I keep breaking lug studs!!!
 

Okay guys, so I have a problem and I am trying to see if other people are having this problem too.

I have broken three lug studs thus far. :mad0259:

Now, I have changed a million wheels before, and I have never broken a lug stud.

That being said, I have taken off the tires off my FRS twice now and I broke one stud the first time on the Driver's Front Hub and then again today, I was trying to take off the lugs on the Passenger Rear today and two of the lugs put up a fight that was rather out of the ordinary. They would loosen a bit, then as I turned, they would tighten again and stay tight. Both definitely feel like that they are about to snap off so I left them alone. They are still on the car and I probably moved them maybe a quarter turn before I realized both were effed.

The wheels were torqued last to 89 ft/lbs and they were all put on with the utmost care to ensure the lugs weren't cross threaded.

Am I doing something wrong? Am I being an idiot? Or are these Lug Studs just garbage? I would love to go aftermarket studs, but dropping $200 on a good set is kind of out of the question.

I'm really frustrated, and the fact that I can't even take my wheels off without breaking studs is hugely annoying...

HELP MEEEEEEE!!!! :bow::bow::bow:

Your lugnuts are actually welding themselves to the studs.Did you apply never seize to the threads and base of cone? If you are torqueing properly but not using a lubricant,that is what will happen.

As the lugnut is removed,the metal is balling up inside taking up the clearance between the threads.

Probably garbage stock lugs. I went with Ray's and they come off, go on with ease like it always should. Your lugs sound like the nuts on my stock header.... Plasma cut them off.

They are extremely brittle, I have broken two already myself. I wont even touch them with an impact wrench anymore.

I've removed my wheels a couple of times so far with no issues..
Also torqued them to 89 ft lbs as stated in the manual.
I used a breaker bar to remove as some felt they were sticking. No problems
So far... Can't say I noticed anything unusual...

I think its the stock bolts imo, had to replace a stud on the very first time taking the wheels off, the muteki's came off easy

I've had my wheels on and off dozens of times on the factory studs for AutoX events. I also use a torque wrench to tighten them to 89 ft/lbs. I coated mine early on with anti-seize. None have broken ... yet.

I'll try out the Never Seize.

My predicament now is that I don't know if I should buy OEM studs and keep replacing them if they break, or if I really need to go with something stronger. I was hoping also to gauge exactly how prevalent this problem is so that I might be able to report it to some higher ups at Toyota or Subaru, should that be necessary.

If you are breaking them I'd suggest getting some better/stronger ones and/or lubing the threads.

Lug nuts should be installed dry. Use of lubricant is dangerous. Specified torque is for dry torque.

If studs are breaking then it is possible the impact wrench torque is too high. Somehow your lug nuts are at too high a torque before you try yo release them.

The dry torque required to break the static friction is higher than the specified torque to tighten them. That is the safety advantage of dry torque.

NEVER use an impact wrench to torque lug nuts. ALWAYS use a hand torque wrench. Even if you have proper calibrated impact wrench stems it is always good practice to hand torque to final value. I use an underpowered lithium ion battery powered impact wrench to spin lug nuts off and on but I use a breaker bar to release them and a hand torque wrench to torque them to final spec.

Finally, make sure your torque wrench is properly calibrated and do so often if you use it frequently. Calibration is expensive but essential. Most cheaper click torque wrenches sold by hardware stores are waaaay off when brand new.

Don't listen to this guy or you will keep breaking studs.

The lubricant will not allow the lugs to break their specified torque on their own,it will only allow the nut to be successfully removed without damage occurring to the threads.

I work in the industrial field and use never seize on applications to over 2000ft lbs of torque. The only way you can reach that torque is with a lubricant on the threads otherwise the friction and force will literally gore the metal before the specified torque is reached.

Now do you understand the purpose of thread lubricant?Or do you need a more scientific explanation?

Application of thread lubricants will lower the required torque to securly fasten or clamp whatever needs to be fastened.

