Tire Stud Snapped Off, Help Needed!

S

Stephencovar

New member
Hey everyone,

I am hoping I could get some help and guidance. I just had my tires replaced at America's Tires (I went with KO2's 265-70-17) and one of the tires studs that hold the wheel snapped off! They said that the lug nut was torqued down to 85 ft.lb per their speck sheet. I am very concerned because my rig only has 290 miles. Since they broke it, how can I hold them accountable for the issue? I am going to take the truck into Toyota ASAP, would this be something covered under warranty? I am concerned for my safety. They just handed me the lug nut and snapped off stud. I have no choice but to go to work in my rig until I could make it in to Toyota, would it be ok to drive still? Please help!
 
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America's Tire should be making this right, regardless if they torqued to spec or not, whether it was an accident or not, they damaged the hub.
 
socalkid said:
America's Tire should be making this right, regardless if they torqued to spec or not, whether it was an accident or not, they damaged the hub.
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I was extremely upset and shocked. They just handed me the stud and lug nut and said that they torqued it down and it kept going and it snapped. I didn't know what to do at that point because I was like, "how could this happen to a brand new 4Runner". It ruined my new tire experience.
 
Holy shit I can't believe they just handed it to you and said beat it. I wouldn't want to drive it either, really. Not because one missing stud is the end of the world, but if others weren't torqued correctly, you are definitely at higher risk of losing that wheel while driving down the road.

I would doubt it was a bad wheel stud. It's possible, but more likely operator or tool error. It's obviously your choice how much you want to battle the tire shop, but at this point I would be asking myself if I want them to touch it again. A wheel stud is cheap, but kind of a pain to replace. Still probably $8 for a stud and maybe an hour of labor from the dealership even if they don't take pity on you. I can't imagine they would replace it under warranty.

Good luck, that's really shitty of them.
 
It was likely over-torqued. Had this happen at Firestone (so much for lifetime alignment. . .), but in my case they immediately replaced it. It's been ok since then.
 
KingTaco said:
Holy shit I can't believe they just handed it to you and said beat it. I wouldn't want to drive it either, really. Not because one missing stud is the end of the world, but if others weren't torqued correctly, you are definitely at higher risk of losing that wheel while driving down the road.

I would doubt it was a bad wheel stud. It's possible, but more likely operator or tool error. It's obviously your choice how much you want to battle the tire shop, but at this point I would be asking myself if I want them to touch it again. A wheel stud is cheap, but kind of a pain to replace. Still probably $8 for a stud and maybe an hour of labor from the dealership even if they don't take pity on you. I can't imagine they would replace it under warranty.

Good luck, that's really shitty of them.
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I really don't trust them at all anymore! It sucks because I purchased their guarantee for the tires themselves.
 
It happens. Get a stud, bang out the old one and install the new one. Suprising that a tire shop didnt fix it on the spot. Missing one is a non issue unless your running 4 lug hubs for some reason.
 
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I suggest you go to Toyota or a reputable shop and have all the other lugs checked and properly replaced or re-torqued. Odds of a lug failing under proper torque are extremely rare. Odds are better that they over torqued all the lugs. You need to find out. How you deal with the place that broke the lug is up to you.
 
Stephencovar said:
I was extremely upset and shocked. They just handed me the stud and lug nut and said that they torqued it down and it kept going and it snapped. I didn't know what to do at that point because I was like, "how could this happen to a brand new 4Runner". It ruined my new tire experience.
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yeah and what's shocking is that it's America's Tire, i wouldn't expect this from them. maybe they're franchised and i didn't know that.

regardless, because i assume you're not at that location anymore, i'd do what other folks have said and check the torque on the other lugs and make sure everything is good.

then the next call i would make would be to America's Tire corporate or their regional office and explain the situation. if this was a 20 year old beater it'd be different, but to your point this is a brand new car, they need to be making this right.
 
it can be fixed easily, and American tire should take care of that. I had same experience at 4WP. one of the front wheel stub was snapped when they did the lifting and tire installing. They told me about this when I picked up the car, and said will help me change a stud at 500 miles check after the installation, and let me don't worry about the 5 studs front wheel. I did what they said and drove 700 miles before the check appointment, including two easy trails, no problem at all.

what bothering me is 4WP told me that was 3rd case on 4runner in their store that week. 4WP applied 100 lb.ft torque on the stub, it was over drive. but there are many similar cases on internet as well, some of them just followed the specs like your case. so could it be Toyota stud supply quality problem?
 
