broken wheel bolt [lug nut] oops be worth checking yours

Post by **charlyW** » 10 Apr 2010, 08:55

I've had a wheel bolt [lug nut] break on me had a good look at it found the metal is two different colours a nice shiney grey and the dull white so guessing it was fatigue in the metal after 13 years of being buzz gun done up aka the sort used at fast fit tyre companies.

Is there a replacement schedule or advisory for wheel bolts ?

Post by **MNCO1** » 10 Apr 2010, 15:02

There was a posting somewhere not long ago where a wagon had lost a wheel in mid drive. The bolts had sheared. There was a bunch of damage needless to say. So they check the lug bolts on the other wheels and found an unreasonable amount of force needed to remove them. Thinking 85 pounds is the normal. It took 160 foot pounds to undo them. It was the careless use of an air gun that did them in. Discount oil/lube changing and discount tire stores, stay away from them.

Post by **jblackburn** » 10 Apr 2010, 15:47

I had to literally jump on the tire iron to get 2 of mine off when I had to change to the spare tire. All auto shops way over-torque the darn things, which not only might break the lug bolts, it'll warp your rotors and destroy the hubs.

I generally tighten mine and then throw my weight against it for another 1/4 turn and call them good.

I've never had one break on me though

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 10 Apr 2010, 16:35

Yeah, when I recently had new tires mounted, I used the Tire Rack recommended installer because they used the Hunter Road Force balancer I wanted used, but the lug nuts must have been torqued to 200+ ft./lbs. I went around and loosened and torqued them properly - I've learned to do this over the years after being forced to get a tow for a simple flat tire a few years ago on my wife's Jetta, which had factory splined wheel locks which promptly stripped when I tried to break the over-torqued lug. Honestly, how hard is it to use a torque bar? Lazy mechanics boil my blood...

Post by **wheelsup** » 10 Apr 2010, 18:33

The most ghetto tire shop where I bought used tires from actually used torque sticks, I was impressed. A $15 Harbor Freight 1/2" torque wrench dialed @ 81 ft-lbs will get you pretty close and save your rotors.

Also the amount of torque required to remove the lug nuts might be because they were rusted on. Mine were ridiculously tight because of rust.

Post by **cn90** » 10 Apr 2010, 20:34

I just wonder if it is good practice to replace these wheel bolts after 12yr/100K miles?

PN 3546651 $5-6/each at dealer.
Or $100 for a total of 20 bolts.

Of course, your life is more important than these bolts! But is it good idea to replace these bolts or is it a waste of money?

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 11 Apr 2010, 02:34

I would say that from a safety standpoint, it's probably not necessary. Most likely the broken bolt was defective from the beginning. The chances of multiple bolts failing simultaneously is fairly slim, in my opinion.

That said, just last week I replaced mine as I converted to studs for convenience and aesthetics. It cost me considerably less than $100, though!

Post by **charlyW** » 11 Apr 2010, 02:44

when I first got my T-5 it took a 7 foot tube pushed on to a knuckle bar to undo them all my impact gun designed to undo/do up 250lbft of torque couldnt !! that's over tight all 20 were the same

Hamfisted · Post by **Hamfisted** » 21 Jan 2011, 13:47

I don't know if anyones posted it yet, but the lug bolt's size is 12mm x 1.75 just in case you need to run a die over it or tap out the hub holes .

- Mike