tires and wheels Good Source For Grade 8+ Lug Studs?

[Benjamin A.R.]

I searched for a while but found nothing on the site. I keep snapping off lug bolts and it's not due to incorrect tightening. I think it's these cheap studs I'm using. Anyone know where to buy some good quality studs for less than $8.50 PER STUD like on I.E.?

[AceAndrew]

Threaded or press-in?  The pieces IE sells for $8.50 are the press-in version.  If you're correct in your verbiage "lug-stud" the  you'll find there are no lug-studs for press-in hubs.  If you're looking for threaded studs then there are a variety of sources for 12x1.5mm wheel studs.

[Benjamin A.R.]

The press in variety is what I need. 

[mnicktow]

try these guys, they helped me out

www.motorsporthardware.com

[TobyB]

I've used Dorman branded stuff in past.

 

What are you torquing your nuts to?

What are you using for lube on them?

 

t

[M3M3]

I searched for a while but found nothing on the site. I keep snapping off lug bolts and it's not due to incorrect tightening. I think it's these cheap studs I'm using. Anyone know where to buy some good quality studs for less than $8.50 PER STUD like on I.E.?

dang, something is wrong if you "keep snapping off lug bolts". 

 

maybe the IE studs aren't cheap, but they are a heck of a lot cheaper than the damage from a wheel falling off....

[Dachshund]

I assume the lug bolts are getting snapped during installation, and not while you are driving down the street!  If so, here is a tip that might help.  SnowDriftin3, even if this does not apply to you, this might help someone else: 

 

Lubing the threads of the lug bolts (or studs on a non-BMW) can lead to them snapping; instead, clean off any lubricant with brake cleaner before torquing them down.  Threads should be clean and dry.  

 

I have seen a professional tire and wheel shop lather oil all over the threads when installing a wheel, but those technicians were apparently motivated by a desire to get the wheels installed as quickly as possible and get the next car in the garage.  Assuming you are not in a hurry to spin them on as quickly as humanly possible, you want the threads clean and dry.  

 

A friend (this really was a friend, not me!) once told a story about studs snapping off over and over as he was trying to torque his lug nuts down, which grew very frustrating (and expensive).  He eventually realized it was because he had been diligently oiling his threads in an ill-conceived attempt to clean off grime.  Whenever he tried to tighten to the appropriate torque, the well-lubricated lug nut would just keep spinning and spinning until the steel stud would snap.  

[TobyB]

The corollary to that is, of course, that a rusted, galled fastener is also untrustworthy, especially in the rust belt.

 

I always get a kick out of southern Californians' inability to understand how E36/46 wheels get stuck to the hubs...

 

I use anti- seize on all the threaded fasteners on our wheels.  I know- I must be dead at least 10 times over, but 

strangely, I'm not.  And I've never had a wheel fall off.  Broke one stud once- and it was my own dumb fault.

And- get this- I don't even torque the nuts!  I do it by feel!  How can I still be alive?!??!!??

(well, we do use a torque wrench on the race car, but that's just to make the neat clicky sound...)

 

And no, DH, I'm not really picking on you- that's the way you're 'supposed' to install wheels. "Clean and dry and rust- free".

 

Given that "Cheap and Good and Fast" is a 2 out of 3 proposition, so is 'Clean and Dry and Rust Free' around here.

 

So I derate the torque I use on the fasteners a bit.  How much?  Nope, not gonna say.  Someone would certainly sue me.

And honestly, I don't know.  The torque wrench at the race track reads 65 ft-lbs, but it's not calibrated, and we drop it

regularly.

 

yeah, I'm like 15x dead...

 

t

just rambling....

[M3M3]

The torque wrench at the race track reads 65 ft-lbs, but it's not calibrated, and we drop it regularly.

 

   

must be a racer thing.  my cheap craftsman tq wrench that i only use for lug nuts has been set on 75fllbs for 13 years.  dropped, thrown, rained on, and run over.  what is calibration? 

[TobyB]

Marshall, I bet if we checked our wrenches,

they'd be within a few ft- lbs of each other.  

In fact, I think the 'pounds' ring may have

fallen off that one entirely... or rusted off....

 

heh

 

t

[xferboy]

I've always been told to back off the torque wrench when you're done.

 

Reason: the spring inside, if loaded, will weaken over time (same way the suspension sags over time)

 

And back in the day when I changed transport truck tires, we lightly sprayed the nuts when they were off with wd40 (spray bottle, not aerosol).  Push them into a pile and lightly spray them, just enough to get some in the threads.  Oil, or worse grease would create a layer between the threads on the nut and the stud that, over time, would wash away and leave them loose.  The wd40 is thin enough this wouldn't happen.  I've often wondered if the same would happen with anti seize, either on the threads or between the rim mounting face and the hub.

 

I never had a wheel come off any of the truck, and the only studs that I broke when tightening showed signs of already being cracked. 

[ray_]

Marshall, I bet if we checked our wrenches,

they'd be within a few ft- lbs of each other.  

In fact, I think the 'pounds' ring may have

fallen off that one entirely... or rusted off....

 

heh

 

t

 

Naw.

 

I bet they're about 2500 miles apart.

Edited April 5, 2014 by ray_koke

[TobyB]

 

I've always been told to back off the torque wrench when you're done.

Me too.  And I do, on the one that I use to do unimportant things like cylinder heads....

 

The important one that lives 2500 miles from Marshall's, I don't bother.

 

See why I'm sofa king dead???

 

t