I've had a total of six broken wheel studs over the last three years. Two I broke myself when tightening with a torque wrench @75 lbs. Four others have broken at three different shops when getting tires rotated.

The mechanic I talked to yesterday said breaking even one wheel stud is somewhat unusual unless the rim hasn't been removed for a very long time (I'm rotating the tires every 6K miles or about every 4 months). Having six broken wheel studs is simply unheard of.

Has anybody else had this problem? Could this be a factory defect?

 

How many miles on the car?

 

Currently 110k, first wheel stud broke around 40K.

 

i broke one, but that was because the lug went on wrong didn't know it at the time till came time to take the wheel off again and we had to snap it off

 

i did. sucked *****.
havent checked my other wheels yet. hope i dont have that prob.

 

Decent amount of miles. MN also gets a lot of snow/salt which could possibly deteriorate the studs? I'm not really sure, just trying to hypothesize.

 

I broken my first one at recently, not becoz I over torqued it, but gave it to some high school clowns at Costco who use air tools while rotating tires. They must have torqued it 175 ft.

 

Isn't that the required amount?

 

i think you just gotta be really careful and make sure u can hand tight the nut all the way until u need to use a wrench .... i just broke 4 studs on a 2007 4runner... they looked brand new but i guess i rushed it and snapped them

 

i think you just gotta be really careful and make sure u can hand tight the nut all the way until u need to use a wrench .... i just broke 4 studs on a 2007 4runner... they looked brand new but i guess i rushed it and snapped them

 

It is 85-90 lbs..

 

I have the rims with the recessed lug nut openings, and some of the shop guys start the lug nuts with the air gun and cross thread them, resulting in broken studs. I have had 3 broken studs.

 

Either you drove around w/ a loose wheel long enough for the lug nut to cross threads with the stud or a lug nut was overtightened. Those are basically the two most common reasons why lug studs break.

 

Never had one break and I tighten mine down to 87ft/lbs...

 

In each case, the lug nuts were very difficult to back off and became so tight that the studs broke about midway out. They were not loose, perhaps they were over tightened as you suggest. The dealership said the studs used at the time were too soft.

 

the dealer is full of it. Sounds to me like they were cross-threaded. Are you sure your lugnuts are correct. The metric size that our cars use is VERY close in thread pitch to one of the SAE-sized lugnuts, and a few people have accidentally used those....which will work, but will not torque down correctly and will strip the threads.

As for me, I autocross and probably have my wheels on and off and on again the car maybe 25-30 times per year. And I've only broken two lug studs EVER - both of which my own fault for cross-threading them.

My suggestion: replace the studs with new ones from DaveB, and get a new set of lugnuts, making sure they are the correct size.

And please, please....do not ever use "tuner" lugnuts or aluminum lugnuts. Just get steel Gorilla nuts or OEM Nissan ones.

 

BTW, this almost definitely describes cross-threaded nuts.....

 

Josh, if you know, what lugs does TireRack usually supply with rims purchased through them?

Trash or should they be fine?

 

alot of aftermarket wheels actually supply lugnuts for the specific wheel. If they're a standard steel/chromed acorn type they're fine. I tend to shy away from some of the low-profile lugnuts as they are the type I have had problems with before, because they're not as stiff and more prone to cross-threading, IMO.

By "tuner" I specifically mean stay away from spline-drive lugnuts and aluminum lugnuts. Neither type will usually come with a wheel unless you pay extra for them. they look nice but are a PITA.

 

I think mine are just chromed steel, they are pretty heavy, way to heavy for aluminum.

I very personally know what happens when you mix steel and aluminum for long periods of time, gets even better when you throw some water in the mix.

 

i always greese my wheel studs before i put the wheels back on, then i start it by hand and then when i know for sure that i am not cross threading them, then i torque them with a air wrench, not at full power though. I've been doing this for 5 years now on all of my cars and never had a broken/stripped/cross threaded studs.

if you cross thread it, it will definitly snap when you go to remove them later on.

 

^^^ never use an impact to put bolts on....that is rule #1 of working on cars.

Every person who owns a car should own a torque wrench and torque bolts to correct specs, especially wheel lugnuts.