escape lugs only require 100 foot pounds which really isn't that much torque compared to what some shop tools can do. A manual lug wrench can easily achieve this with a portion of your body weight as leverage. This shouldn't be news since the factory lug wrench should easily allow anyone to achieve the correct torque doing a roadside tire change.


CONSTRUCTION: A lug nut should be solid to hold your wheel on- and your factory Ford lug nuts mostly are- except for their cosmetic chrome plated cover. This secondary cover is where all the issues come from, and it's best to change to a single piece lug nut BEFORE you're in a roadside emergency or else you may be struggling to get your wheel off in a less than ideal setting.

The 18mm lug core is visible after cutting the cover cap free.
Swollen cover cap removed from ford lug nut core

Our Ford Escapes use a 19mm hex size lug nut. Once these caps deform, it suddenly is just a bit too big for 19mm, but still too small for a 20mm socket, and certainly won't be ok with a 21mm socket... So what to do???


CTA HALF STEP FLIP SOCKET: This is where this awesome tool comes in- it's called a "half step socket" or a "flip socket". Driven by a square socket extension, it has a double sided 0.5mm variance from the standard 19mm size. This means one end is 19.5mm (for the outer cap) and the other end is 18.5mm (for the inner core).

The tool that will save you SO. MUCH. TIME. with deformed Ford Lug Nuts.
CTA 19.5/ 18.5mm Flip Socket

Therefore, INSTEAD of destroying your lug nuts to get them off, you can most likely get this flip socket to accommodate for the deformities in the cover cap.

Demo for how the flip socket works.
Flip Socket and Deformed/ Oversized Factory Lug Nut

While you're at it, replace them with single piece (and far superior and less expensive) lug nuts. See the Eisen Performance single piece lug nut on the right below compared with the factory 2 piece unit on the left.

A comparison in size between a deformed 2 piece lug nut vs the single piece that will never deform as much.
Factory (Left) vs Single Piece (Right) Lug Nut

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN UPGRADING SWOLLEN FORD LUG NUTS TO SINGLE PIECE LUG NUTS:

  • The majority of the forum goers rave that McGard and DP Accessories make the most robust and best "value for your money" type of single piece acorn lug nuts and some of the McGards even come with a lock nut for each wheel.

  • I started out with the Eisen Performance single piece lug nuts and they were great for nearly 2 years. I started to see corrosion on the corners and edges of them that I couldn't ever quite shine up or clean off. They never failed, or changed in size, so in this way they are still far superior to the factory 2 piece lug nut design, but McGard and DP Accessories will most likely withstand corrosion more robustly. If you don't mind some corrosion after 2 years of use, this is a great value set.

Eisen makes a great product but this made me want to try DPs.
Eisen Performance Socket showing signs of corrosion over time.
  • That being said, I have never tried McGard personally, but I did purchase a set of DP Accessory lug nuts and they have indeed been superior to the Eisen lug nuts, and they're cheaper than the McGard nuts- perhaps because they don't come with locks? I really don't know why, but they've been nothing short of excellent. Still very bright after a calendar year, still easy to clean. I'd highly recommend these.


By the way, I have had shops say thank you for ditching the factory nuts so that they can just get to work rather than wrestle with these inferior designed lug nuts. Full video info below if you're also proactive and interested in methods to remove these deformed lug nuts.


See tutorial on YouTube
Tutorial on how to remove swollen lug nuts

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