I just put my winter wheels and tires on the 09 Outback. In doing so I discovered that my old 4 way lug wrench won't go over the nuts. It's too thick to slide into the wheel. Nice. That's what I've been carrying all summer.

 

I guess I will just pick up a breaker bar and a deep well socket. Does anyone know the size of the lug nuts? I used a 3/4 tonight, so I assume they are 19mm. Correct?

19mm

10-4 Roger that......

the tool that came with the car should work. at least the tool for the year and model car the wheels came off of should fit.

 

no way subaru sold a car with a lug wrench that did not fit.

Thanks all. Yes, the tool that came with the car did work. It's just one of those little angle type things. Since I do my own wheels, and change them twice a year, and im very careful about how tight the nuts are, it will probably be fine. I have just had times in the past with other cars that a tool like that was inadequate to remove the lug nuts. I finally just started carrying bigger lug wrenches in all my cars. Maybe I don't need one in this case.

I've found that if you remove the lug nuts on a regular basis the little tool that comes with the car will suffice. Although the T handle lug wrenches are easier to spin around. If you swap wheels though, you should torque the lug nuts with a torque wrench to avoid over tightening and warping the brake rotors.

Just for curiosity, what's the called for torque on the lug nuts?

Older cars are 65 ft-lbs. Can't imagine 09 is much different.

My book says 74 to 89 foot pounds. I put them at 82.

If your lug nut wrench is too fat to fit in the wheel bolt holes, you might want to get a thinwall 19mm socket. There's special ones for nice wheels that have plastic wrapped around them so it doesn't gouge up the wheel at all.