I have a set of original 14x7 SSIs that have made the rounds on several of my cars since 2003. The lug holes passed the "dime test" when I refinished them at the time and have been fine for years.

I put them on my W-31 when I bought it last fall and earlier this year I started getting a clunk up front after a couple short drives. I thought it was a suspension issue since I hadn't done a shakedown on the car yet so I parked it. I swapped the SSIs back to my SX and right away I heard clunking from all sides. I pulled the drivers side front wheel and four out of five lug holes were almost big enough to drop a nickel through, let alone a dime. I know at least one other wheel is screwed up too since I put an SSII on tonight and went for a drive up the street and still heard clunking.

So what the heck could have happened? Loose lugs? Over tightened? Wrong capped lug nuts? Never had this issue with them before. I haven't found any other threads anywhere on this issue even though I've heard for years that this is an issue with SSIs.

Thanks for any insight. I have another nice set of SSIs on the shelf and don't want to trash them too.

Terry

 

It could be caused by loose or wrong lug nuts.

 

I know that the angle of the nut (and the wheel seating area, I think?), the "V" was changed by GM at some point. Capped Olds early (67-74?...more?) lug nuts have a wider "V". I don't know what angle the aftermarket like Gorilla uses. Repros have the right angle. It's probably your nuts!

 

Very common on the SSI wheels. Not sure why this is but most SSIs these days are bad.

 

Steve Orr is making lugnut seats that will repair the seats in original wheels.


http://www.oldschoolplating.com/lug-seats-2.html

 

Very interesting! Those could save another set that I have that are iffy. The website didn't show too much detail, but I'll investigate further.

Has anyone on here tried these yet?

Thanks.

 

Call and talk to Steve, he is a great car guy. I use him for all of my re-plating.
I have not used his seat repair kit, but I do know that they have been used on a few high end LS-6 and early production L-78 Chevelles during restoration to retain their original wheels.

 

$70 a set, but he doesn't say if a set is five washers (for one wheel) or 20 washers for all four wheels. If it's five for $70, I've got a nice set of SSI wheels I'll sell for much less than $70 a wheel.

 

I just got off the phone with Steve about some plating and I asked with the wheel repair set and he said it is a set of 20 pieces.

 

Hey Terry,

I brought up this very topic several years ago. Check out this link: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...bulletins.html

Mike

 

The parts place sells these lug nuts. I think these are designed to correct the problem with the holes.

WT12467Z - (1964 - 1977 Cutlass/442) OVERSIZED LUG NUTS - SET OF 20 (SIMILAR TO ORIGINAL ACORN LUG NUTS BUT THESE HAVE AN OVERSIZED FLANGE FOR USE WHEN THE WHEEL AREA HAS BEEN WADDLED OUT) $49.00

 

Parts Place is out of stock on these (found out when my order wasn't filled after several days) and Steve Orr was out of stock on the replacement seats too. On to plan C! Thanks for your input so far everyone.

Terry

 

WHAT?

I thought the correct term was "wollered" out?!?!

 

Maybe it's "Super Duck I" wheels that get waddled out.

 

I thought it was "warllered."

- Eric

 

I've been thinking about putting the stock SS1 wheels back on the 72 I bought a few months ago. I can check the holes visually when I get home, but how can I be sure they won't have this issue later? Is there anything else I should check for besides the obvious on these? They had been in a garage for who knows how long, at least since mid nineties when I bought the car.

edited to add: I didn't buy the car in the mid nineties, I think the wheels have been sitting around since then.

 

Just saw this thread.
Actually, I think the correct term is "wallowed",
but, in West Virginia, it IS "wollered out".

Any updates on the availability of the "fixes" previously mentioned?
I've got a couple of nice sets of SSI's that need help, too.

 

I'd swear I had posted a pic of the acorn lug nuts I bought at NAPA that were one size up (7/16") - they look fairly correct but are maybe 3/8" longer. They solved the problem completely for me - I ran those same SSIs with no problems the rest of the summer.

In any case, this is what I used and they worked great (in the middle of the pic, with a stock SSI acorn below it). I bought the Parts Place lug nuts (shown at the top in the pic) and they were NOT correct looking for SSIs.

imagejpg1_zps3b12979c.jpg

Terry

 

Thanks, Terry.
I HAVE a couple of sets of those lug nuts.
I bought them because they looked close to the originals.
I didn't really look closely at the mating surface until now, but,
your right, I think they will fix my problem.

 

I had this same problem, and it was a mixture of wrong lug nuts, which i got the ones posted above. but is more so caused from improper tightening. I found that if you do not do the 3 stages of tightening it can cause them to set wrong