Wheel studs loosening

[paradocs98]

Thought I'd share this in case it helps anyone else. I have a Turner Motorsport wheel stud kit on my car since I change wheels back and forth pretty regularly for track events. I've been replacing the studs once a year since they're a wear item.

Today at the track while switching wheels over I noticed that one of the studs wiggled as I tightened the lugnut down on it. I had to unscrew the nut and retorque the stud into the wheel hub. Luckily I had the correct hex socket for my torque wrench with me at the track! I had already put on three of the four track wheels at this point, but I went back and retorqued all of the studs. Sure enough, one or two were slightly loose per wheel. I had assumed that once they were initially installed and torqued down with Loctite, they didn't need to be rechecked. Apparently they do?

Some may have already been aware of this, but it's a good thing to check periodically if you're not already.

[leo95se]

Even with locktite I find they loosen. I keep a socket wrench and hex set with me, and a few spare studs and bolts. During each tire swap I check studs, brake pads, suspension, rotor, and lines. Takes 30secs per wheel and lets me slow down so I'm not out of breath from f1 attempt tire changes. Lol

[rzm3]

A good practice would be to mark the studs relative to the hub so that you can visually inspect them every time you take the wheels off.

[ILSMKU]

Originally Posted by RLDZHAO

A good practice would be to mark the studs relative to the hub so that you can visually inspect them every time you take the wheels off.

Wisdom!

[paradocs98]

Originally Posted by leo95se

Even with locktite I find they loosen. I keep a socket wrench and hex set with me, and a few spare studs and bolts. During each tire swap I check studs, brake pads, suspension, rotor, and lines. Takes 30secs per wheel and lets me slow down so I'm not out of breath from f1 attempt tire changes. Lol

Good idea. I feel like I always have to be in speed mode when changing back to the street setup at the end of a trackday now that Fall approaches--the sun goes down quickly when some run groups extend to 6pm!

[paradocs98]

Originally Posted by RLDZHAO

A good practice would be to mark the studs relative to the hub so that you can visually inspect them every time you take the wheels off.

Brilliant. What do you use as a mark? Nail polish? (From my wife, of course.)

[Richbot]

Paint marker works well for this, I prefer yellow but you can use pink sparkly nail polish if you want.

I haven't had any issues with mine but my brakes don't get very hot for very long, Loctite will break down at high temperatures

[rzm3]

Originally Posted by paradocs98

Brilliant. What do you use as a mark? Nail polish? (From my wife, of course.)

Here's what I use.

http://www.sharpie.com/enUS/Pages/oi...nt-marker.aspx

[Erhan]

Originally Posted by leo95se

Even with locktite I find they loosen. I keep a socket wrench and hex set with me, and a few spare studs and bolts. During each tire swap I check studs, brake pads, suspension, rotor, and lines. Takes 30secs per wheel and lets me slow down so I'm not out of breath from f1 attempt tire changes. Lol

+1. I always check / tighten the studs when I swap tires.

[wwjd15]

It's not that critical to have the stubs loose, they will be tightened when you torque your lug nuts. Your wheels aren't going to fall off because of loose stubs but loose wheel lugs.
Of course, it's better to put them back to place when you find them loose.

[bigjae1976]

You can't torque the studs enough with a hex socket. After you apply a drop of loctite, you have to jam two nuts together and tighten until you bottom out the solid portion of the stud against the hub.

You should remove the rotors to ensure you did bottom out the stud. Don't use a ton of loctite either, more is not necessarily better. One small drop is all you need.

[paradocs98]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

You can't torque the studs enough with a hex socket. After you apply a drop of loctite, you have to jam two nuts together and tighten until you bottom out the solid portion of the stud against the hub.

You should remove the rotors to ensure you did bottom out the stud. Don't use a ton of loctite either, more is not necessarily better. One small drop is all you need.

I've heard of using two nuts together to loosen the stud out of the hub (and I used this method when I removed my first Turner stud set last Spring), but these Turner studs have a hex indentation at the tip to allow tightening with a hex socket and torque wrench. Turner's instructions are to torque to only 16 ft-lbs, which is easily done with the torque wrench. Do you still tighten as much as you can, well beyond the 16 ft-lbs?

[bigjae1976]

I learned that you do not want to overtighten because they will be a total whore to get off. IIRC, the instructions specifically state to NOT use the hex end to torque the studs. I just jam the nuts together and snug it once the stud bottoms out. Never had one back out.

I've been told that if you use too much thread locker it actually creates a situation where the fastener is more likely to come loose. Not sure how true that is...anyone??? To me, loctite ain't cheap so I only use a drop at a time. If it hits the floor, I'm licking it up.

[rzm3]

Here's the installation/removal instruction from Turner. I torque them to 20-30 ft lb max.

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/imag...structions.pdf

[bigjae1976]

Oh damn! I'm an idiot. I was thinking about the old Vorshlag 60mm studs which ended up being a POS and very cheap...you couldn't use the hex ends on those beucase I did strip them out.

Ooops.

[bigjae1976]

I just got the Bimmerworld studs the instructions state that I need to tighten the studs down to 50-80ft lbs (the studs, not the lug nuts) and to not use a hex key but jam 2 nuts together.. Wonder what makes these different?

[RickyBobby]

I'll take this thread one step further and remind everyone to REPLACE their studs every season. One of mine sheared off while torquing it down. It was 2 seasons old.

[kaiv]

I don't bother with aftermarket wheel studs anymore. They're a bit of a PITA imho.

I swap wheels all the time and just use a lug guide. I recently replaced all my lugs with new OE and I'm glad I didn't have to remove and reinstall 20 studs

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by kaiv

I'm glad I didn't have to remove and reinstall 20 studs

Yeah, that's a headache especially on the front wheels. I'm about to throw a stoptech kit on so studs are a must if I want to keep the calipers looking decent. I will bounce the rim off of the caliper at some point.

[Groundpilot]

Originally Posted by kaiv

I don't bother with aftermarket wheel studs anymore. They're a bit of a PITA imho.

I swap wheels all the time and just use a lug guide. I recently replaced all my lugs with new OE and I'm glad I didn't have to remove and reinstall 20 studs

+1. I change OEM lug bolts every season. They are also cheaper to replace.

[Team Plutonium]

Originally Posted by RLDZHAO

A good practice would be to mark the studs relative to the hub so that you can visually inspect them every time you take the wheels off.

Awesome idea!

[adc]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

Yeah, that's a headache especially on the front wheels. I'm about to throw a stoptech kit on so studs are a must if I want to keep the calipers looking decent. I will bounce the rim off of the caliper at some point.

Just use 2 of the OEM lug guide tools and it will never be a problem.

To solve some of the wear issues on the lug bolts, when switching to track wheels I also switch to my super-duper titanium bolts which I got for $50 from a forum member.