Wheel nut length?

[Enjay]

A bit of a lightweight question here but I can't find the answer elsewhere, so here goes.

There seems to be two different lengths of wheel nuts my cars.  I have owned three MR2 roadsters, and currently still have two of them.  Only one of these had the nuts in the configuration that I would have expected when I got it.

My assumption is that the shorter wheel nuts go on the front and the longer ones on the back wheels.  That's how it was with one of my cars but the other two were just a random assortment of nuts on each wheel.  In both cases, the total number of nuts/sizes was correct to set things up with long on the back and short on the front but, for whatever reason, they were mixed on each wheel.

All three cars are pre-Face lift models, and I know that the FL models have bigger wheels on the rear, but one of the cars did have FL wheels fitted.

My confusion is that both types of nuts seem to do their job adequately.  All of the nuts go on and tighten up against the wheel, holding it securely, no matter where on the car they are fitted.  This has been the case with both of the cars with the random nut configurations.

To add even more confusion into the mix, only one of my cars has had the official Toyota locking wheel nuts fitted when I got it (official case/box still present so I know it is Toyota).  The other cars just had standard nuts all round.  All of the locking wheel nuts are the same length.  The only difference that I could see was that there were two lengths of the slip-on cosmetic and dirt-protecting nut covers.  There were two short ones and one long one (the last one was missing).  I assume that the difference in length is so that the covers make the locking wheel nuts look the same length as the standard nuts.

But, my question is: if all nuts work in all positions, why are there two lengths?

I could be wrong, but I *think* these are the sizes I'm talking about (as found on ebay):





I haven't actually measured my wheel studs.  That would be an obvious reason.  Like if, for example, the rear has longer studs then the short nuts could hit the end of the stud before tightening against the wheel.  However, like I said, the short nuts seem to seat against the rear wheels just fine.

[Justin.D]

I can't answer your question, but the slip on cosmetic cover for the locknuts on mine are 2 different lengths too, I have 3 long ones and one short one (There's a joke in there somewhere I'm sure, lol)

I'll check the actual wheel nuts on mine later but I'm pretty sure they are all the same length (pfl)

[stewart@boro]

This one caught me out a while ago after having all the wheels off at the same time for new discs. The garage got the nut lengths mixed up until Wabbittkilla spotted the error some time later. All the nuts do the job but as you assumed the longer ones are for the rear wheels so all the nuts finish flush with the alloys....Japaneese attention to detail  s:D s:D

[Enjay]

Thanks for the answers.  Japanese attention to detail?  Yup, I guess that would indeed explain it.  s:) s:)

[Call the midlife!]

I wish I'd never seen this, I've got a front wheel off at the moment and guess what? Mixed lengths...
My OCD is in overdrive!


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[nimrod]

Years ago I bought wheel nuts they were all the shorter length, I contacted the firm that did them and they said it would fit all wheels and it did, I preferred the longer nuts at the back but on the positive side they seem to get less rusty at the rear.