I had a flat 2 nights ago.. replaced flat with the donut spare.. next morning got the tire plugged....last night went to put the regular wheel back on .. and 2 of the 5 lugnuts and studs broke off... now i drove the car to the dealer this morning to get it covered under warranty.. and they refused to touch the car without even calling me.. i am sitting at home expecting to get a call knowning when the car is going to be ready.. i called in.. they sed that "oh we were just about to call u, we havent touched the car because the mechanics refuse to drive the car because its unsafe" i called nissan consumer affairs and they sed they will call back within 2 dayz... my thing is.. i left the car at the dealer till tmrow when i get a ride to the dealer... now they say this isnt covered under warranty.. so im waiting for nissan to call me back... in the mean while.. if they say no.. does anyone have a diagram so that i can do the stud and lug nuts myself.. any ideas on wut to do?!?1 the dealer wants 156 for repairs!! HELP

 

It's an easy fix.

1. Remove wheel.
2. Remove brake caliper by taking out the two bolts holding it from the back.
3. Remove caliper mount by taking out the two bolts holding it to the hub assembly.
4. Slide brake disc off of the hub and remaining studs. (You may have to hit it a few times with a rubber mallet to loosen it.)
5. Knock the broken studs out of the hub with a hammer.
6. Insert the new studs in the hub from the back. Tap lightly with a hammer.
7. Put the brake disk back on.
8. Screw a lugnut all the way down on the replaced studs in order to seat them then remove it.
9. Reverse steps 1-3 for reassembly.

 

If you overtorqued the lugs.....you are kind of on your own. What did you tighten them with? I am hoping they will replace them but you never know. They could be defective. Hope this is the case with you. I had all of my studs replaced when my defective spinners, the ones the car came with were replaced, dealer thought the new spinners would not fit right because the studs were bent.....so they replaced all the studs....took them quite a while. Turned out the impact wrench bent the studs....so they say. It was their fault and they replaced them all at no charge. Now, because you did the work...they can say you overtorqued the lugs....and not replace them. That much....156 for one wheel seems excessive though for a few studs. I think a entire set of studs for all of my wheels was about 60 bucks in parts Nissan got them for. I imagine 2 studs is pretty cheap....15 bucks....labor is what will get you, at least one hour they will charge you for. Wish I had the schematics on the repair and replace of the studs.....hope this info gives you some idea though. Your dealer should have the studs in stock. I think they removed the rotor to replace them.....not sure, been about 8 months or so. I bet a local brake shop could do it cheaper if you get the studs from the dealer. Hopefully.....dealer will hook you up.

 

Thanks for the hookup boone!

 

i think i get the picture on how to replace them... does anyone have a sketch?

 

I don't have a sketch but trust me, nothing is hidden and there aren't any crazy potential problems to look out for. The only thing that slowed me down when I did mine was getting the brake disc off. Once you get the wheel off, you can see everything. If you don't feel comfortable at that point then I'd say your best bet would be taking the car to get it done somewhere. I never take on more with a car than I feel I can handle.

 

i have worked on cars before... i think i can handle it.. its just that i wanted to make sure nothing is hidden... i can take it from here.. thanx boone!.. well do this 2m when i get parts from the dealer.... and the rotors i have on are drilled/slotted... i just have to get the 2 large bolts on the back after removing the caliper.. i remember those 2 big bolts.. i believe they are 22mm... those look too be hard to remove

 

It wasn't too bad getting the big bolts off using a 1/2" drive long-handle ratchet.

BTW: Where did you get you rotors? My new wheels are good for showing off the brakes and the stock ones just love to rust too much.

 

i got them off of ebay... they work great!! havent rusted yet.. havent warped or cracked yet... still in clean and damage free condition... cost bout 249.99 with shipping 279.99.

 

Okay, thanks a lot.

 

Roshan -

I would be willing to bet you were not using a good torque wrench to mount your wheel. The old system of mounting wheels by 'snug till it feels right' does not work well with modern alloy wheels. I feel many of the rotor/braking problems of recent Maxima models is partly due to overtorqued lugs, lugs torqued in improper order, or unequally torqued lugs, all of which can affect the rotors.

If you key on the '6th Gen Maxima How To /Specs and Info' sticky at the top of the 6th gen board, you will find an entry on 'How to Correctly Torque 6th Gen Wheels'.

