Locking wheel nuts

[Gregs24]

I've noticed so far none of the cars seem to have locking wheel nuts. For my S550 they came in a separate bag so you end up with 4 spare nuts but I would be interested to know if the new cars have the locking nuts. If they don't I will keep my old ones. Perhaps somebody who gets their car before me could let me know.

Incidentally if you have the spare wheel the locking nuts don't fit so you need to carry a standard nut with the spare tyre.

For those of you new to Mustangs the European cars have no spare wheel because of the bigger brakes, but you can get a spare kit to fit. I have this AA kit but it was a lot cheaper when I bought it.

nemesisuk.com/products/automotive-authority-ppstk-musgt15-kit?srsltid=AfmBOoqWJJC6vkP5VTEnqAUcoD9YEsNqSksmS5EU5vVijOUco4IbShjh

2007-2025 Ford Mustang Performance Package Spare Wheel and Tire Kit – Automotive Authority (automotiveauthorityllc.com)

This one is new to the market so know nothing about it

Road Hero Spare Wheel Kit to fit Ford Mustang (Mk6) (5.0 V8) (from 2015 onwards) (RH228) | Carnoisseur

Both should fit the new S650 if you want a spare wheel (which I do)

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[robvas]

Locking nuts are nothing but a PITA. They'll still steal your wheels with them.

 

[smurfslayer]

My Dark Horse came with locking lug nuts. They’re definitely a PITA when the key gets lost, like, say a tire shop losing your wheel lock key. Perhaps European models aren’t so equipped?

My personal experience inclines me to pick up one of these spare kits. The first time was taking my wife out to a winery. I can’t judge, she pulls designated driver duty when I hit the breweries...

Anyway we were in Fredericksburg, TX, in my Raptor. Unbeknownst to me, someone parked their peasant mobile bmw next to me while we were inside and when we came out we find this guy with a sad face. Then I saw his tire- what little sidewall he had was obviously flat. I keep a bunch of stuff in the truck so let me see if I can help

looks flat, you need a hand changing it?
- doesn’t know if it has a spare.
ok, let’s take a look
- nope, not a spare to be had. No jack, no spare, no tools at all.
I have a compressor good for 35” tires, let’s see if we can get you road worthy
- My tires take 6 minutes per wheel to fill. After 1 minute, no change, I get closer and all I can hear is the compressor motor and a loud hiss.
I hit the tire with the light and he’s picked up a bolt through his tire. It’s not pluggable - I have a kit for that.
Ok we’ll get it pulled and get a tire shop to help- Oh wait, no jack, no tools...
So we beg, borrow and cajole a jack and about the 3rd try, the right size lug wrench. I supervise wheel removal and winery owner takes him to the local Walmart to hopefully get a replacement. This fully grown adult male in his late 30’s - early 40’s had obviously never changed a tire.

Then there was my wife, who holed her 21” Lincoln tire on the way home earlier this year. I run out to get her, we swap the tire with the spare in maybe 15 minutes, get home, plug her tire in another 20 minutes, swap it back and she’s off to get new tires the next week - they were due anyway.

It now dawns on me that the common denominator here is my wife...

 

[DarkMatterGrey]

The Ford McGard locking lug nuts and keys cannot take 150 ft lbs. My 2022 Ecoboost had to have all 5 cut off at local tire shop when my key destroyed itself (dealer made me purchase them to make the sale, on a good note they gave me two sets so I put one on eBay). I didn't even attempt to put them on my S650, which has the same torque spec.

 

[smurfslayer]

The Ford McGard locking lug nuts and keys cannot take 150 ft lbs. My 2022 Ecoboost had to have all 5 cut off at local tire shop when my key destroyed itself (dealer made me purchase them to make the sale, on a good note they gave me two sets so I put one on eBay). I didn't even attempt to put them on my S650, which has the same torque spec.

Yeah, because the local tire shop used an impact wrench set on max. They would have survived if the tire shop employee had actually done their job.

when your tire shop gets your car and immediately picks up the impact wrench, here’s what you should be thinking:

 

[Gregs24]

Having spoken to the super helpful travis from automotive authority i have the following useful information to share.

There spare for the Gen7 dark horse (probably the same for the UK GT if it has the same 390mm brakes) requires a 20" wheel to clear the front brakes.

He has said it takes a '2nd generation 20" wheel' which Nemesis do not currently stock but that they are their UK partner.
I'll get in touch with Nemesis to see if they plan to stock them (would be wise with the imminent arrival of many cars)
The price on AA does not include shipping (he's estimated £200 for me) or VAT which pushes the £385 price up a lot! (Wrong side of £600 even with eco delivery)

Why would it need a 20" wheel when the original car wheel is only 19"?

The S550 has 380mm discs the S650 has 390mm discs

I am keeping my current spare, so it will be a simple job to check the fitment once I have the car.

