Hey TGO,
Just though I'd post some lucky results of my tinkering today.
I was sprucing up my wheels w/ some lug nuts and plastic lug covers, and it occurred to me that I dont need the aftermarket locking lugs. These wheels arent going to get stolen around here. (15" stock salad shooters). I had also noticed I had a bad vibe at around 60mph that seemed to be coming from the rear axle. I was hoping the 2 might be related and sure enough vibe is gone! I'm not saying I'm vibe free, but the previos vibe is no longer noticeable! I'm pretty stoked because it was quite annoying. I guess the anti theft lugs are not matched for weight!
If you have those lugs, take em off!

 

i dont think the lugnuts have anything to do with throwing the wheel off balance. being in the center of the wheel, they dont move fast enough to make any noticeable difference when driving at a realistic speed. if you do the math, when you are driving your car at 70mph (usually when you notice a vibration), the outside circumference of your wheel is moving at 70mph. at that same instance, the lug nuts are only moving at roughly 13mph for that same given wheel rpm.

 

Original lugs not tight?

 

if its the big hunk of crap locking lugs they can cause a vibe that just like an out of ballance wheel

 

yup, thye were the big ugly ones. they might not be at the edge of the wheel, but they are at least twice as heavy as a small weight. It made a pretty big difference

 

i have seen some that weigh as much as 2 regular lugs

 

cool fix
im keeping mine because they are weight matched, but thats a good thing to keep in mind