Hey guys, I just wanted to give you all a heads up about lug nuts since this information is not in the FAQ. Even though this information is readily available on other websites, I think that it is especially important to disseminate it here because many Altima owners are interested in 350Z, G3X, and other OEM or aftermarket wheels.

Just being able to tighten down your lugs doesn’t mean anything. All you have accomplished so far is matching the thread and pitch (12x1.25 by the way) of the lug to the stud (or if you are that ignorant you have just stripped your stud). Always, always, always make sure to visually match the wheel's lug surface with the lug nut's seat surface. If you do not use the correct lug nut for your wheels, you run a very high risk of damaging your studs, damaging your lug nuts, damaging your wheels and allowing your lug nuts to loosen and potentially come off while you are driving. This is because the contact surface areas of the wheel and lug are not fully utilized.

There are 3 typical styles of lug nut seats: conical, flat and round.*note image linked from TireRack, I will pull it down if needed.

Conical seats may also be referred to as 'tapered' or 'tuner' lug nuts. This type of lug nut is common to many Nissan wheels like the Altima, Sentra, Maxima, M45 and also to nearly all aftermarket wheels.

Flat seat lug nuts may also be referred to as ‘mag’ or ‘shank’ style. These have a flat upper seat, a washer and a post that ends in a flat or slightly tapered edge. If you are looking at newer Infiniti/Nissan wheels, make sure that you DO NOT use your stock Altima lug nuts without checking them first. Starting with the 2nd gen G3X and up, Nissan switched to a flat shank style lug nut with a washer. The 370z and Toyotas also use this style.

Round seat lug nuts may also be referred to as ‘radius’ style. Round lug nut seats are typical to Honda/Acura. At first glance a round seat may be confused with a conical seat. Rounded lug seats obviously have a globular taper whereas the conical seat will have a straight angled taper.

One final note regarding the use of the term ‘acorn.’ This descriptor used to be often associated with the round seat lugs. However, that is no longer always the case. More typically, acorn is a descriptor of the other end of the lug, or of the whole lug in general and not the seat shape. This just means that the lug has a bulge, like an acorn, at the driving end.
Modified by mrodrig2 at 10:59 AM 3/24/2010

good post

Great Info!

Lol... I know this didnt get posted out of just the interests of passing along good info... Spill the story OP!

If you just ordered rims, you probably got all excited, jacked the car up and everything and then realized the acorn lugs dont even fit into most holes on aftermarket wheels lol!

Beyond that, theres even spline lugs, theres all sorts of lugs, to sort all sorts of wheels and fitments!

Just like getting the right tire size, lug nuts are critical!

Protect your nuts!

LBC,

happened to me... I jacked up my car all excited for the new rims, mounted them, went about putting lug nuts on and then realized they wouldn't fit Just a minor delay though haha

LongBeachCoupe wrote:Lol... I know this didnt get posted out of just the interests of passing along good info... Spill the story OP!

If you just ordered rims, you probably got all excited, jacked the car up and everything and then realized the acorn lugs dont even fit into most holes on aftermarket wheels lol!

Beyond that, theres even spline lugs, theres all sorts of lugs, to sort all sorts of wheels and fitments!

Just like getting the right tire size, lug nuts are critical!

Protect your nuts!

Nope, this was posted in the interest of passing along the info. I have M45 sport rims which use the same lugs as the Altima and most other Nissans. If you'd like, I can continue to describe further varieties of lug nuts. However the non-seating end is not critical unless you need open-ended lugs for full threading so I didn't bother going into those details.

so I recently bought G37 wheels but haven't installed them yet. Reading the wheel/tire info, the Altima Coupe shares the same bolt pattern (5 x 114.3) and lug size (12 x 1.25) as the Infinity G37. Can I still use my OEM lugs or not? I have a 2010 AC. Another member told me I have to use the G37 lugs bc they're flat. Here's a pic of of the G37 lugs he linked me:



This is the set of lugs I received from the seller:



For the 2010 AC, are we running flat or conical lugs? Any help would be appreciated.

You should pull off one of your own lug nuts to be 100% sure but I think the 2010 AC uses conical lugs same as 08-09 AC. Regarding the lugs in the bottom picture, the top 3 are not correct, they are acorn type with either ball or conical seat, can't tell exactly from the picture. The bottom 19 are correct flat style seat. Ask the seller if they came with washers. Not a big deal if they didn't, but the washers will help prevent scratching the wheel surface from direct contact of the lug nut.