Well I tried to rotate my tires and they were torqued to well over 125 lbs and I had three cross threaded lugs which wont come off the studs. My elbow is still sore from trying to get those nuts off the studs while using the largest breaker bar I have…

I called the tire shop that installed them, the manager stated it wasn’t a problem (not his car) just bring it in and it can be fixed. Well he gave me a story on how studs wear out and that the ends would flare out and not let you take the nut off the stud…. It this a story or what??? Can this be true?

I have always rotated me tires, and have never experienced this. I put the nut on by hand and torque to about 90 lbs. Have never had a problem. Is he full of stuff?

 

Well he is correct, wheel studs can wear out.

However it normal for them to last the life of the vehicle with no issues. What seems to kill them is repeated over torquing of the lug nuts. This in time will deform the threads and actually make it impossible to remove the nut without it seizing and breaking the stud.

What he is NOT saying is whether or not his shop contributed to the problem

You can buy yourself some time by using new lug nuts, but since you are way past that point the only fix will be new studs, when and if you can ever get the old ones off.

 

Lugnuts usually will wear out after about 10 tourque/loosening cycles and will become hard to remove. As for the studs those should last longer, often times their failure will be caused by overtightening or sheer force. Overtightening will stretch the metal in the studs and will cause failure. Sheer force only happens when you nail a unmoving object at speed or jump the car.

For your information, the lug nuts should be tourqued at about 80 Ft Lbs of tourque. 140 is reserved for bigger stuff like 1-ton and up trucks.

 

Really, that's scary. I've been doing about 12-15 cycles a year with a set of regular steel acorns for maybe 3+ years on each.

 

Get it done quick, the last thing you want happening is your lug nuts not coming off the studs and then when you try to break them loose, they strip from the hub side.

...which happened to me.

 

about 10 cycles is when I start seeing wear on the threads. If you lube them up with anti-sieze they tend to last longer. Keep in mind I am comming from the 4x world too.

 

Just got back from American Tire, on Quakerbridge rd

Well at first the two salesmen were talking of charging me for replacement of the studs/nuts... I stated his shop did this, 4 to fail on one day! he said he would see what he can do but there would be man hours involved. (fine) I restated to please dont overtightne the lugs because I cant afford to have my tires frozen on the car.

After a lot of time (none in stock) but the car is fixed and they did use a torque wrench ( i watched from afar). When called to the desk a new salesman met me. he immediately questioned my visit and had looked up my history.... he apologized for the incovinience and the time and trouble and sent me on my way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn customer service at its best, he was a real mech that realized what the air tools did. I offered to pay, then just for the parts, and he waved me on.

I am indept to them for great service, thou I feel it was only because of the insight of one individual not to charge me for the repair.

I will look to replace the other studs on my next rotation or maybe the spring..

On another note, is anyone using the aluminum nuts? the tire shop stated they were to soft-suprise (esp. if you are using air tools)