If you're tightening to 2000 ft-lbs with lubricant, you'd need way more to achieve the same clamping force if you used no lubricant. You'd also probably destroy everything.

Alternatively, if you tighten the lug nuts to 89 ft-lbs dry and you are breaking the studs, you will be applying more force than that when you lubricate the studs and tighten to 89 ft-lbs. Then you will still break the studs.

If a manufacturers spec doesn't provide a dry and wet torque spec, then the given spec is a dry spec and never-seize should not be used.

Check the calibration of your torque wrench. If you continue to break the OEM studs, then try aftermarket studs.

+1. I have tracked my car several times since I purchased it in June and always change wheels and tires for the event. I've never had an issue.

Just about 90,000 miles on my STI with no anti-seize used on the lugs. Not a single one has broken. I use a torque wrench to tighten and a breaker bar to remove. Impact wrenches should only be used to remove stuff. Never tighten down using an impact unless you want to stretch bolts, strip threads, and otherwise destroy stuff.

I'll never take my STI back to a wheel and brake shop because they over-tightened my caliper bolts. When I went to do my brake upgrade several bolts snapped off, two pulled the threads out of the caliper (had to helicoil).

If you haven't done every single wheel change yourself, I'd raise an eyebrow toward your wheel shop. They're notorious for using impacts to take wheels off and quickly zip them back on without bothering to check torque.

OP
Don't feel bad
I broke three studs cuz the oem lugs are crap
I finally bit the bullet and got ARP studs and new lugs
Haven't had a problem since

Broke my front driver side stud, they're a piece of SHIT, I ordered a replacement but didn't install it yet. Is the replacement of studs a fairly simple task or what?

WOW - LOTS of ideas on tightning up lug nuts ..... http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...s/spinning.gif

I just tighten them up (dry) to "two squeaks" or a "grunt", depending on which comes first. Or just tighten them up to "lug nut tight" .... (that's an acquired feel thing .... ).

The only wheel that I have lost over the past 70 years, was a wheel on a garbage can.

To, the OP - for your poll, I've taken the wheels off on my FR-S without problems.

humfrz

Hahaha, same thing here. May not be the best way to go but it's worked for me for over 20 years.

Now watch me lose one when I do my winter swap...

Removed and reinstalled wheels 20+ times on dry studs, torqued to 90. (AutoX) Lugs removed with impact or ratchet, installed with tq wrench. You goofs posting about lubricating threads may be "experts", but situations where you're working with 2000ft/lbs is entirely different than small fastener physics. Lubed torque would be lower than dry torque, and even as specifically whether you're lubing the threads, the seat, or both.

I'm surprised I didn't see someone mention to MAKE SURE you tighten them in the star pattern. The first one should only be snugged up the first time. If this isn't done the lugs tighten down on one side of the stud hole, making it possibly seize, gall, or break the stud upon removal because it isn't supported by one side of the lug.

Good point for the newbies!

Also, if you have locking lugs, make sure the locking lug is the first one off and the last to be fully tightened down .... :thumbsup:

humfrz

Yer n idiot. Scientific enuff for ya?

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...jsp?techid=107

Dry torque and lubricated torque are totally different concepts.

The first stud I broke was from factory torque. It was the first time the wheel was ever taken off.

The two recent ones have been on a wheel that was removed and put back on, and they were put on carefully, in a star pattern. The torque wrench I used has not been recently calibrated, however, it has been used on a multitude of cars other than mine and has not proven to be a problem.

In regards to the anti-seize, I'll do more research on that, but for now, I will keep it dry and see if I can't get my torque wrench calibrated or something. I guess I'll look into getting better studs as well.

Also, if I get new studs, can I retain factory lugs? I see that many of the aftermarket studs are extended, would those require a open lug nut?

FWIW, I have yet to break a wheel stud, but I've had to replace two so far due to the threads getting screwed up (which I'm attributing to Discount Tire). One was with the stock lugs, the other was with ones from Gorilla; pieces of the wheel stud threading ended up welded inside of the lugs. Luckily I was able to get them off in both cases!

