Three broken studs...

A

Adventuring_Earl

New member
I got home from Atlanta Sunday to find i had a flat driver side rear tire so I started to loosen the lug nuts and broke three out of the six studs. Has anyone had this happen before or maybe someone cross threaded the lug nuts?
 
Register to hide this ad
NO.
It was the 16 year old on the end of a air tool at a tire place who hasn't a clue how tight lug nuts need to be. They need to be firm, not end of the world tight and these kids get on it till it just f's them up.

Had it happen to me. Someone over tightened them on there.
 
Its not always young guys who do this, I've seen older techs have the mindset of "The tighter the better." I also will admit being guilty to over tightening lug nuts before, but I got better over time.
 
Chances are if they broke coming off that they were cross threaded going on. Usually when they are over torqued they break during the install or sometime there after. It is easy to cross thread them if you don't mount the wheel tight to the hub and start them by hand. I could see a dopey tech sticking the nut into the socket and hitting the gun to save time.
 
Just had this happen to me at my local Firestone. Had an alignment done after my 5100 install. Thankfully only one of the 24 was cross-threaded. I couldn't even get it off to remove the front passenger wheel. I'm taking it by today to have them fix it...and yes it was a younger guy, no older than 30.
 
Dylan said:
Just had this happen to me at my local Firestone. Had an alignment done after my 5100 install. Thankfully only one of the 24 was cross-threaded. I couldn't even get it off to remove the front passenger wheel. I'm taking it by today to have them fix it...and yes it was a younger guy, no older than 30.
Click to expand...

People don't know sh*t at 30. No one should be allowed to use air tools on lug nuts until they reach at least retirement age. They can have an younger assistant to move the tire around, bend over, etc.
 
I always make it very clear to the tire shop that I expect the lug nuts to be torqued to the specified setting, in this case 83 ft. lbs. Most are surprised it's that low, but I insist they do it that way. So far since I started giving them clear instructions I've not had problems afterwards.

Their natural tendency is to treat every vehicle like it was a Mack truck and tighten until the impact wrench stops.
 
Actually had this problem and it was manifesting itself as a bit of a shimmy in the steering wheel. Problem was the tire tech ran the lug nuts on with an impact gun. Then just checked em with a torque wrench. So what I suspect was happening was that some of the lugs had way more pressure on them and the wheel wasn't complete flat against the hub causing my shimmy. New saying I've been going by and why I am trying to do all the work I'm capable of that doesn't require special machinery is "The Pros aren't really pro's anymore". Now that's not 100% true but these cheaper shops pay the cheapest labor and no one will ever treat your car like you do. Its unfortunate
 
AZ06SR5 said:
People don't know sh*t at 30. No one should be allowed to use air tools on lug nuts until they reach at least retirement age. They can have an younger assistant to move the tire around, bend over, etc.
Click to expand...

5911026996_4a4aac9199_o_d.png
 
When the wheel studs go. . they go. I broke one last week on the 2d to last lug nut after installing my new rear brakes (and subsequent Parking Brake adjustment). . .Sometimes they just go.

At least it is a SUPER easy fix!
 
Styer said:
. New saying I've been going by and why I am trying to do all the work I'm capable of that doesn't require special machinery is "The Pros aren't really pro's anymore". Now that's not 100% true but these cheaper shops pay the cheapest labor and no one will ever treat your car like you do. Its unfortunate
Click to expand...

My thinking exactly. I've got to get a Fumoto valve put in my 4RUNNER and will be present when it is put on during the next oil change. Finding a proper wrench is among the hardest tasks we have today.
 
AZ06SR5 said:
People don't know sh*t at 30. No one should be allowed to use air tools on lug nuts until they reach at least retirement age. They can have an younger assistant to move the tire around, bend over, etc.
Click to expand...


Haha as a 30 year old myself I can understand where you're coming from. The dumb lady running the counter said they hand tighten everything...clearly to 1,000 ft/lbs. I'll be damned if they mess up my powder coated wheels trying to cut the Nut of. I'm leaving it overnight now so they can take their time.
 
ellsworb said:
When the wheel studs go. . they go. I broke one last week on the 2d to last lug nut after installing my new rear brakes (and subsequent Parking Brake adjustment). . .Sometimes they just go.



At least it is a SUPER easy fix!
Click to expand...


What they did to mine was simply due to incompetence. And it is not an easy fix, based on the fact I've been here an hour and there's been 4 guys hovering around throwing in their 2 cents on how to go about getting the nut off. Now the nut just spins on the stud...so yeah that was directly related to the numbskull tightening it way too much.
 
Well, my son is 24 and he torques EVERY single one he works on from beaters to his race car.

He had a good one a few months ago. A friend had bought a used car at a less than reputable used car dealer. He told her about the guy that owns the place and advised her not to but there. She did and within a week or two one of the front wheels came off the car when her young daughter was driving it. He believes they left the set screw in the rotor and it didn't seat flat. The dealer had worked on the brakes before selling the car.
 
Same thing happened to me a few years ago at a Firestone in Orlando. The ASE Certified Techician stripped two lug nuts on one wheel of my Z71. After two hours of dinking with it, they broke out the torch and cut them off destroying the wheel in the process.
 
scw1991 said:
Same thing happened to me a few years ago at a Firestone in Orlando. The ASE Certified Techician stripped two lug nuts on one wheel of my Z71. After two hours of dinking with it, they broke out the torch and cut them off destroying the wheel in the process.
Click to expand...

Holy hell... :twitch:

What they didn't have an SAE socket to hammer onto it and jam it up? I have an extractor set at work I use for wheel locks (they really are not meant for hardened steel but they still work most of the time) and they get the job done. There was one Matrix that had these super tiny (like 14~15mm dia) aftermarket studs no one had the wheel lock for that I couldn't fit anything on, but that's been an exception not the rule...

Also as I said before, I used to zap bolts on like every other flat rate mechanic out there. I didn't realize how much even a "little zap" overtorqued most of those nuts until I started playing with my Snap-Op torque wrench. Ever since then I've been using my Dewalt 20v 3/8" Impact to get them started (usually gets them about 50~70ft.lbs or so) and then finish them off with the torque wrench. My co-workers laugh at me and tease me about spending $600 to do tire rotations (I use it for a lot more than that now), but seeing as how my Dewalt can easily remove an 80-90ft.lbs torqued lug nut and most of the cars that come in I need to bust out my Snap-On 1/2" Impact Gun to get them off, I'm surprised we don't see more broken/stretched studs. Not to mention it only adds about 1 minute or two to my usual routine and makes me feel better at the end of the job to see that little green LED bar light up. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 429 (members: 5, guests: 424)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,304
Messages
3,554,041
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top