Bad wheel nut threads

[Stephen W.]

The grandson brought his (my old) BRZ tS back to our house to swap the winters for summers. No problem I thought. I’ve done it a number of times including last fall. Good time to teach the lad some basic auto mechanics. The first three went like clockwork but one nut on the last wheel was really tight. Then it felt like the stud was turning not the nut. Would only move a bit an then jam. Quick phone calls to every shop in the area and only Canadian Tire was open. So drive the car carefully into Trenton and proceed to wait for an hour and a half. Finally they get the car in and try as they might it looks for a while like we’re into some serious time and money. Late on a Saturday afternoon of a long weekend and the grandson has to be back in Kingston Sunday morning for work. There was a lot of talking going back and forth and the mechanic kept trying his pneumatic gun. Then finally it came off. He gave the nut to the service advisor who showed it to us. The internal threads were junk. He said that they have had a number of cars with this same problem. He hinted that Subaru stock nuts are not very good. The mechanic was able to chase the threads on the stud so we lucked out there. They found an almost identical chrome dome wheel nut in stock and within 20 minutes, (why does paperwork always take so long?) we out of there and the grandson was able to get back home with his 18” stock rims and summer tires.
His winters are down to the wear bars so we’ll be looking for a deal on winters for him.
Anyone else have problems with stock Subaru wheel nuts? This car has lived an easy life, always garaged and even though it’s a 2018 it has only 31K (that's kilometers by the way) from new. This past winter was the first time it saw actual deep snow, slush and brine.



Gratuitous photo of car in CTC (do they still call it that?) service bay after it was fixed.)

[whataboutbob]

It's the studs that can be the problem. See link from 2013 below.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51038

[alphasaur]

Somewhat common on this car, the lug studs aren't the strongest. Can swap to stronger studs (arp etc). I also use a touch of antiseize (a really minimal amount) and hand torque.

[EndlessAzure]

I don't recommend antiseize. They aren't getting galled up. It's handling leading to thread damage/debris


If you want them to last a long time, you need to keep the threads clean and damage free.

It's common because the threads are fine pitch and often people are rough with wheels when installing them. It's easy to damage the studs if you aren't careful, especially if you are haphazard and drop/drag the wheel across the threads as you install/uninstall them. After a few times, you can imagine how a loose chip can destroy a stud/lug.

I broke 3 studs over a course of 18 months until I took some more care during installation. If a stud was running rough, I would stop and run a tap instead of just sending it home. After that, it was 3 years before I broke the next one. My wheels came on-and-off at least 3-4 times a year at that point.

[autoracer86]

Yeah I always make sure to hand tighten the nut first no matter if the nut is OEM or aftermarket. The studs are just not great. Same thing on my NC mx5.

I am planning to switch to ARP studs with the GT86 I will still take care when installing the nuts but they should be worry free

Oh and always use a tq wrench Use the impact gun to snug them up than the rest with the tq wrench when the car is on the ground

[RToyo86]

ARP OEM length studs would fix that issue as they're stronger. Stripped a stud years ago when I ran aluminum nuts on my wintwr wheels. Learned my lesson there.

[Ultramaroon]

The stock acorn nuts are manufactured sloppily. If you test each of them for wobble, or loose thread engagement, it's easy to see the variation. I'm just super careful about tightening by hand, but that's YEARS of careful experience that can't be described here in words. I don't torque them anywhere near the specified 89 ft-lbf.

[cmiovino]

I have a 2004 WRX I've had since 2012. Still has the stock wheel studs and I even autocrossed the car, changing wheels every weekend for at least 2 seasons. Zero issues with the studs on that car.

Meanwhile, with my BRZ, after having the car for a year and wheels on/off maybe 5 times, one lug nut was completely stuck on and was going to break the stud taking it off. Other ones were all on their way out too. I can more or less confirm it wasn't me being an idiot with them.

Upgraded to ARP studs per what this forum and the internet says. The studs are like butter. You can be gentle with them, but they just seem like they literally wear out in no time. I never over torqured them and always thread them on by hand.

Subaru's stock acorn lug nuts never felt right to me. I think it's the combination of these that really do them in.

Highly suggest ARP's OEM studs that don't require the removal of the hub - you just install them the same as any OEM replacement. I also highly recommend upgrading the lug nuts.

[DarkPira7e]

My car must be a freak, I swap wheels several times a year and have no issues, even with rusty nasty lug nuts

[gen3v8]

Only problem I noticed was with open steel nuts. They started to rust. I put a small amount of copper grease on the threads and pushed some short silicon bottle stoppers inside the end of the lug nuts.
I change wheels all the time,never go above 90ft/lb, with no more problems.

[Stephen W.]

We figured out it wasn’t me that fluxed up the nut. I forgot all about having the car certified (Ontario requirement when changing ownership) before giving the car to my grandson. I know the shop would have taken care with the car but it is a shop after all. Wheels had to come off for brake inspection so… air gun set to “infinity and beyond” then hammer off and after hammer back on as fast as possible.
I have suggested to the grandson that new studs and better chrome nuts are in his future. However, he is saving for new winter tires at this point. The FR-S Series 02 rims need to be repainted but I doubt he’ll be able to afford that and tires too.

[ZDan]

Yeah, factory wheel studs *and* nuts are horrifically bad. They *will* bugger up and ruin your day. On the old car ('17) I had gone to ARP studs but stupidly kept using the factory nuts. Sure enough they went bad and almost ruined an event at Watkins Glen! Factory studs and nuts are really really REALLY bad. I go with new Gorilla aluminum nuts every season, figure the nuts will strip before the studs which is infinitely preferable...

Long/short: yeah, the factory studs are terrible. But also the factory nuts are equally terrible and can ruin your day!

[cmiovino]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Yeah, factory wheel studs *and* nuts are horrifically bad. They *will* bugger up and ruin your day. On the old car ('17) I had gone to ARP studs but stupidly kept using the factory nuts. Sure enough they went bad and almost ruined an event at Watkins Glen! Factory studs and nuts are really really REALLY bad. I go with new Gorilla aluminum nuts every season, figure the nuts will strip before the studs which is infinitely preferable...

Long/short: yeah, the factory studs are terrible. But also the factory nuts are equally terrible and can ruin your day!

Have you had any issues with your Gorilla nuts and ARP studs?

Mine threaded on perfectly when the nuts were new. Felt great.

After about 10 times on/off, one of the Gorilla lugs themselves started getting buggered up. I tried it on another stud and it was that lug nut. Even threaded it on the old OEM studs and it was really tight too.

Ordered a new set since they're only $30. Same deal. Now 25% of them are buggered up. Not the studs, but the lug nuts. It's like every year I need to get a new set.

Thinking about moving to something else. It's crazy the lug nuts themselves keep getting buggered and hard to turn. It's never the stud now.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

The stock acorn nuts are manufactured sloppily. If you test each of them for wobble, or loose thread engagement, it's easy to see the variation. I'm just super careful about tightening by hand, but that's YEARS of careful experience that can't be described here in words. I don't torque them anywhere near the specified 89 ft-lbf.

Yep, I got the picture -