Porsche sells them for their cars. Any reason(s) not to use them other than they break if you take them off when they're hot, the corners round off more easily, they stretch and wear out with repeated installation, and they're more expensive?

 

Sounds like you've pretty well listed some good reasons already.

 

Porsche hasnt used lug nuts for a long time on their cars. They use bolts and they are steel. Some of the older 911s had them but there is no advantage over steel ones.

 

ALuminum lug nuts some ppl stretch or ware out the ARP lug nuts. ALuminum is too soft to hold a 100 ftlbs and the stress of hard cornering.

 

Aluminum lug nuts sound like a really bad idea to me.

 

FYI,

I owned an older Porsche with aluminum lug nuts for 8 years and put over 45000 miles on it (in addition to 45K mikes when purchased). Had the wheels off many times, used it on the track several times - no problems. I torqued the nuts to 92-95 lbs.

 

They work well for lighter cars ex. honda, porsche ect. but I woulden't get that crazy with unsprung weight. If they strip out when cornering, bad things happen.

 

Umm....a C5 is a "lighter" car... I don't see how an aluminum lug nut in good condition would fail, especially if the threads were lubricated, and the torque settings adjusted accordingly. If going to aluminum lug nuts was a one-time deal, I'd probably go for it, but it looks like they must be treated like they're disposible even when they cost MUCH more than steel lugs. It also helps to have a special socket to remove them without damaging them...ie, more $$.

I have to wonder if different length studs would be needed with aluminum lugs. I'm thinking the threads on the lug closest to the bearing surface are the threads that stretch the stud, while the threads on the other end of the lug stretch the lug itself out and lock the lug in place on the stud. So on one hand, a longer stud would allow a longer aluminum lug, and allow more thread area to stretch the stud and more threads to create a self-locking action. On the other hand, aluminum stretches more than steel, so it shouldn't need as much thread area to create the locking action. Hmm...

For weight savings, it's definitely not going to make a huge difference....it's one of those things that's done in conjunction with many other things to get a noticable improvement.

 

The question that begs to be asked is WHY? There can't be any significant weight savings when you're talking about 20 lug nuts, so why not simply use steel lugs that you know aren't going to be an issue? Seems crazy to me.

 

I already said it won't make a big difference by itself. Lots of small things make a big difference. If you dropped your sponge on the ground and only got a few pieces of sand in it, but most of it was clean, would you keep using the sponge, or grab another sponge? To each his own I guess.

 

About 1000 lbs heaver than a EG honda civic and about 500 lbs heaver than a 80's 911, not to mention we usally run much larger wheels. just my .02