I'm beginning to lean towards picking up some stronger studs if this keeps happening. That and I'm never going to that shop again. OP, the longer studs will require you to get open lug nuts.

As mentioned above lug nuts, studs, and any mating surfaces should be clean and dry before installing wheels. Use a wire brush to clean the hubs and the back of the wheels and use brake cleaner to remove any kind of lubricant on the studs and/or lugnuts. Antiseize or lubricant will hinder you from achieving the correct wheel lug nut torque. I have removed and reinstalled my wheels 10-20 times already with no problems. I always torque my wheels in a star pattern followed by a circle pattern to ensure there's no movement in the lugnuts.

I worked at Walmart which is one of the most concerned companies about liability, and we put anti-seize on every stud that came in. I have been using anti-seize on the studs on my street cars and race cars for years, and I have never had one come off or broken a stud.

You guys serious? The reason why they break is because the studs are steel and i assume you have after market lugs nuts that are aluminum. Steel + aluminum will galvanize which means 89ft/lb will equate to something like 150 (guessing) after awhile. The anti seize is so that it isnt direct steel to aluminum contact so they dont galvanize. That way it can be easily removed. This happened to a friend and he broke probably 7 studs. He finally started to use anti seize and it fixed his issue. He tracks his car hard too with the lugs torqued to 89ft/lb and no backing out issues.

I put anti seize on early on when I got the car and haven't had my lug nuts back out. I always torque them properly when mounting the wheels. YMMV

If you're torquing to 2000 ft-lbs you're yielding the bolts to get clamping force, the never seize won't do anything to get them off.

I work at a Discount Tire Company in Colorado and I recently worked on my car at the shop and our computer states torquing the lugs at 80ftlb... I am not quite sure why the manual says 89. Also the studs on a Subaru/Toyota/Honda are very fragile and really easy to break. I've seen some studs easily breaking off at around 100ftlb. Really the only advise I give to you is that Discount Tire/Americas Tire will bolt on wheel assemblies for free.(Or at the very least my store does!) Oh and also, if a Discount/Americas tire breaks a stud they will call the nearest Brakes Plus and have them put new studs in for you for free!

Aluminum lug nuts? That's nuts.

Btw that's electrolytic corrosion, the opposite of galvanizing. Galvanizing is done to prevent electrolytic corrosion.

Yo WTFFFF I just snapped 2. I have broken 1 lug in 15 years of working on cars. What is the deal with these???

Anti seize works brilliantly to stop them from binding up. ARP studs all around is the best solution though.

wait the torque for this car is 89 ft/lbs? I've been doing it to 80 this whole time lol

Reading the comments about anti seize, bad idea. Id u lube them with anti seize and torque them to 89lbs ur actually going way over.

My family owns an automotive shop for the last 45 years and have always used anti-seize with great success.

I always torque it to about 3-5lbs less than dry torque spec.

I have taken my wheels off of my frs about 10 times with no problems.

I you use any lubricant on wheel studs here in UT you get failed on your safety inspection. The factory torque spec is for dry application. Using any sort of lubricant will cause the lugs to be overtightened.

Not that I'm against using it, but I've never used it and I've never broken a stud. Are these on vehicles using factory wheels? How about aftermarket with or without centric rings? Can't imagine something as cheap as a wheel stud being made of low quality metals from factory.

Yeah, it pisses me off how these cars are so delicate. One of my studs is pealing from the end, and the other got some of its threading shaved. Seriously, wtf! And if you're slightly off on the jack point when lifting it up, the jack point will slightly bend. Smh bro.

The price you pay for cheap cars.

My theory is if you're not careful taking the wheel off the studs the wheel and stud will grind against each other and remove material (probably from the wheel) which will get caught in the threads if it isn't brushed away before the lugs go back on, it's probably the root of the threads getting wrecked.

I've had two strip, never snapped any. Went ahead and replaced them with those bigass ARP studs for the WRX in the hopes that I would never have to replace them again.