Wheel Lugs for Subaru Legacy

Subaru Legacy Wheel Lugs

The Legacy sedan is a durable, all-wheel drive model from Subaru. Whether you have the original from 1989 or a much more recent version, you may be thinking about sprucing it up a bit. Stylish new rims with bright wheel lug nuts are an easy way to give your vehicle a jolt of personality.

The Subaru Legacy uses an assembly of wheel studs and wheel lug nuts to attach the wheels to the car. The studs extend from the axle. The lug nuts screw onto the studs and hold the wheel securely in place.

The bolt pattern of a Subaru vehicle is a set of numbers that tell you the number of lug nuts on each wheel and the size of the circle in which they are set. Model years of the Legacy from 1989 through 2014 have a bolt pattern of 5x100. From 2015 on, the pattern has been 5x114.3.

These numbers tell you that every Legacy sedan has five lugs on each wheel rim. On 1989 through 2014 models, these nuts form a circle that is 100 millimeters in diameter. This circle is 114.3 millimeters from 2015 forward.

• Thread size and pitch: The thread parameters of the lug nuts must match those of the wheel studs. For the Legacy, these parameters are 12 x 1.25. The thread size, 12 millimeters, is the diameter of the wheel stud. This measurement includes the threads. The thread pitch, 1.25 millimeters, is the distance between the threads along the length of the bolt.
• Seat type: The factory lug nuts on the Legacy have a conical seat with the standard 60-degree slope. The seat is the end of the nut that fastens against the rim, and it must correspond to the shape of the rim. If you switch out your factory rims for an aftermarket style, you may need a lug nut with a different seat type.
• Length: The Subaru Legacy comes with lug nuts that are just under an inch long. If you change the rims, it may affect the length you need. For example, there is a shorter lug nut that will fit under a wheel cover. Remember the rule that the nuts must screw onto the bolts at least as far as the bolt is wide.
• Diameter: Some aftermarket rims require spline drive lug nuts. This type of nut is thinner than others and can fit through narrower openings on the rims. You will also need a special, thin socket to tighten or loosen a spline drive lug nut.
• Locking or standard: The standard lug nuts that came with your car can be removed by any wrench of the correct size. For extra security, you can replace one lug on each wheel with a locking lug nut. Also called wheel locks, these parts can only be removed with a key that is specific to that set of locks.