Broken Wheel studs!

[Uber_Matt]

Was driving the missus VT Berlina the other night and had a bumping sound coming from the rear, thought I had a flat. Pulled over and checked tyres - all pressures looked fine, got back in and kept driving.

100m down the road I hear a rattling sound, stop again and pull over.

Turns out 4 of my wheel studs have snapped off, and the 5th and final one I was able to remove with 2 turns!!!!

Got the old man to drop by with some spare nuts - was able to get 2 of the nuts back on and limp home at 15kmph - just in time too because i removed the wheel today and the 2 nuts I replaced had rooted threads and fell off as soon as I touched them.

Gotta take the day off tomorrow to replace the studs now.


What would have caused this? My first thoughts were a wheel thief loosened the nuts, got interrupted and then bolted.

 

[accentstencil]

Definitely caused by loose wheel nuts, either by thief or the last person to put the wheel on.

 

[wrx884]

or who put ur tyres on last over tightened them way 2 much and didnt use a torque wrench

 

[andyman]

what sort of rims do you have? standard?

 

[pablo]

I am confused, (it don't take much) But if 4 studs had snapped off, how come you could fit 2 nuts on. With 4 gone, that only leaves 1 stud left? or am I missing sumfin ere?

 

[ephect]

These are very easy to replace, and only cost a few $ from holden.

1.Remove the wheel (not too hard in ur situation atm )
2. remove 1 bolt from the caliper, and loosen the other, and swing caliper out of the way and take note of brake pad location, inner and outer (doesnt really matter but wont hurt)
3. remove hub
4. with a punch or smaller bolt, punch out the remaining studs. best option is punch out the stud that is closest to the back and as horizontal as u can get it. u'll see what i mean, this gives u the most room to manuover the studs in and out. then rotor the hub to position the next stud in the same position
5. place new studs in the hole, 1 by 1 rotating the hub so u have plenty of room to fit them.
6. get a few larger nuts and a large washer, and a proper fitting wheel nut.
7. place the larger nuts over the bolts then the washer then the wheel nut, tighten up, this will pull the stud properly into the hole. repeat for all new studs.
8. replace hub
9. replace caliper, pads and tighten
10. whack on your wheel n nuts.


hope that helps, good luck

 

[STEALTHY™]

I had a similar problem.

Guy working on my car told mate to do the wheel nuts up, but NOT to use the rattle gun, just use the wheel brace. They vibrated loose, and i too, just stopped in time with 1 hanging on. I now keep spare ones in the car, and never let anyone else touch the wheels (tyre shops argue with me about it, but end up not getting my business if i can't put the wheels back on myself in their shop.

 

[Uber_Matt]

I am confused, (it don't take much) But if 4 studs had snapped off, how come you could fit 2 nuts on. With 4 gone, that only leaves 1 stud left? or am I missing sumfin ere?

Lol. They snapped of kind of level with the face of the wheel - most of them were stuffed, but I was able to get a nut from my old VP to screw on one of them on enough to hold until I got home (approx 400m or so).
The VP nut was the same thread diameter obviously, but had less metal around the edges (if that makes sense) so it could go in further.

Was scary to think that in probably 100m more driving the wheel would have fallen off completely!

 

[s_ikari2015]

that exact same thing happened to my brother when he was driving my VT. I had berlina alloys on the car and I had a wheel balance and alignment done shortly after they were fitted. He was driving down the freeway at 100KM/h when he felt like the rear wheel was flat and it was making a terrible noise.

He stopped, took the wheel cap off and 4 studs fell into his hand. It needed to be towed home!

When I went into Holden they said they have never heard of that happening before. It really irritates me how something like this can suddenly happen! I always take it to the same tyre place because they don't even HAVE rattle guns. Peel Tyre Service. excellent every time. It personally think it was because I wasn't using the newer alloy nuts with the allow rims. I was using the standard steelies nuts and so there must have been a bit of movement.

The question remains, though, how weak must these wheel studs be if the vibrations of a wheel (which the driver can't notice) when the nuts are a bit loose is all it takes to snap them off?

 

[wrx884]

that exact same thing happened to my brother when he was driving my VT. I had berlina alloys on the car and I had a wheel balance and alignment done shortly after they were fitted. He was driving down the freeway at 100KM/h when he felt like the rear wheel was flat and it was making a terrible noise.

He stopped, took the wheel cap off and 4 studs fell into his hand. It needed to be towed home!

When I went into Holden they said they have never heard of that happening before. It really irritates me how something like this can suddenly happen! I always take it to the same tyre place because they don't even HAVE rattle guns. Peel Tyre Service. excellent every time. It personally think it was because I wasn't using the newer alloy nuts with the allow rims. I was using the standard steelies nuts and so there must have been a bit of movement.

The question remains, though, how weak must these wheel studs be if the vibrations of a wheel (which the driver can't notice) when the nuts are a bit loose is all it takes to snap them off?

Its not a matter of how weak they r its more how over tightened have they been over their life span. Each time u overtighten them u stretch them so of corse of u keep doin it they will snap.

Theres nothing wrong with using a rattle gun aslong as they get torqued up with a hand wrench, if tyre places use both u know ur cars gettin look after.