Also had this posted in the "brakes" section, as I had a related question about my brakes...but I also have a specific question about the installation of wheel studs, so hopefully this isn't too much of a repost for most.

Alright, so I had a major brain fart and forgot to snug down the rear lug nuts on the driver's side of my G35 Coupe when I was checking fitment on some new rims a few weeks ago. So yesterday I'm driving along at around 50mph and I hear a thud-thud-thud and feel a wobble. I pull over thinking that it's a flat only to find that my rear tire is cambered out like 20 degrees, with 4 of the 5 studs snapped off.

I decided that I wasn't going to pay the $120 that they wanted to tow my car 1.5 miles back to my house, so I went about fixing it in the church parking lot where I had pulled over. I got a ride up to O'Rileys and got 5 new studs (the 5th one broke as I was trying to remove it). Pulled off the tire, brake caliper and rotor. Drove the broken studs out with a hammer and put the new ones in place.

Now to seat the new studs, it is my understanding that the head needs to be flush with the back side of the hub. I put a lug nut on and used the lug nut wrench to tighten it down. The head of the stud was moving into the hub, but it wasn't fully seated yet. I gave the wrench a little more torque, and then it stripped. I thought I'd stripped the stud, so I tried to grab the head with channel locks, but there wasn't enough "meat" to grab. So with the lug nut stuck on, I had to use a hacksaw and cut it off. No fun.

I go back and buy an extra stud and put it back in. Put on a nut, this time, and as it sinking into the hub, it starts to turn again. It's at this point that I realize that it's not the stud that has stripped, but the HUB. I was able to back the nut off and figured I'd just get the car home on 4 studs.

I put the nut on the other 4 studs and tightened them a little by hand to ensure that I could get the wheel on, but they're not fullly seated, meaning that the heads of the studs are not flush with the back side of the hub. I was afraid of stripping another one! So how do I go about properly seating the new studs without stripping out the hub again? A slide hammer?

I think I'm going to have that 5th stud welded back into place, unless someone else has another option for replacing the splines in the hub so that they'll grab a stud again? Like a helicoil or something???

Long story over....but now I'm rolling on 4 (semi-seated) studs and I want to get the job done right. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

- BigJason

 

ive always just put a few washers over the stud and then hit them with my air gun and had them pull in. never had the hub strip out. i would imagine you could have them pressed in at a shop if you wanted to unbolt the hub so it can be out in the press. or mabye use a vice to press them in at home? i wouldnt suggest welding that 5th stud incase it breaks again in the future. i woulde sooner use a helicoil like you suggested or mabye go up one size knurl on the stud.

 

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG???

I stripped another one 5 minutes ago!!

I pulled the wheel and brakes off to try and better seat the 4 studs that I had put on in the parking lot. I just snugged them with a ratchet (to avoid stripping another one), but I knew they weren't fully seated. So I first tried using a slide hammer, and that wasn't working and screwed up the threads on the stud. No big deal, I have another.

So I went to a different lug and threaded on an open-end nut. I got out a 2ft breaker bar and socket and slowly started to tighten it down to begin to seat the stud. The axle started to turn, so I put another lug nut onto another stud and put a wrench on it to hold it from turning. I put a little more pressure (not much!) on the nut, and I see the back of the stud start to rotate! So now I've gotta cut off a hardened nut too!

I might just have a buddy bring his welder over and weld all 5 of these ****ers in. Worst case, I've gotta buy a new hub, which seems to be the current situation anyways.

ANY HELP/ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED! I'm surprised that on such an active forum that my threads get so few replys. Maybe this board is different than others I post on.

- BigJason

 

dont know what the hell you are doing wrong...

I changed 4 of mine this past weekend and I had no issues at all..

As mentioned before, are you even using washers when trying to seat the stud?..

or maybe the parts store is giving you the wrong part... the thread is right, but the rest might not be...

Try a different parts store.... Or buy it an OEM stud..
I wouldn't weld it on either...

 

I actually got it figured out!

I put 3 big washers between the hub and the nut and hit it with an impact wrench, and all 5 lugs sank right in.

My error was not using the washers and impact. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

Thanks.

- BigJason

 

lol, thank god you didnt weld them on. if you did, dude, you're screwed even more. lol. i was about to write a whole thing for you, but i was like, damn, hopes he wont f*** it up even more. lol

 

you werent using washers originally?! glad you got em done