jeffsims

I have to vent. Has anyone had any problems with these lug nuts from Inline Tube?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/182232366789...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I was out of town, when they were delivered. I tried to install 1 wk after delivery and not one would hold any torque. The moment the lug bottomed out against the seat, the lug's threads just gave way.

I immediately contacted InlineTube per eBay direction. A week went by and Inline responded with "how many?" I responded again that I only tried to tighten 1/2 of them and asked if they wanted me to try to tighten the remaining lugs. I also measured the thread ID of the unused lugs and notified them that they were no less than 0.41". Another week went by, no answer. Tried to contact them again through eBay..again no answer. I then tried to call. The person I walked to stated that I had to talk to their eBay sales dept. I left a message. No answer for another week. When they did respond, I was told that their tech dept determined that the 0.41" ID is correct per spec. I do not agree. I would hope that anyone should be able to open a machinist guide and that the minor diameter of a 7/16-20 thread is 0.384".

I ended up purchasing a set of Crager to get me by until I can find good original style. Just so happens that the ID of those lugs are 0.38"..every single one of them. They all torqued up just fine. I am pretty confident that the Inline lugs nuts are faulty.

eBay will not step in because it has been past 1mo of purchase. They do not seem to care even though I followed their rules and have been battling Inline since they were delivered.

Other than that, has anyone ever tried these lugs? Just wonder how much luck you had. At this very moment I would not recommend using Inline for lug nuts. They have been pretty darn good on all the tubing kits I have purchased.

Gary M

Bought mine through OPGI but they came from inline sent them back defective and bought from Summit. Summit
5.97 a pack of 5

442Fred

Same issue here but I bought mine more than a year ago and they sat on the shelf until just recently. I have come to expect poor quality from reproduction parts but Inline has usually had pretty good quaility on most of the items I have bought.

redoldsman

This is the last line of their add for the lug nuts. Have you left their feedback or maybe you need to threaten to. I wonder if they really mean what they are saying below.

IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE LEAVING US 5 STARS ON ALL OF THE DETAILED SELLER RATINGS, PLEASE LET US KNOW BEFORE YOU DO SO WE CAN FIX WHATEVER PROBLEMS AND KEEP OUR PRICES LOW.

Gary M

You contacted Inline before the one month. In the future send a message thru the eBay message center so you have record of starting before the one month cutoff. Did you send email or call? If by email forward it to the eBay service member you are working with to get this resolved. If all else fails tell inline that other people on this forum have the same issue.

jeffsims

The message was through eBay message center as eBay recommended. eBay pretty much said it is my fault for not escalating it with them before the 1mo passed..

jeffsims

I left bad feedback on them in regards to this order. Too bad eBay limits the number of characters for feedback.

Koda

None other than the legendary Chris Witt called out John Kryta (I think his name is) of Inline Tube for a beat down at Norwalk. Kryta talked all kinds of **** on a previous version of ROP some 7 years ago; very unprofessional. Inline exists to make money; they, like many other vendors, have no love of the hobby, and see it just as a business, so the only standard is if it's good enough to keep your money, as opposed to actually being an accurate reproduction.

70W-32

Inline knows if they delay you long enough you will miss Ebays 1 month cut off date for complaints/refunds. Theyve been shady since they first opened. I'll order from out of state before I drive to Inline. By the way, Inline uses multiple alias online to sell their parts.

Hairy Olds

Their business ethics is questionable at best. They will not get one penny from me knowingly. Stated for truth!
"Inline knows if they delay you long enough you will miss Ebays 1 month cut off date for complaints/refunds. Theyve been shady since they first opened. I'll order from out of state before I drive to Inline. By the way, Inline uses multiple alias online to sell their parts."

Gary M

A couple things I bought from OPGI came in Inlinetube packages. I'm guessing some vendors source parts thru each other.

442Fred

I reprectfully disagree with your comment they have "no love for the hobby" I know both of those guys and they do try to reproduce parts as close as possible to original, however it is Very difficult to do in smaller quantities. They also both have some very high quality cars in their personal collections and are active in the hobby.

They may not be the easiest guys to get along with but trashing them and the company probably gets old for them. It is not possible to make everyone happy in the easily offended world we live in, so when people and companies make mistakes I would hope they would do their best to correct the situation.

I have had a few situations where incorrect parts were shipped and when notified they were replaced with the correct part on their dime very timely.

I will bring this issue to their attention as well and hopefully we can find a solution that works for everyone or most everyone.