 

[Gregs24]

There is more to a wheel than just it's diameter. The spokes and where they blend into the rim have to clear the caliper etc.
The stock wheel runs very close to the caliper as is.
Your wheel may fit and it'll be valuable info to the rest of us if it does.

There is a thread in the aus section about spares and they seem to be going towards 20's as well.

He mentioned a 2nd gen 20" wheel as well which suggests even at 20" it's not a straight forward fit.

When fitting winter tires on my current Merc in theory a 16" wheel fits and I had a set from my old Merc. I could get the wheel over the brakes but I couldn't get them to for without a 10mm spacer as the caliper hit the radius of the spokes spokes (I'll take a pic and add it)

I've just checked and my S550 spare is 19" wheel. It will be interesting to see if it clears the callipers and whether a spacer might provide clearance if required.

 

[Gregs24]

Just had an answer from AA to that effect:

We sell a 20" version for the S650 GT's and the rim itself has a little more offset (the tire size is nearly unchanged). If you want to try to get away with keeping your current spare, size wise you will be just fine, however you will most likely need to buy a wheel spacer to push the wheel a little farther away from the caliper itself. I believe you will need 3/4" - 1" bolt on spacer. You can confirm this once you receive your new car. To do so, you can try stacking washers on a few of your wheel studs and fitting the spare onto the vehcile. Once you have enough clearance take the washers off and measure how thick the stack of washers are stacked together and use that as a reference when sourcing a spacer.

Spacer might be the cheapest option for those upgrading cars with an existing spare

And a further bit of info. 25mm spacers (but not less) will work on magneride cars with the standard PP wheels that we get on the GT according to one US user

(1) Spacers for Magneride | Mustang7G - 2024+ S650 Mustang Forum (Dark Horse, GT, EcoBoost, GT500, GT350, Mach 1)

 

[Gregs24]

That is quite a lot of spacer required.
It’s handy that the Mustang uses studs rather bolts in terms of locating a spacer when installing a wheel.
Hopefully there is enough stud left for the nuts to engage enough threads correctly, nut fitment will depend on how thick the wheel is compared to stock. I believe the latest kit retains stock nuts.
You wouldn’t want to have to change studs to fit your spare.

tldr is you already have a spare you might be able to get it to work but worth checking before you need it. If not the new 20” is roughly the same price direct from America and fits without faff

Edit, from looking at the post it sounds like they’re using spacers that bolt onto the existing studs and then provide 5 new studs. Rather than a washer like spacer

Yes, it is a bolt on spacer so no issue with stud length and plenty of people are running 25mm spacers all around everyday. I will measure the studs as may need to go to 30mm depending on the back of the spare wheel. It would only be for limited speed emergency use anyway and the price of a spacer is peanuts compared to a new wheel and tyre.

 

[keithwalton]

AA spare tyre arrived today and fits in the boot nicely. Will see if i have to find something to fit between the wheel and the jack if they start to rattle.
The kit came with lug nuts despite the site saying it retains the factory ones, also came with a spacer.
I'll probably test fit it as the weekend weather permitting.

Also the locking wheel nuts came in the boot and were fitted by the dealer, they look nothing like the ones above. You can barely spot which ones are locking, eg it's the top lug in the attached pic

 

[Gregs24]

AA spare tyre arrived today and fits in the boot nicely. Will see if i have to find something to fit between the wheel and the jack if they start to rattle.
The kit came with lug nuts despite the site saying it retains the factory ones, also came with a spacer.
I'll probably test fit it as the weekend weather permitting.

Also the locking wheel nuts came in the boot and were fitted by the dealer, they look nothing like the ones above. You can barely spot which ones are locking, eg it's the top lug in the attached pic

How thick is the spacer? So is that the S550 spare plus spacer or a redesigned wheel?

Oh and the locking nut doesn't fit the spare wheel which is probably why they supply the spare nuts. Otherwise you have to carry a non locking wheel nut in the car with you.

 

[keithwalton]

How thick is the spacer? So is that the S550 spare plus spacer or a redesigned wheel?

Oh and the locking nut doesn't fit the spare wheel which is probably why they supply the spare nuts. Otherwise you have to carry a non locking wheel nut in the car with you.

I’ll measure it tomorrow, but it’s not very thick probably 5mm or so. It’s a 20” wheel so different to the s550 spare. The brembo’s at the front are massive and will be difficult for anything to clear

 

[snodge]

Thanks for the details about the spare wheel guys - have just ordered mine from Automotive Authority.

 

[Gregs24]

The issue with the old 19" AA spare wheel is actually the spokes near the centre of the wheel rather than near the edge. The inner end of the spokes are deeper and foul the inner part of the brake calliper. A 25mm spacer should be plenty to use the wheel on an S650.

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