Your 986 project is never done
 

Until you have a set of Ti lug nuts. I'm not ready for the extra speed and better handling these offer- but with the talk of rusty lug nuts- they would sure look good!

http://www.planet-9.com/gallery/file...ews_586208.jpg

GROUP BUY - TiKORE Titanium Lug Bolts

(hope it's not verboten to link to another forum- apologies in advance)

Even though I hear these add +25HP, I think I would rather spend $700 on Litronics. :cheers:

Whoa - Not sure I need lug nuts that are worth more than my wheels :-)

At that price/lb, I could save $10,000 just by going on a diet!

I bought these. A while back, at a somewhat better price. I am very pleased with the quality of their construction and appearance.

The weight savings is trivial, even for unsprung rotating mass.

But I got tired of cleaning rust stains off the very darned expensive aluminum wheels, and having rusty lugs on otherwise fairly attractive wheels. My car is no garage queen, beauty queen, or any other kind of queen. But I'm planning to keep this car for a long time, and I just couldn't see cyclically repainting my lug bolts, nor rebuying new ones at some interval, just for cosmetic reasons. Doing the math of maintenance, once the cost of my time is factored in for over 10+ years of ownership/maintenance, made the decision to purchase these seem reasonable.

How much do people spend on body kits, re-sprays, or different wheels, just for the sake of appearance? And if they get hit by a pickup, can they just expect to simply remove these now-damaged components from their totaled car to recoup the expense of the upgrade? How many wrecks have you seen that damaged the lug bolts? Now imagine yours are even stronger than OEM, rustproof and shiny 10 yrs after you bought them, ready for transfer to your new ride or for sale to some other enthusiast.

Or to put it in a different perspective, my car had a sticker of about $72k when it was new. So adding <1% to the total capital cost for something that permanently improves the appearance and decreases the maintenance burden, while at the same time adding strength to a critical component and slightly decreasing weight, doesn't sound so unreasonable.

Your priorities may be different.

If I knew for sure I was never going to track my car, I might consider the slightly less strong and slightly heavier but equally rustproof stainless lug bolts.

But with the wisdom of hindsight, I would look hard at the titanium lugs offered by Maxspeed, for less money than Tikore, and with each set all composed of matching theft-resistant lugs. And regardless, get the 2-piece version.

I am eagerly awaiting the carbon fiber Tach needle. Now there is an opportunity for reducing un-sprung rotating mass

Great deal, I think instead of putting new rubber on I'll get these lug nuts
It been killing me trying to figure out what to do with my tax refund

@brokenlikage,
couldn't you have the OEM bolts powder coated and then spray a thin layer of that rubber stuff to the inside of the socket? Just thinking out loud.

Are these the same lug nuts offered for the GT3? I can't imagine those rust out for that premium.

The lug nuts really are totally beautiful and would match my wheels perfectly. I lust after many things in life- it's ok!

Now off to the store to buy a can of spray paint...

Titanium don't bind well with aluminium.

That's what I did;)
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1394641416.jpg

The whole assmebly is Ti?

You guys know they do make the lug bolts in stainless steel right? And you wouldn't have to hide this receipt from......everyone.

SS lug bolts
97 09 Porsche Boxster s 986 Stainless Steel Lug Nuts 20 | eBay

I got these for my 99 and very happy with them...and no... my wife never found out how much a I paid for them :)
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1394672383.jpg

I would like to hear the responses about this...

@PL-
yes I could have gone the powder coat / rubberized socket method, but again not wihout some immediate expense and the loss of several hrs time to arrange it. But then every time someone else did any work on it, I would have to count on them following directions about using my special socket very gently...

Re: titanium / aluminum
I was a bit concerned about galvanic corrosion between the Ti bolt shoulders and the aluminum bolt seat on the wheel, since there is none of the fancy Optimoly thread lube applied there. The Ti is closer to Al on the galvanic scale than Fe is, but I thought the oem aluminum bolt shoulders might have been for some reason other than just weight. I was assured this would not be a problem, and indeed, it has not been.
Nor have I experienced any galling of the threads where the Optimoly-coated Ti threads insert into the steel hub

Re: stainless
the quality and composition of stainless steel is Much more variable than with Ti, even given nominal grade specs for each. This gave me concern, appropriate or not, about possible failure of the stainless steel bolts if pushed to their limit. And SS, whether you are talking about the more corrosion resistant marine grade 316 or the harder but more brittle grade 402 (and all points in between) is simply not as strong to begin with as either Ti or the oem grade (?8) steel used for lugs. Furthermore, larger diameter ss bolts - our lugs are 14mm- ARE somewhat subject to galling or seizing.

Re: GT3
I have no idea. Had a vague notion they used the old Porsche trick of stud with nut, perhaps Al, mandating replacement at each tightening, but really don't know.

PS
The one downside, other than cost, is that while the Ti obviously does not rust, it does develop a light patina that is not perfectly even unless you polish it. So what.
I think passivated or polished stainless would likely have a very slight cosmetic edge in this regard over the Ti.
Since the stainless is a bit softer than steel or Ti, it may loose some of its cosmetic edge if the corners get rounded by cheap or ill-fitting sockets.
One other thing- the TiKore folks do beautiful work, but their security bolt is still a few grams different in weight than the regular ones, regardless of their assurances to the contrary. Not enough to impact wheel balance, but at that price expectations are set pretty close to perfection...

Hmmm- very nice.

Agree those ss bolts look similar and 304 should be almost as corrosion resistant as Ti. The seller addresses my concern about the quality of stainless stock used, and although not as strong as oem, should be plenty strong enough. But I would still seek out 2 piece bolts with a separate shoulder to ensure proper seating without abrading the bolt seats on the wheels. BOL.