Since you were asking Spitty…
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That is termed ‘oxidation’ of the steel Spitty and is to be expected if full maintenance is not exercised including the braking system.
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That wouldn’t on my Beamer!!
On most cars these days they don’t have ‘Wheel Nuts’ they have ‘Wheel Bolts’ and they locate and screw into a threaded hole in the wheel hub, and therein lies the problem.
They seem to deteriorate quicker than the old wheel nuts. Not only does it make them hard to undo due to the corrosion in the thread, but even the head of the bolt lives in a small recess in the wheel trim making them more prone to damp conditions.
Should be made of stainless steel in my opinion.
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Stainless Steel work hardens and becomes brittle, you don’t want your wheels falling off. Same reason as you don’t use stainless steel bolts on a towing hitch.
Anyway I think the problem in the OP is the nuts holding the brakes on not the wheels. (could be wrong) Wheel nuts don’t get hot.
There are lots of different recipes and combinations of metals for making stainless steel Bruce, some is made for hardness and more brittle, some is made to be softer and springy, and some is made to hold all the crash barriers together on the motorway…I don’t suppose they want them falling to pieces any time soon either.
Either swollen nuts or no nuts at all - a DIY mechanic is faced with all sorts of problems that take him by surprise. I used to change the summer and winter wheels all by myself but for the last ten years haven’t done so. On one occasion I just wanted to repair a wheel and demounted it without any problems. Those emerged, though, when I was trying to mount the wheel again. I suddenly noticed that there were no bolts on the hub where I used to hook up the wheel before fixing the nuts. Why that? I’d always had cars with wheel bolts and nuts…
I began to realise that this was a different system forcing me to hold the wheel with one hand while inserting the first screw with the other hand. No chance I could do that. The wheel was too heavy. My solution then was to pile up small cutting boards until the wheel was high enough so that I could insert the screw. Later on, I learnt that there’re wheel mount fixing bolts for that purpose but, basically, any fitting bolt even without thread would do.
Exactly, no stress except once when they get hit. Stainless steel is not used for bolts under constant changing stress.
If Ai is involved, I’m glad its about my Son’s Swollen Nuts and not mine, every man for himself yes? 
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LOL and Double LOL!! 
All I know Bruce is…
I used to turn and thread stainless steel components on my lathe, and it was probably the hardest material I had to machine.
Yep, it also welds beautifully but is a bugger to drill
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After 6 years of arguing about having a Wrongly Sold Pension I recently spent a big slice of it on a Second Hand Aston Martin (I used to say if I ever won the lottery I would buy an Aston Martin), anyhow finding out about them on different Forums it appears that it is a common fault on Aston Martins. Replacements from Aston Martin for mine are priced at £21.89 Each, with 5 to each wheel and so would cost £437.80 to replace them…However, I discovered that they are the same capped stainless steel wheel nuts used on the Ford Transit Van from the early 2000’s and a set of 20 can be bought for £76.99 from Transit Parts UK.
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There are always good alternatives if you know where to look.
@Bruce reckons they don’t make wheel nuts out of stainless steel.
As I recall I didn’t say that at all I said you don’t use bolts made of stainless steel because it work hardens and become brittle.
There you go…
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Here’s the the Wheel nuts in question Ford Transit Wheel Nut Set 20 Stainless Steel Capped O.E M14X2 Mk6 Mk7 2000-2014 | Transit Parts UK
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My Citroen would look spanking with those posh nuts on the wheels RCS…
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When I first saw the title I thought it was some medical problem 
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Smithy if I ever get a medical problem, you will be first to know 
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