[shiftz33]

Be careful with the wheel locks the chevy parts department sells for the SSR. Part number 12497478 is NOT the correct set of wheel locks for the SSR's alloy rims.

I ordered my wheel locks and received them yesterday. I went to install the first one and noticed the wheel lock lug nut was sinking below the surface of the wheel when it was being torqued down (103 lb-ft). At about 80 lb-ft of torque the lug nut was just not getting "tight" so I backed it out and found that the wheel was getting cut by the wheel lock lug nut.

The regular lug nut contact surface has about a 1/4" more of contact surface that allows the lug nut to fully occupy the cavity for the lug nut as it should.

The local parts department called GM today and they then confirmed that the wheels locks currently listed for the SSR are INCORRECT.

They've opened a case for this issue since GM claims to have released the 12497478 part number on 6/30/2004 for the SSR but now it looks to be incorrect after all.

What fun!

 

[Brownhornet]

Does this go for the locks purchase prier to this date. I had my dealer call GM and confirm the part number I had back in January when I purchased my SSR. I have not noticed what you are talking about.

Please inform me if I am wrong with what I have. I don't want to mess anything up on my truck.

Thanks

 

[wildcat66]

Great now I will have to go out to the garage and have a look see. I hope that they aren't the wrong ones too.

 

[shiftz33]

I ordered my wheel locks before 6/30/04 based on what the local parts department stated should be the correct wheel locks. That's how I obtained the wheel locks with part number 12497478.

The GM person stated to the local parts guy (today) that the 12497478 part number was "the correct one" until the local parts guys restated my problem and told the GM person again that I already had the 12497478 wheel locks and they were the ones causing the problem with the SSR's stock alloy rims. That's when the GM person researched it a bit further and then agreed that the 12497478 wheels locks are not the correct wheel locks for the SSR's stock alloy rims.

When I installed the first locking lug nut on my SSR last night, it looked correct until the very end when I noticed that the top portion of the taper/lip of the locking lug nut was now below the surface of the outside of the lug nut hole on the wheel. The standard lug nut has far more contact surface area and that extra material is critical in not allowing the lug nut from taking a bite out of the alloy rim. After I removed the one locking lug nut, that's when I noticed the slight gouge on the top portion of the lug nut hole on the alloy rim. :banghead

 

[Peaches]

Locking Lugnuts

Thanks a bunch! You saved me another hassle. :yesnod

 

[Diggs]

McGard

I just got a set from McGard, actually from summitracing.com. Part # MCG-24012 and the cost is $19.95. They fit perfectly.

Diggs

 

[shiftz33]

I just placed an order for the McGard locks. Thanks for the info!

 

[wildcat66]

How long will it be before GM has the correct nuts for our SSRs? I may have to take mine back and order the others you are talking about

 

[shiftz33]

The parts guy did not seem to imply any sort of timely response from GM on this topic. The only thing they've done is "open a case" to correct the part number since they've posted the incorrect one. That's why I ended up ordering the McGard locks today.

 

[ntmmd8r]

I emailed McGard Inc. to ask them for their correct part number, since their web-site did not list the SSR on their choices. The paragraph below is what they replied with....So obviously they also supply Chevrolet with theirs.


As long as you are using the factory wheels, you may order part number
12497478 through your local Chevrolet dealer or part number 24012
through an aftermarket retailer. All of our products, if not in stock,
may be ordered through all participating Sears Automotive Stores,
Firestone and Goodyear locations. You may also order directly through
Summit Racing at 1-800-230-3030.

Thank you,

Marc Courtney
Customer Service Technician
McGard Inc.[/B][/I]

 

[shiftz33]

I went to the summitracing.com website and looked up an 03 Trailblazer since the SSR is based on that platform and it listed the MCG-24012 part number for the Trailblazer. The photo on the summitracking.com and mcgard.com website look similar to the Chevy supplied part but the number of outside threads are fewer and the surface area of the lug nut seat seems greater than the chevy supplied part.

The only thing I can state for sure at this point in time is the chevy supplied locking lug nuts have too little surface area in the contact point of the lug nut and the wheel to prevent the wheel from getting deformed when applying the 100 lb-ft of torque to the nut.

 

[shiftz33]

Success with MCG-24012 wheel locks

I received my order from Summit Racing today containing the McGard MCG-24012 wheel locks.

These look different from the Chevy version of the wheel locks (a little shorter overall but far more contact surface area where it counts) and the McGard wheel locks actually fit correctly!

 

[wildcat66]

Ok today I took off the wheel covers with our handy dandy IFCID tool remover and found that the dealer hadn't put the covers on right when they put on my Wheel Locks. They also used some type of tool that gouged the slot in the cover. (go Figure) I am taking it to the dealer and wanted to look at it myself first. I wonder if anyone else has this rust problem and if you do what are you doing about it? :nodno

 

[shiftz33]

My SSR being #602 and it sitting around on the local Chevy dealership's lot for nearly six months (about 4 of those being rain months here in CA), I did not find any rust as you observed on your SSR.

I did find that my cheap plastic bicycle tire changing kit (three plastic tools for taking the tire off of the rim) has the exact size device to fit into the cover of the SSR's wheels. I can safely use it to pop out the cover without scratching the wheel metal at all. I now carry the bicycle tire kit in my emergency road kit in the back of the SSR.

 

[Tom Lanham]

Wheel locks - reply from manufacturer (McGard)

Shiftz33,

Please note that this response comes from Tom Lanham, Product Engineer for McGard Inc., the manufacturer of the wheel locks that Chevrolet sells for the SSR.

