BEGINNER GUIDE: THE RIGHT WAY TO SUCCEED IN SKATEBOARDING

[PrairieLEAF]

I wonder about the kit as well. Most alloy wheel (shank-style) lug nuts also have conical ends (as you found) so that they also work on the steel spare wheel. Maybe they didn't think that was the case, since US LEAFs do not come with a spare tire.

On second thought, cosmetics could be a factor, since shank-style lug nuts on a steel wheel stick out further and look a bit funny with their stepped, washer section. Tesla's wheel cover delete kit is almost entirely cosmetic.

 

[goldbrick]

If the lug nuts are the same shape then I'd agree that the OEM ones will work. S trim Leafs come with steel wheels (as you may know) so there is nothing inherent in a Leaf that requires special lug nuts. I'd guess Discount Tire wants to 1) sell more parts and 2) cover their ass to be SURE that they can't be sued by selling something that may fail. Selling the lug nuts with the wheels will insure (to them) that they have sold all the required parts, even if you didn't need all of them.

AFAIK, there are 2 major concerns when mounting the wheels. The shape of the lug nuts or bolts since their shape needs to be compatible with the holes in the wheels. You've verified this since the both sets of bolts have the same shape where they contact the wheels. Secondly, there are hub-centric and bolt-centric wheels. Hub-centric wheels are aligned by the fit of the center hole on the hub. Bolt-centric are aligned by the lug nut/bolts themselves and there is no contact required at the center of the wheel against the hub.

There are also bolt-patterns, offsets, etc but those are separate issues.

 

[SageBrush]

The winter wheels I bought for our Tesla came with their own lug-nuts and adapter. The OEM lug-nuts were too short.

So I would say that this is a case of the vendor not knowing that the OEM will fit, and finding it convenient to just sell another set with adapter. Sometimes they are right, although IIRC the customer can skip that part of the purchase.