Faulty Wheel Studs

[JUZDVS]

Just curious if anyone has had any of their wheel studs break.

A few months ago I had 3 rear studs on the passenger side break at once which caused the wheel to go flying off down the motorway I recieved a $150 fine from the cop who turned up for not securing the wheel properly which I unsuccessfully challenged.

And this week I had just 1 rear stud on the drivers side break so I got all of them replaced just incase the others were faulty.

Any thoughts or comments? Is there something I'm doing wrong, every time I take my ute out now I'm paranoid a wheel is guna come off

[ScoHar]

what type of wheels are you running? I know there is a conversion for M14 Studs instead of M12 studs, are you carrying large loads? theres a 1001 questions as to why its happening, but I have never had a faulty stud unless it was something I did to cause it to break, i.e different wheels and the nuts only grabbing on the last couple threads causes more stress, wheel spacers etc....

[mastadd]

overtightened wheels nuts can be another cause, normally wheel shops over do it with their rattle guns

[blownba]

Or like what happened to a commodore I saw years ago.
the centre bore (hole) of the aftermarket mag wheels were just too small to fit over the wheel hub and the wheel did not sit correctly on the flange face so only the wheel studs were holding it. The rim will move around due to the lack of support from the flange and eventually will snap studs like twigs.
took a while to figure it out though.
We machined the centre holes out and all was good.
i doubt the studs are faulty. I havent seen faulty ones.

[Tom_1569]

Or like what happened to a commodore I saw years ago.
the centre bore (hole) of the aftermarket mag wheels were just too small to fit over the wheel hub and the wheel did not sit correctly on the flange face so only the wheel studs were holding it. The rim will move around due to the lack of support from the flange and eventually will snap studs like twigs.
took a while to figure it out though.
We machined the centre holes out and all was good.
i doubt the studs are faulty. I havent seen faulty ones.

Thats what happens when you fit VB-Vp or VR rims, on a VR/S -VZ, as they hub diameters are different, and you either need machining or spacers if going the other way. Unfortunatly no one on here seems to give two shits at that advice lol.

[JUZDVS]

Ive got good quality 19inch DTM wheels and I've had it in the tyre shop shop a few times just to make sure the wheels and hub are ok. They tighten the wheel nuts with a torque wrench not a rattle gun.

possibly could of been the old wheel nuts, I've replaced them all now so hopefully I don't have anymore problems.

I hardly ever carry heavy loads so its not that.

[Torquative]

has happened to me with the VZ having VE rims on it which ive put down to the previously mentioned reasons

[alien]

overtightened wheels nuts can be another cause, normally wheel shops over do it with their rattle guns

Thats the main reason from everyone that's had this problem. The guys that put on a new wheel for me overtightened mine. And i tried removing it yesterday to get to the aerial mast. Couldn't do it even by standing on the lever Holden supplies. Had to go grab my electric impact wrench that plugs into vehicles. Thank god i always carry that. If i had a flat i wouldn't be able to change it without it. I think they sell for $50 at Dick Smith stores, if you happen to get your wheels fitted by people who are too rattle happy then these are a definate thing to get. They undo and tighten too (not too tight though, they'll stop before a rattle gun stops).

Thats what i'd be putting my money on.

[Junny]

Just curious if anyone has had any of their wheel studs break.

A few months ago I had 3 rear studs on the passenger side break at once which caused the wheel to go flying off down the motorway I recieved a $150 fine from the cop who turned up for not securing the wheel properly which I unsuccessfully challenged.

And this week I had just 1 rear stud on the drivers side break so I got all of them replaced just incase the others were faulty.

Any thoughts or comments? Is there something I'm doing wrong, every time I take my ute out now I'm paranoid a wheel is guna come off

wow. your front passenger side of ur bumper wouldnt of looked good.

[JUZDVS]

Yea didn't look too flash eh. Claimed insurance on it cause the repairs were around $4000

[whitey66]

Any time you take your car into a place that will remove the wheels,specify that you want them tensioned to 110 NM of torque (for a VY).
If they won't do it,take it to someone who will.
Every car that comes into our shop has the wheels tensioned with a quality torque wrench to specifications,not one of those torque bars that goes on a rattle gun.
I've drummed it into all the guys so it's second nature to them now.It only takes slightly longer and we've never had any wheel or stud incidents.