The President of our company came across your noted concerns in this chat room, and immediately directed the Engineering Department to investigate these concerns. The following exercises were performed.

We reviewed a 2005 SSR borrowed from a local dealership, in order to review the standard lug nut seating area relative to the McGard lock nut kit sold to General Motors (GM part number 12497478, McGard part number 80211). The following are our findings.

The front and rear wheels have identical seating diameters at the top and bottom of the conical seat.

The largest diameter of the conical seat on the wheel is approximately .815”.

The largest diameter of the conical seat on the standard wheel nuts is .955”.

The McGard lock nut specified for this application has a diameter of .820” at the largest cone seat. Although this diameter is smaller than the factory nut, the seating diameters are matching between the nut and wheel and therefore any wheel damage or embedment should not be occurring. The larger diameter of the lug nut does not contact the wheel, and therefore is not a factor in the seating area.

I personally installed the McGard fastener on both the front and rear wheel of the SSR (at the maximum industry published install torque for an M12 x 1.5 threaded fastener), and incurred no seating problems as you described.

All of the applications that General Motors has for McGard wheel locks are confirmed and approved by General Motors prior to their release. In addition to this, McGard performs field fit-up’s at local dealership.

Based upon your previous descriptions, we were unable to duplicate your concern. However, that is not to say there is not a problem with your particular wheel or the locks. If there is anyway that we can obtain additional information, we would then be able to draw a conclusion to your concern (possibly obtain photographs, the actual wheel locks that prompted your concerns, etc.). One possible scenario that could potentially lead to a seating and/or clamp load condition was if thread lubricants or anti-seize products were applied to the wheel stud threads prior to installation of the wheel locks. These products usually lower the coefficient of friction which will cause a higher clamp load on the wheel than would normally occur. All GM wheel lock kits are supplied with a set of installation instructions in English, French and Spanish that indicate “Do not lubricate the threads” due to this condition.

McGard has been in the wheel lock business for over thirty years and pride ourselves on our quality and customer satisfaction. We have lock programs with almost every car manufacturer worldwide. Your situation is of concern to us, and we want to do all that we can to resolve these concerns.

Please contact me with your thoughts on this, and hopefully some additional information to allow resolution of this concern. You can e-mail me directly at [email protected] or call me at 1-800-669-6887.

Thanks for your time, and I will await your reply.

Tom Lanham
Product Engineer
Automotive Group

 

[shiftz33]

Tom,

My experience with the wheel locks is as I stated in this thread already. The GM sold wheel locks when installed on my previous 2003 SSR wheels did not seat properly. I only tried this on one wheel (front driver's side wheel).

I checked the torque of the wheel lug nuts before removal and they were fine. I removed one lug nut and installed the GM supplied wheel lock and hand tightened the wheel lock down to the base of the wheel. It looked a bit too small at that point and I only began to apply torque to the wheel lock when I saw the top of the cone section (wheel lock) had gone below the lip of the wheel's conical section. I didn't even apply more than 80 ft-lb torque to the wheel lock and it was in this position.

I removed the wheel lock and examined the markings on it. I could see a color change on the wheel lock where it had contacted the wheel's metal. That color change was present above the conical section of the wheel lock. The part of the wheel lock past the conical section should NOT be contacting the wheel.

I then examined the wheel and I observed a small ring in the top (widest) part of the conical section on the wheel lug nut hole where I had tested the wheel lock.

I stopped at this point and put the original lug nut back on the front wheel.

I went to the local Chevy dealership and showed them what had happened and the service and parts department employees could not believe this occurred. That's when the parts department person called and "found out it was the incorrect part" (his words not mine after some serious digging on the phone). Based on how it worked on my SSR's wheel, I'd have to agree with him.

That's when I located the (non Chevy supplied) McGard wheel lock I noted earlier in this thread. Those locks installed correctly and did not damage the wheel at all.

The wheel locks I purchased from the Chevy dealership did not have a conical section wide enough at the end of the widest section to sit above the wheels lug not hole opening. That's why I went slowly with the first one's installation to confirm it did not damage the wheel, but it did.

The Chevy dealership confirmed my findings and refunded my full purchase price because they did not fit. (One of the very few times that Chevy dealership was actually helpful with this SSR).

In Marc Courtney's posting he refers to the 24012 part number not the 80211 part number in your posting. I can only state (from my experience with 03 SSR #602) that 24012 works just fine on that SSR's wheels.

 

[randynbarb]

getting wheel cover off...

how did you guys get the center cover off without breaking it? The slot is too small for anything other than a slot headed screw driver and when we tried to get the covers off, two of the four had pieces of the plastic either crack or break off. The other two show stress spots but didn't crack. What a mess! Nothing in the book says anything about this either.

 

[Flassh]

Randy,

Easiest is to use a small allan head wrench. By inserting the short right angle end behind the cap, you can pull it straight out without any problem. If it's a bit hard, use a pair of pliers to pull on the wrench.

Note that when you're re-installing the caps, there is a tire valve stamped into the backside. Make sure that marking lines up with the tire valve.

Ray

 

[shiftz33]

I had one of those bicycle tire removal kits. It contains three plastic tools to help remove the bicycle tire. The front tips of these tools fit very well into the slots for the SSR's wheels. It safely lifted the wheel cap on the SSR without scratching anything.

 

[wildcat66]

I had one of those bicycle tire removal kits. It contains three plastic tools to help remove the bicycle tire. The front tips of these tools fit very well into the slots for the SSR's wheels. It safely lifted the wheel cap on the SSR without scratching anything.

This tool worked great, non metal, no gougeing, like metal will do.