Ok, I broke a wheel stud off ( i mean the peice that the lugnut goes on). It's the drivers front wheel. All the others are tight. Is this something that I can wait a few days to have fixed or does it require my immediate attention and the car should not be driven...

Anyone know? Thanks

 

Wheel stud is the correct name. You can safely drive for a few days before the repair. This repair can be done by the novice home mechanic.

 

Thanks Dan... i checked chiltons and it seems like an easy enough repair - can these be bought at the dealer? any idea how much?

thanks again!!

 

Replacement wheel studs can be bought at the dealer. They can also be obtained from any auto parts store. The wheel stud and nut, together, should cost US$5.

 

With Daniel's instructions. Thanks Daniel.
It's pretty easy.
Handbrake on.
Loosen the front nuts.
Jack the car up.
Take off front rim.
Take off front caliper as in Haynes manual. You need to take the whole caliper assembly off, but don't disconnect anything. Hang it with something off the spring.
Get the rotor off. If it's too rusty, there is a skrew hole in the rotor you can use. Rotate the hub so the broken nut matches the stot. (You should be in neutral for that)
Hammer the broken nut out. Put new one in. I believe they are $2 at pep boys. You will need to use plenty of wd40 to lube things up if they are stuck throughout the procedure.
You need to have some spacers. I got 5 spacers at 10 cents each. Put them on the new nut. Then put a lug nut on it, and tighten it so it pulls the nut in.
Reassamble everything.
I think Daniel put up a more verbose instruction. You can search for it.

 

excellent... i was looking through my chiltons book and it described just what you said... install seems easy enough, i just was hesitant to drive on it for a few days until i had a day off... but daniel said it should be okay, so i'll go with that!

thanks for all the help guys!

Chris

 

These are good instructions, boiled down to the essentials. I plead guilty to being verbose.

 

You can do this if you follow DBM's or supertool's instuction. I followed DBM's instuctions when I needed to replace my stud and it took my no more than 30 minutes. Very easy.

 

when i took off my rims, i found out that one of my wheel studs were bad and i have been driving wit one lug missing for months...since like mid november...i'm about to put rims back on but want to change that bad wheel stud...where are these manual things u were telling me about? these instructions...i'm in need of assistance! Unless the instructions above are it...i need pictures and all, i'm a TRU idiot wit cars

 

Haynes manual for Nissan Maxima '93 thru '99: www.amazon.com or possibly your local auto parts store (they usually only stock the Honda & Domestic manuals though)