Being that I used to work at America’s Tire Co many years ago, studs snapping happens frequently. And in my 5 years working there they have always made it right.

There has to be more to this. Did you speak to the manager? Was the employee who handed you the stud just a 19 year old tech? Maybe he didn’t know better.

If I were you, I’d go back and speak to a manger. I’ve never once seen them not make it right.
 
TfourR said:
Being that I used to work at America’s Tire Co many years ago, studs snapping happens frequently. And in my 5 years working there they have always made it right.

There has to be more to this. Did you speak to the manager? Was the employee who handed you the stud just a 19 year old tech? Maybe he didn’t know better.

If I were you, I’d go back and speak to a manger. I’ve never once seen them not make it right.
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I didn’t speak to the manager because I was shocked and really upset. I went straight to Toyota (I’m here now). They’re going to charge me for the replacement. I’m going to take that to America’s Tires and see if they can refund me on my credit card. The tech didn’t seem careless at all. I was actually shocked when he just handed me the bolt and said, it must be a manufacturer defect. He also told me that the other bolts kept turning as he was using the torque wrench so he stopped.
 
Stephencovar said:
...He also told me that the other bolts kept turning as he was using the torque wrench so he stopped.
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geeze, sounds like the tech doing the install didn't know what he was doing. i doubt they (America's Tire) will refund you Toyota's labor, but definitely still talk to the manager, maybe get something else out of it. as other's have said studs can break, that's not the issue here. the issue is they didn't fix it. good luck.
 
Stephencovar said:
I didn’t speak to the manager because I was shocked and really upset. I went straight to Toyota (I’m here now). They’re going to charge me for the replacement. I’m going to take that to America’s Tires and see if they can refund me on my credit card. The tech didn’t seem careless at all. I was actually shocked when he just handed me the bolt and said, it must be a manufacturer defect. He also told me that the other bolts kept turning as he was using the torque wrench so he stopped.
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Well if that’s the decision you made then run with it. I was just trying to give first hand information. I’m sure the tech wasn’t careless at all, just saying maybe he didn’t know the protocol when snapping a stud off. Good luck when you go back.
 
"He also told me that the other bolts kept turning as he was using the torque wrench so he stopped."

Hopefully Toyota dealer will check all 24 wheel studs. By chance did you see him use a torque wrench? I have seen Discount Tire actually use a torque wrench so it is possible. If they did use a torque wrench it was a bad wheel stud.
 
Well, my 2013 has a torque spec of 81ftlbs. 85ftlbs isn't enough to stretch and break a stud, 100 certainly could. ...according to their spec sheet with a "recently" calibrated torque wrench, with a tech bouncing on it? :dizzy::suspicious::bounce:

Regardless, they should be fixing it.
 
So I called America’s Tires and spoke to their store manager. He said he was aware of the issue because the tech approached him about it. They’re actually going to reimburse the cost of the repair. He also told me that the torque wrench and all of their other tools gets calibrated weekly.
 
Stephencovar said:
So I called America’s Tires and spoke to their store manager. He said he was aware of the issue because the tech approached him about it. They’re actually going to reimburse the cost of the repair. He also told me that the torque wrench and all of their other tools gets calibrated weekly.
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Good that they are paying for their tech’s mistake. However, I know those damn torque wrenches don’t get calibrated nor do they have any.
 
Stephencovar said:
So I called America’s Tires and spoke to their store manager. He said he was aware of the issue because the tech approached him about it. They’re actually going to reimburse the cost of the repair. He also told me that the torque wrench and all of their other tools gets calibrated weekly.
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thats good, i think about the most you could've hoped for
 
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