Just my 2 cents

Fred

Gary M

Hope you can get it worked out. My lug nuts stripped too but they were returned. Inline probably would want to know three people in this thread had problems with the lug nuts so they can look into it. I've bought a lot of parts from inline that worked out fine.

jeffsims

I have never had an issue with them. This is a first. Looking back at my eBay messages with them, their first response did state that they have not had any issues with these lug nuts.

mrolds69

My experience and thoughts are the exact same as Fred's. Yes, I've received bad parts from them that they continue to sell. Yes, some items could be made better or improved. Yes, they will say an item fits some model and it doesn't. One item that comes to mind is the GM sticker on the door jamb listed as found on ALL 68-72 or whatever cars. They list some things as being identical to NOS, and they are not.
That said, they make a LOT of really nice Olds items that were completely unavailable 20 years ago. You know...things like those little white straps that hold the vac lines, The oval metal deals that mount to the VC bolts that hold those clips, the horn relay power bolt cap, PS bracket spacers, etc. Every time I look at their stuff, there are new parts that I used to have to spend hours searching junkyards to find.
James is definitely a car guy, and they are helping the hobby. Obviously, they are not personally making the stuff, so many things aren't top quality, because it is a business. The things I've bought on ebay from them that don't fit or function right, I have received a prompt refund.
The hobby is a lot different now than before. People are WAY more fussy now than before. I can spot an Olds repro battery tray from 5 feet away maybe laying on the ground, because it has, or is missing, 2 notches on one side. Once installed, can you tell? Does it matter? Not really!!! If all the trays in the boneyard are rusted, I would be very grateful for the Inline tray, even if it was made of Chinesium.
I like NOS parts very much, too. If the lug nuts are bad, they are bad and that sucks if they don't function, or are dangerous. Personally, if it were my company, I'd yank them from the shelf if that were the case. It is what it is.

jensenracing77

I got a set 3 years ago and never used them. I guess I had better check them.

RROLDSX

I have to agree with MROLDS. I think we are pretty lucky to have a couple of companies that support Oldsmobile cars. I would hope that when a part is absolute crap that they make it right eventually. I think it is up to us on this forum to keep each other informed a bit on items that are blatantly not fitting. I've been lucky with Inline and Fusicks for most things I've purchased. I expect the odd thing to go bad but I refuse to bite the hand that feeds me. Hopefully the companies that I deal with are the same.

35tac

It sounds to me like the proper thread gage wasn't used when required. In Line should run a spot check with the proper gage and if the sample of bad parts is to high Inline should return to their source. If that is China, thats a big problem.
Wayne

steverw

I have the same problem, bought the same lug nuts off their web site, long before i needed them. Several stripped before they even came close to torque. I called them but they said it had been too long. Its not like their going to go stale or shrink sitting in the package. I took them to a machine shop, they measured them at the 12mm metric perfectly. I assume their made in China, 12 mm is NOT the same as 7/16! I gurarntee they know these are inferior and if someone did manage to get a set on their car, i would worry about losing a wheel when driving with these piece of crap lug nuts.
Who ever i talked to had no interest in trying to help.

jeffsims

Like I said before, I have not had any problems with them or the quality of the products they sell until now. The one thing that stands out the most is that they stated "we have not had any issues with these lug nuts." I took that as the truth. Based on the comments on this thread, that is not true.

1. Either their employees are not communicating all the issues to them.
or
2. They just down right do not care.

steverw

They told me the same thing, " no issues with these lug nuts"

steverw

And for those who dont know, these lug nut from Inline Tube are not as long as originals, their about 3/8" too short. I have a few originals but the chrome is bad on them.
If i were a machinist i would buy some 13/16 Hex stainless stock and make some nice ones.

Koda

Not surprised Fred disagrees with me; he does that.

I wish the ROP server hadn't crashed, some of the things said, as I recall, were not things that can be taken back. However, leaving that alone, as well as leaving alone the irrelevant points that they're nice guys, or own nice cars, the point is, when you say something is "X," even when X is very picky, and your customer wants his money back and shows that what he bought is "not X," you either: give him his money back, or, send better stuff.

You do not berate them or tell them they are wrong. This is not "car guy" stuff, this is "basic respect and business 101" stuff.

Olds64

Jeff, did you use a credit card to pay? If so, you can often contact your credit card company and dispute the charges. It sounds like you did the right thing and tried to contact Inline Tube via. phone, e-mail and E-bay mail. If you have all of your ducks in a row it should be easy to get your money back for a junk product.

jeffsims

Negative...I used PayPal, which I thought would cover me as well. They just referred back to eBay's 1mo money back guarantee policy.

