Threaded studs issue...

[DGDamato]

Okay - so a few months ago, I drove about a mile, pulled a U-turn and all of a sudden, it felt like I was driving on a flat that has sat for like a year - a bumpy ride. I pull over, get out and all of my lug nuts are gone from the front passenger side! I pull out my jack, barley lift the rig and BAM! My tire fell off! all of the studs but one were gone!

After a very long afternoon, I get it to a shop and they end up replacing my rotor, studs and lug nuts. (They charged me for a brake line they busted as well but that's another story).

Ok, fast forward to last week...

I get new tires and lug nuts all the way around (former owner had a mix match - some open ended, some not) and when they go to put the tire on the front passenger side, the studs and lugs were stripping each other!

Is is possible that the shop put the wrong size studs on when they "repaired it"?

I have heard there may can issues with aluminum rims boring the lug holes out over time - anyone???

 

[Frankenchevy]

Okay - so a few months ago, I drove about a mile, pulled a U-turn and all of a sudden, it felt like I was driving on a flat that has sat for like a year - a bumpy ride. I pull over, get out and all of my lug nuts are gone from the front passenger side! I pull out my jack, barley lift the rig and BAM! My tire fell off! all of the studs but one were gone!

After a very long afternoon, I get it to a shop and they end up replacing my rotor, studs and lug nuts. (They charged me for a brake line they busted as well but that's another story).

Ok, fast forward to last week...

I get new tires and lug nuts all the way around (former owner had a mix match - some open ended, some not) and when they go to put the tire on the front passenger side, the studs and lugs were stripping each other!

Is is possible that the shop put the wrong size studs on when they "repaired it"?

I have heard there may can issues with aluminum rims boring the lug holes out over time - anyone???

lugs on my truck are 9/16" diameter. I'd imagine yours are the same. a rule of thumb for most fasteners, is that you want the stud portion being captured by the nut to be equal to or greater than the fasteners diameter.

so your studs should have a minimum of 9/16" past the seat of your wheel/rim. the shape/taper/cup/whatever of your rim needs to match your lug nuts exactly. There are different tapers out there.

Beyond that, you should always thread them on my hand several turns before using a tool. If they don’t thread on relatively easy, something isn’t right.

As far as what a shop did, most anything is possible. Could be a metric / sae mixup.

 

[Crispy]

If there were an issue with aluminum rims then the OEMs would be in big trouble. Conical seat lug nuts installed in the proper sequence and torqued correctly on the aluminum wheels will give you no problem. Whenever I have a shop do work that involves them taking off my wheels, I bring it back home and undo all the lugs and torque them to spec as opposed to impacted on.

I think the shop either got the lug / stud pitch incorrect or an SAE / metric mixup as mentioned. Could also be some monkey just cross threaded the bastards. Any way you slice it, they need to own up to that.

 

[rpcraft]

The first question I would ask is are you using the right lug nuts with your wheels and if you have aluminum wheels that are really thick do you have studs that are longer and are your lug nuts bottoming out? Just a little food for thought.

 

[75gmck25]

There are two types of aluminum rims and lug nuts. One type has a flat portion on the wheel around the studs, and the lug nuts need to have a flat washer integrated with the lug nut. All pressure from the lug nut is spread evenly out by the washer. The other type of wheel has a tapered hole in the wheel (like a steel wheel) and the lug nut must have a tapered end that fits into it. I believe the tapered lug nut wheels also have a hardened seat so that the tapered section does not get bigger over time, or flex/bend from tightening the lug nut too much.

Bruce

 

[highdesertrange]

if it's the K-5 I his avatar or a 1/2 to then they are 7/16.

could be any number of things causing the lug nut problem, wrong parts, mismatched parts, incompetent installation, bent rim, bad rim, rim flex, etc, etc.

start eliminating each possible problem and check that problem wheel often until you are sure it's fixed.

highdesertranger