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This thread has been incredibly helpful for me in replacing my wheel studs, so I thought I'd share my experience as well.
After several stripped or broken studs, I opted to install OEM length replacements from ARP (part number 100-7727, $32 for a five pack from Summit Racing). I was also weary of hammering on my wheel hubs, whether or not the risk of damage was high, and opted for the ball joint separator tool. I picked up the one from Advance Auto (part number W83022, $25), and it worked swimmingly. I didn't need to modify it at all, and it worked to both remove the studs and reinstall the front ones. I'll include a couple of photos below. I also wanted to disassemble as little as possible, not to be lazy (though I am) but to avoid the hassle of rusted on parts (this car is my daily driver in very snowy & salty winters). So I only removed the wheels, calipers and rotors.
I greased the bolt threads on the ball joint separator, and used a 15/16" wrench to turn it (all by hand, no air tools). Went a little slow, maybe 1-1.5 hours total per wheel, but it went smoothly. When removing the studs I used the wider jaw setting on the tool, and when reinstalling the studs I used the narrower setting. On removal, the stud would make a loud popping sound each time it moved, usually two pops before it was free, and by the last wheel I had almost stopped jumping every time it happened.
Pressing the new studs in on the fronts went fine. The tool didn't fit on the rears, so I did the lug nut and washer method there. I used seven 1/2" washers and a new lug nut. I was concerned about over torquing the studs, so I used my torque wrench set to 89 ftlbs to pull the studs in, and somewhat surprisingly it didn't take a huge amount of force, and the wrench never clicked.
Now hopefully I won't have any more problems with the studs. For me it was always when removing a lug nut. It would start to stick rather than come off smoothly and I immediately knew it was done. If it was due to user error, the only thing I can come up with is that I didn't clean off the threads really well before reinstalling, and perhaps a small bit of metal got lodged in there and tore things up. But I never had to meticulously clean threads on previous cars, so I don't know. But regardless, I'll be cleaning the studs and nuts thoroughly from now on just in case.
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