chrisadams

Anyone change their steel rims for factory alloy rims on an Uplander?
I noticed only one post from long ago.

I just ordered some rims, but I notice while looking for lug nuts that the steel rim equipped Uplanders had shorter wheel studs.
Never ran into that before. Must involve the hubcaps.
So anyway, rather than remove all 24 studs and replace them with 6 mm longer studs, I was wondering if anybody had found a suitable lug nut/acorn that would fit.

niceguy88

That was probably me and yeah I'm running the 5 spoke silver alloy wheels for the last few months and love them...I never had any issues with the steel wheel acorn lug nuts with the new wheels, in fact I just replaced the front rotors and pads this evening.

Jeremy

chrisadams

Hi, thanks for the reply.
So you didn't notice the studs where shorter? The acorns go on far enough to be safe?
Thanks.

niceguy88

Seem to grab plenty of thread to me....no issues...

chrisadams

Yeah, I over thought it a little. I ordered some 'et' acorn nuts for it.
They really snug down nicely, though. Extra .33 inch of threads, about 14.5 turns down from contact to 100 ftlbs.
The factory mags don't just look way better than the plastic hubcaps, they are 9 lbs lighter. Plus a little over a pound on the hubcap. Net is 10 pounds each corner lower unsprung weight.
Defiantly feels different, better driving.

However the biggest difference is in brake cooling.
The steel wheels with plastic hubcaps did not flow very much air to the rotors/pads.
With the aluminum the rotors and pads are much cooler.

niceguy88

Yeah, although they're a little small compared to the mammoth alloys on most suvs and trucks, they have a nice simple 5 spoke design which never really goes out of style and excellent cooling like you said...