Long story short, took the truck to the dealer yesterday to have the oil changed and while it was there I figured it be easy to have them rotate the tires since their due. I was told the lift in use, come back tommorrow and they'll due it free of charge.

So on to today, they're had a problem getting the lug nuts off since they appear to be bulged out in the middle and the socket will not even seat halfway on some, I went out and verified this.

First question is: Has anybody here ever heard of this? The only time the wheels were off was I physically put the new tires on and torqued them to 95lbs pounds myself and verified by my buddy.

Second question is: As the lug nuts are really the final point in the drive train and this appears to be a defect in materials, shouldn't this be covered on the lifetime powertrain warranty? The service manager is looking into this and I'll find out they're stance on this next week.

If they choose not to warranty this, would would this be a consumer protection issue since lug nuts are kind of safety related?

 

The dealer may choose to make it a warranty repair mainly as a good PR move, but if they don't, I don't think you got a snowball's chance in hell on the consumer protection issue front, especially since you were the last one to touch them.

 

I have the stock 20" rims with lugs. It happend to me too. I could not get the socket all the way. I found out it was a soft cover(aliminium or someyhing) over the lugs. I just hammered it little on each side and it is good now.

 

i've done and seen the same thing... its from using the wrong size socket...

 

Well, like I said, I've been the only one to ever remove the wheels and everything was put back together to specs using the correct tools.

On a side note though, I did get to test drive a manual SRT8 challenger on the freeway today and yesterday I got to joy ride this instead of waiting in the lobby...

 

I think you got it there beacause i use mm socket and the lug nut has inch measures.

 

Yeah I have heard of the aluminum expanding from either heat or being stretched while being torqued. See if you can get new ones though as it is always nice to have stuff that works right? How was the SRT 10 QC. I found it to be kind of a dog to be honest.

 

It was fun to drive, I like the firm shifting trans (got a second gear chirp) and the interior was really nice but it just re-affirmed how much I really like my truck and I don't have to worry about curbs, rain, snow, dirt roads.... and my truck rides nice with the 17" rims on it. Oh, but the brakes... the best thing on that whole truck, those brakes were awesome!

I'll see if I can get picture up here of the lug nuts tomorrow, I gotta get right now going to a BBQ.

 

Yeah I think they use the same trans the diesel uses. That would sure be a nice swap to a hemi truck eh?

 

I've driven the SRT10, and I dunno how ANYBODY can call it a dog!

Got a golf buddy who is the sales manager at the local Ford dealership who let me test drive a Raptor. The thing looked absolutely awesome! Before I even got in it we were talking how much I could get for my truck in trade. I'm figuring it's the best of both worlds, basically if you took a Power Wagon and crossed it with an SRT10!

NOPE, the thing was a pig. Was not impressed with it at all. No low end whatsoever and I don't think the performance at mid or high rpms was even up to par with my '04 Hemi...