Listen to what Tom_1569 says as well,there's some good advice there.
Another thing i've seen happen is when someone swapped over their own wheels and the steel spacer that goes inside the alloy wheel stayed on the hub.Then when the other wheel with the steel spacer still inside it was fitted,did not sit fully on the hub.It was basically just riding on the spacer (because there was 2 of them on one hub.)

Quite a few allow wheels have these steel spacers fitted and quite often nobody even knows they are there.The reason they are there is to help prevent the wheel corroding and seizing onto the hub because of the two different metals used.They can still seize on there though,so check that out first and always clean and add anti-seize to the center hole of the wheel that sits on the hub.
If you have got one doubled up,remember that the wheel that came from that hub will have no spacer,so it will be loose on it's hub center as well.

Another cause of broken studs is loose nuts,but you can usually hear this before the wheel falls off . Was your stereo cranking at the time the wheel fell off??

[JUZDVS]

My tyre shop doesn't use a rattle gun to do up the wheel nuts. They always uses a torque wrench and I'm not sure what tension they set it to but I have complete confidence that it would be the correct amount.

The mag wheels I have sit directly onto the hub and it would be very obvious if they werent sitting on the hub correctly.

Still got a standard VY stereo gear in my ute as I'm not really into loud car audio anymore and I can't really remember how loud it was at the time it really depends how good the song was on the radio As soon as I felt the wheel shuddering I slowed down but I only got down to 50k's when the wheel came off.

I was going to take it to court to get the fine torn up but I decided in the end it was worth the hassel since it was only $150. I'm still pretty keen to figure out what went wrong tho, can't have it happening again!

[JUZDVS]

Oh and not that long ago somebody told that when you start producing more power the wheel studs can't handle it, not sure about this as I've only got 50kw more than standard and theyre spose to handle a fair bit of weight in the tray. Not that I ever put much weight in it.

I'm sure if this was the case then alot of people on this forum would be having the same problem........

[Benboy]

Weight in the tray is much different than extra power at the wheels (burnouts etc). Weight is carried by suspension, torque is applied to transmission, dif, axles, wheels (studs) the studs being the final link in the chain. There's your answer.

[JUZDVS]

If thats the answer then why aren't other people with modified 8's having the same trouble? Is there a uprated wheel stud I should be using rather than the standard holden ones?

[whitey66]

The mag wheels I have sit directly onto the hub and it would be very obvious if they werent sitting on the hub correctly.

The spacers i'm talking about are very short in length and it's not obvious because the wheel will seem to fit on the hub OK because the studs help line it up.
Regarding the 3 studs that broke,what happened to the other 2 for the wheel to come right off??
Were the nuts missing?

[JUZDVS]

Regarding the 3 studs that broke,what happened to the other 2 for the wheel to come right off??
Were the nuts missing?

3 snapped close to the hub and the other 2 just had damage to the thread but were still intact. I'm gunna put it down to crap wheel nuts and possibly over tightening in the past.

[Jbird]

my rear left broke off, i got all stock nuts and studs i was about half way when i think it got cross threaded and stop moving, then i used my enormous strengh (flex) and broke the stud. I never bothered to fix it and its been like that for a year

[jonnyturbo]

farout mate that sound's dodgy as to me.... back in the day's of young i have had (the worst example) 2 nut's missing off 1 wheel for nearly a month coz my mate forgot to tell me he borrowed them, then forgot to replace them (goddam stoner). nothing ever happened. the other 3 stud's and nut's were fine. this was a 308 hq that was an everyday car and thrashed regularly. either holden are using shit material (very possible) or someone has had a play with it. i have never heard of the wheel actually leaving the hub.

[wotto5]

i had this happen to me as well... was taking a nut off to put my new locking nut on and the nut came off .. stud included...was not happy...
took a week to get it fixed... and still waitin on the bill...

[Villan_au]

I had been making wheels for 17 years and it dont take much to stress a stud out if your PCD and bore are not center. Even were i used to work we changed to cheap china nuts and there is no way in hell i would use them. I never have my nut done up using a gun its all by hand.

Some years back on my old VN i had midas do some work on it and when i went to remove the wheels i could not crack the nuts so i went back there and got the manager out to try and crack them. If i had a flat i would of been stuffed.