[Sankar]

I had NeoWheels Axis alloys on my car for a while and i decided to change them to a design which looks good and are easier to clean. So bought a set of Apollo Accelere wheels which is much easier to clean than my previous set.

With this change came a problem, the stock wheel nuts which i was using with Neo alloys wouldn't fit with these accelere wheels. There wasn't enough space for the box wrench to go in. So had to buy a set of 16 no-name brand hex key wheel nuts. I didn't like these wheel nuts, these had no brand name on it, and neither did it have any kind of info as to what kind of steel these were made from and also not to mention that there are reports on these nuts breaking off while trying to unscrew them. I had to change these and ordered a set of 20 spline drive capped nuts from Gorilla. These were made from chrome-vanadium steel, the same steel wrenches are made of, so these should be reliable.

After a one month wait i got this delivered by our Postwoman. The package was opened but items were all intact. In the evening i went to the Apollo tyre shop nearby to get all the wheel nuts changed.

Now i have to retain this Gorilla key safely, if i lose it i won't be able to unscrew the wheels without damaging the nuts. I'll be ordering a spare one soon.





All the nuts got changed except one. The tyre shop which did the alloy wheel changing (Popular Apollo, Thakaraparambu) didn't take good care during installation. The guy who installed it might have put the bolt into his air wrench and tightened it without enough care which caused the nut to go in cross threaded. He should have screwed the nut in by hand then used the air wrench. This was brought to notice when the tyre shop i went to couldn't loosen this one single nut, it was cross threaded and finally it came out with threads stripped. So now only three bolts are there securing the rear wheel to the hub. have to get this repaired tomorrow. Will update thread with repaired pics later.

[GTO]

Nice, thanks for sharing. Can you please add the:

- Website url where you purchased from
- Price (including shipping & taxes)
- The bolt model number (if any)

[Sankar]

Product: Gorilla Automotive Products - Lug Nuts, Wheel Locks, Auto Security, Wheel Accessories
And this is where i got it from: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

The wheel nut thread spec for my AStar is 12x1.25mm.

Price would've been USD56 delivered to my address. But due to some mistakes they made while shipping they refunded me the full shipping amount+import fee deposit. So i was charged only for the product, USD26.95

The no-name 16 lug nuts plus the hex key cost me Rs1000/-

[csateesh]

Sankar,

Thanks for sharing

Would you be able to confirm if you picked up the alloys recently ? I have been looking for Apollo Alloys for 13 x 5.5J in Bangalore without luck.

I am on the look out for very similar ones

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Sankar,

Thanks for sharing

Would you be able to confirm if you picked up the alloys recently ? I have been looking for Apollo Alloys for 13 x 5.5J in Bangalore without luck.

I am on the look out for very similar ones

Hi,
I heard from the Apollo dealer that the company is not importing the wheels anymore. No new stock is coming in. I don't know if this situation is temporary or permanent. Maybe this is why you are finding it difficult in sourcing these wheels. I picked these wheels couple of months back.


Sourced the wheel stud from a spares shop, the item is not OE. Checked with the MGP spares dealer they didn't have it.

[kingofmyworld]

Good choice there. I've been using these nuts since 3 years and they still look brand new once washed. They do not rust and they do not create any hassle unline the hex key nuts. The hex key nuts are prone to getting rusted and one fine day, They'll give up. Happened multiple times on my friends cars. These nuts are available off the shelf for a little over the hex nuts. The hex nuts were being sold around 1000-1200 for a set. These nuts are being sold between 1600-2000 here in hyderabad but from a different manufacturer.

[Nikhilb2008]

Sankar, thanks for posting it here!

This is a FANTASTIC option for all the enthusiasts who wouldnt mind spending a little extra for peace of mind and quality.

The chinese no-name bolts are absolutely RUBBISH in quality.

[rajeev k]

Looks like well engineered. Be watchful and take care till you fit in the fourth one
Does a socket spanner fit correctly on these gorillas? Appears to me as yes.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Looks like well engineered. Be watchful and take care till you fit in the fourth one
Does a socket spanner fit correctly on these gorillas? Appears to me as yes.

Didn't take the car out yesterday, took the i10 instead. Have to get it fixed today.

Only the Gorilla socket can unlock it, regular socket wouldn't grip the nut, tried it

[theMAG]

Due to the wrong thread, check if the lug bolt hasnt sheared off its threads requiring its replacement too.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by Sankar

This was brought to notice when the tyre shop i went to couldn't loosen this one single nut, it was cross threaded and finally it came out with threads stripped.

Originally Posted by theMAG

Due to the wrong thread, check if the lug bolt hasnt sheared off its threads requiring its replacement too.

Sankar has already said that the nut sheared the thread of the lug bolt when it was finally removed. He will be replacing the lug bolt shortly I assume.

Edit: Sankar you were lucky that the bolt did not start rotating because of the wrong thread fitment. This happened with me once and the complete lug bolt started rotating. We had to dismantle the entire front wheel assembly with the tyre in place. It was a total pain. Since then I am always with the guy who is fitting the wheel to ensure that he first screws on the nut by hand and then uses the pneumatic wrench.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Due to the wrong thread, check if the lug bolt hasnt sheared off its threads requiring its replacement too.

The lug nut is wasted but that is not a problem since i was replacing them anyways.

Originally Posted by vikram_d

Edit: Sankar you were lucky that the bolt did not start rotating because of the wrong thread fitment. This happened with me once and the complete lug bolt started rotating. We had to dismantle the entire front wheel assembly with the tyre in place. It was a total pain. Since then I am always with the guy who is fitting the wheel to ensure that he first screws on the nut by hand and then uses the pneumatic wrench.

I can imagine how hard that would be!

I got the nut stud changed, the stud i bought from the local spare shop was a waste of money. The milling was a bit thin and it wouldn't fit inside the hug tightly. The mech suggested spot welding it, but i denied since this is a lug centric wheel and the weight of the vehicle is actually carried on the lugs. So one loose stud even if its welded is a weak link and proper load transfer wouldn't happen with a couple of spot welds. If welded in completely it'll ruin the hub if we have to get a stud replacement done in the future. And if the spot weld breaks i would be faced with the situation Vikram faced that he mentioned above.

Since i denied that option we got looking and found an OE stud from an Alto's wheel hub which was lying there. The stud went in my AStar's hub tight and snug and its done.. fixed.

A lug centric wheel with no spigot


Stripped OE stud and new non OE stud which turned out useless.


A close up of name brand nut with the Gorilla brand name

[Sankar]

Cost of this wheel lug replacement job is Rs150/- including the OE lug from the Alto hub. The non OE lug cost me another Rs30/-, money wasted.

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Hi,
I heard from the Apollo dealer that the company is not importing the wheels anymore. No new stock is coming in. I don't know if this situation is temporary or permanent. Maybe this is why you are finding it difficult in sourcing these wheels. I picked these wheels couple of months back.


Sourced the wheel stud from a spares shop, the item is not OE. Checked with the MGP spares dealer they didn't have it.

Thanks Sankar for the confirmation. Neither do I know if the situation is permanent or temporary.

Hope the situation changes and helps us to use a good quality alloy

[Chetan_Rao]

I got a similar set when I swapped my Accent's steel rims with 13 X 5.5J Plati alloys 2 weeks ago. Cost me 1200 INR for 16 nuts and the key. The hex-key nuts were available for about 800 INR, but they're open-ended (hence prone to rusting), and the hex-key itself didn't look very confidence-inspiring.

The only precaution for this one is to retain the key, without which the nuts can't be unscrewed.