I recently installed my dream set of wheels and have refinished the factory lug bolts. They look good but I came across Acer racing titanium lug bolts and they have an attractive price point. I have looked for reviews and have not been successful in finding any. Has anyone used them and have comments to share.

 

I was looking at Tikor and considering maybe extended studs but you're right that's a pretty attractive price! Do you know if they're two piece or single piece? I would think with dream wheels you would want two piece to keep the contact surface from getting chewed up or maybe use a dab of anti-seize?

 

From the picture on their website, they look like two-piece. The price looks great!

 

What's the big deal about titanium?

 

No paint, no rust. My stock lugs look like crap. I asked for black lugs when I bought my $4K HREs and they sent me silver lugs painted black. After three years of switching to winder/summer wheel sets, you can imagine how the painted lugs held up.

 

Well I decided to buy a set. I was looking for something with similar strength to stock but with no corrosion concerns. Titanium seemed like the only ticket. I'll install them with anti-seize when I get them and check residual torque with a dial wrench to confirm no funny business is going on. I'll report back when they are received with pics and info.

Here is what they are going on:

 

Ti is light as a feather, tough as nails, corrosion resistant, and has a nice natural finish - not much to dislike! I've got several items made of the material including a years old watch that gets beaten daily and shows no wear. In this application my only concerns would be galling maybe or tensile strength. It's a tough metal and a ***** to machine but can apparently be brittle. I would hope that both Acer and Tikor have that part figured out and I think I'd want a 2piece bolt so if you get confirmation from them I'd love to hear it. Zooming the pic I agree they look 2piece! Tikor sells both but at a serious price, Acer's price is damned nice and on sale till end of year! They do seem to sell a wide variety of interesting stuff lol :-)

P.S. Another option is extended studs, I'm looking at these too. However most are steel and while they would sure make tire swaps easier I'm not sure I want the corrosion issues to remain :-(

 

if the wheels are maintained properly why would corrosion be an issue? don't titanium have a specific tensile strength? what happens if they are mistakenly tightened to much? will they break?

i was thinking of studs and tuner longest for mine since my wheels are constantly being taken on and off

 

I personally wouldn't use Ti as a replacement hardware. Ti has a very finite life span, steel is cheap and very durable and generally gives warning of upcoming failure. My stock lug bolts still look great, simple cleaning should keep them corrosion free.

 

The only corrosion issue is the stock stuff can get ugly, polish it up or wire wheel and it looks better. Ti doesn't rust or corrode that I've seen and is really light too. I can't speak to strength but I think you would have a pretty tough time tightening it to failure. For lots of swaps studs seem the way to go with say a bullet nose but thread locking that and steel makes me a little wary - I can't claim any experience with it though. Ti studs maybe? Lol

 

i finally got "tuner"? lugs in a 14mm hex. not having to deal with lugs any more and they are flush inside the wheel. tough to "dry" though.

 

compressed air into the area dries them quickly.

also i don't think anti seize is advised on lug bolts. i think thats supposed to be a 'DRY' torque

 

Yeah I use a leaf blower as the first part of my drying process to get into the normal places that a person can't get to with a towel.

I have been using anti-seize for 13 yrs on all my lugs and hub to wheel interfaces without issue. I always use a high quality torque wrench with a mutilation protected socket and have had zero issues. I think with the Ti it might be a better idea to lessen the likelihood of galling and galvanic corrosion due to the "more" dissimilar metal vs factory steel lugs. The anti seize will reduce the friction in the joint so yes more of the torque will go into stretching the bolt. This has not been an issue in the past but one could just torque to a lower setting if that was a concern.

 

Yes as far as I know you should not put anti seize on lug bolts. I have used titanium fasteners in the past but also believe they would not be a good choice in this application.

 

I believe that is the brand I got. They are very nice. I have a stainless set also. The set looks nice but very heavy. The ti ones are very light.