The important detail to remember is that, where you can torque steel wheels to 125 foot pounds with no problem, that tightness will cause major problems (in addition to snapping lugs) on the 6th gen Maxima.

Don't be misled by the fact Maximas arrive from the factory with wheels torqued to between 85 and 100 foot pounds. Nissan recommends only 80 foot pounds.

And Nissan is playing it safe by recommending 80 foot pounds. My son has found 70 foot pounds works well on his TL. I personally have torqued to 75 foot pounds on Maximas for many years with no problems. Any lug that would snap at 75 pounds would already have snapped when the Nissan clowns overtorqued it before it left the factory.

 

The expert has spoken. (Not being sarcastic.) Light, you always have some very good insights and information. People like you are the reason I stick around the forums.

 

lug nuts at worth a couple bucks... just look at this

 

Boone - I thought you were the expert. I have been following your advice every time you post - always good stuff!

I would dare say most Nissan dealers either do not bother torquing the lugs, torque them too tight, torque them in random order, or don't torque all lugs to the same footpounds. The same thing could be said about lots of Maxima drivers.

I would like to have a data base listing the exact torque presently existing on every Maxima lug in the country. I would hazard the average could be as high as 90 pounds or more. And folks blame their rotors . . .

 

Light, I just bought new Michelin Pilot Sports for the SE and was impressed that the tire shop used a torque wrench to properly torque the nuts. But I remember asking what they were torqued to, and the answer was 90 ft-lbs. Guess I had better re-torque them to 75. Thanks for the reminder.

 

I replaced all my studs when I put my 20's on. The stock studs were not long enough to make me comfortable... the lugs were only on about .25". My biggest thing was that my wheels fit flush with the fenders so I used a 5mm spacer to do so. I found 60mm studs on Nismo's website whereas the stocks were 35mm. Taking the old ones out is nothing really, but there is NO room for hammering them back in. What I did was buy a couple extra lugs and washers and used the lugs to pull them into the holes... Hopefully this helps, if not im sure I could go on

 

Just reading this thread with interest......I had my tires rotated at the dealership last week. Is there anything I should look for that would indicate any problems with what the dealer did? Visual or otherwise?

Jane

 

Visual there's not much you can do unless you have directional tires. If you do, then just make sure they didn't mount them the wrong way (read: the arrow is pointing the right way ). If you had a chance to look at them mount them, then you should know whether or not they did it right... basically if they used anything but a torque wrench by hand, chances are they didn't.

Most dealerships and flat fix shops/gas stations use the gun and compressor and just bang them in... pretty much so the wheels don't fall off. They don't care about sequence or torque (I say most because there are some places that do).

Other than taking them off and putting them back yourself using a torque wrench, or taking them to a place where they do it right, there's probably not much you can do to verify that they did it properly. If your rotors warp quickly or you start noticing vibrations that weren't there before, then it might be a sign that something's up and you should have them checked out.

 

if you really want to, you will probably notice the scratches inside the lug wells from the air gun. goodyear scratched mine all up. and i think they marked up 3/4 while balancing them too.

 

Look at my experience at Discount Tire. They used a manual torque wrench, but torqued them too tight. They used 90 ft-lbs and specs call for 80 ft-lbs (and Light recommends 75 ft-lbs).

I came on the scene too late to see if they did the correct sequence for tightening the nuts. (This sequence -- starting at the top -- is 1, 3, 5, 2, 4 -- in order. In addition, they should lightly snug all nuts before beginning this final torquing sequence.)

 

OK, so how do I intelligently ask the dealership if they do it 'right' way. Don't want to come off like a dumbass.

 

thanks guys! i went to the dealer this morning.. and risked driving home on 3 lugs (about 6 miles away non highway roads).. bought the lugs at the dealer this morning while pickin the car up... 15 dollars... thanx for all the help replaced them at home in under 15 mins

 

Good question. If you have a service manager who seems to know what's going on (my dealer has 3 and 1 seems knowledgable), ask him to describe the procedures their techs follow when placing a wheel on your car. You could also mention that you've heard of problems with Maximas experiencing warped rotors from over torqued wheels. He should not blow-off this question. He should state the fact that each nut is torqued in proper sequence (see my previous post) to no more than 80 ft-lbs using a manual torque wrench.

Good luck. (I do my own tire rotation because of these problems.)