Olds64

Bummer.

droldsmorland

I'll lay out 100 bux that they are offshore chineasium (unsafe) junk! You will find the same krap everywhere you go to find any kind of fastener these days. Why even bother to manufacture anything if its this poor in quality standards and more importantly UNSAFE! Waste of resources. Shame on the manufacturer shame on the supplier that sources this junk offshore. You really have to ferret out USA made stuff or go to garage sales and buy old stuff...older IS better.
My buddy just put chineasium tubular A arms on a 540 inch blown Chevelle. I asked him "what would you like me to say at your eulogy?" His response was they were cheap. GAH!
Maybe what they need is a global lawsuit to stamp all of them out of business. Caveat Emptor

Mike77

So basically these POS of lug nuts are the wrong thread and potentially cause the wheel to fall off the car. Some people are saying we should be thankful there is a supplier to offer products for our year of cars. Are you kidding me!! someone could die. I think a law suite is in the future for the supplier. They should be a shamed off themselves. Especially after multiple people have expressed concern about a potential problem.
Note to self never buy anything from this supplier. They obviously couldn't care if someone die as long as they make some money.

Mike77

The more I think about this topic the more concerned I get. What would the result be if It was announced that Ford Motors new Mustang has faulty wheel nuts and would not torque to specifications. However Ford has decided there is not a problem and will not address the issue? Additionally I believe a lot of Oldsmobile enthusiasts have a heavy foot, putting additional load on an already scary situation. It would be prudent to have anyone who has purchase the stated product, check all wheel nut to ensure conformity to manufactures specifications. Any product that has the potential to cause serious injury or death if the product fails, should be manufactured to a high standard. If the statement is accurate that a 12mm nut is being marketed as fitting 7/16 wheel then something is seriously wrong.

Mike

35tac

Torque specs. for the lug nuts on my 66 Cutlass are 65 Ft. LBS. stated in the 66 Oldsmobile CSM. I see nothing published about the torque maximum by suppliers of several lug nuts so who is responsible make sure the lug nuts are not overtightened.
Wayne.

jeffsims

Attached is a standard torque chart found inside most machinist/engineering handbooks. There is a minimum torque that each bolt size is required to hold.

Over tightening should not strip nuts/bolts. It should break the bolt or even damage the parts being bolted together. There is a 2nd picture showing what happens to a stud that has been torqued beyond its design capability.

Most of the time threads strip out due to damage from wear, cross threading, mismatched thread pitches, etc..

To answer your question, the end user is responsible for setting proper torque. That is hard to do, when the product is faulty.

Back to the original concern I brought up in this thread. The lug nuts never achieved any torque value. The moment the lugs bottom out on the wheel, the threads just pull away. Judging from several responses, I am not the only one.

35tac

Wasn't arguing just asking the question. It seems that the provider is not rising to the challenge so the end user is out. Unfortunately the cost of a lawyer is way to expensive for the current problem. It seems that the only resort is buy anther set of nuts from a different supplier. I surely wouldn't buy anything from In Line again. Ironically I will be looking for lug nuts in the near future.
Wayne

Koda

It would be hard to hold a Chinese company liable for anything.

droldsmorland

Agreed...but...you can hold them liable by their short hairs by simply not purchasing their inferior unsafe (at any speed) junk. If nobody buys it they go outa business. No lawyers needed just sensible American buying power. The suppliers will get it too when the junk collects dust. Send letters, make the phone calls and bitch to these suppliers...standing on this soap box. Eventually, they will get it when they are not making a profit. I have yet to find anything offshore that even comes within the ballpark in quality/safety of USA made...period. My first words when speaking to or ordering from a supplier is ..."country of origin?" If its Asian I say no thank you do you have another choice. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't. If they don't we don't do business.

ROCKET VAPOR

Just to clarify this thread, is the issue isolated just to the SSI style lug nut, or is there a problem with the SSII style repro lug nuts as well?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/69-77-OLDSMO...JW52VD&vxp=mtr

35tac

"Country of Origin". Good plan.
Wayne

steverw

I ended up buying a set of McGard chrome lug nuts and locks, I believe their made in the USA. Not quite original but much safer.

steverw

Rocket Vapor I would guess the same company, where ever they are makes the SS11 lug nuts too. Inline Tube people are a PITA IMO. Look up McGard lug nuts, they look almost identical to the ones your asking about. Screw inline tube!

jeffsims

I started the thread on the SS1 lug nut. I am not sure about others who commented.

Gary M

The defective lug nuts I mentioned were SS1