Wheel Studs

[ec-nasty]

Ok, I removed my winter wheels today, to put on my summer wheels. I had 4 studs break on me. One from the RF tire, one from the LR, and two from the RR. Could this be signs of a serious problem, or it is something simple, like the lug nuts were on too tight? Any ideas? Thank You.

[rabidpanda69]

Who put the wheels on last? What did you or they use? I have seen them break before because someone used an impact wrench on full power. If thats the case, i dont think theres a big problem.

[ec-nasty]

It was one of the local shops, when I did my change over last year. I needed them balanced so I figured they may as well put them on.

[Colin]

Another possibilty is if you left the nuts and studs exposed to the salt etc. they might have rusted making them difficult to remove , especially if they were torqued too tight . If so get some wheel covers next winter , and torque them in a star pattern to 100 ft. lbs . or 140 Nm .

[rixGAphx]

Right now, I think you have a definite safety issue.

Specifically, there was SOMETHING significantly wrong with the studs/lugnuts at three different wheels, causing a catastrophic failure that should NEVER have happened.
Studs are high-grade steel, engineered with a safety factor of 3; they should never breka under any reasonable conditions.

There is NO REASON to presume the other 12 studs weren't similarly overstressed.
At this point, each of them may have been reduced to its bare minimum strength, and it's ready to break with just a little additional stress.

There is no cost-effective way to test the strength of threaded fasteners that may have been over-stressed.
All you can do is replace ALL of the studs.

If you've ever been in a vehicle that has lost a wheel at highway speeds, you won't ever want to repeat that experience. :eek:

I would bite the bullet and replace them all.
I think you're out of luck on trying to recover the replacement cost from the guys who mounted them last fall.

Good luck.
-Rick

[ec-nasty]

Thanks for the heads up Rick. Could this also happen if the lugs aren't torqued?

[Colin]

Yep , some folks think the tighter the better when it comes to wheel nuts ( don't want them to come loose ) this can stress the studs , strip threads and even warp rotors , they should be torqued to no more than 100 ft lbs or 140 Nm and using the correct pattern .

[ec-nasty]

Thanks Colin, That is what I believed happened.(They put the lugs on to tight). Next time I will wait for my usual garage. I will replace those studs.