broken studs

[tenzoracerevovii]

wats up everyone. i have a 1997 honda civic ex which is completely stock. well i went to a bonfire yesterday and watever and i find out that 1 of my lug nuts fell off. turns out that the stud actually broke a little bit and it was badly stripped. this is along w/ the fact that i was only on 3 lugs in the first place due to another broken stud. then i try to take of my wheels and another lug is stripped! and attempting to take the lug nut off actually loosens the stud. so yeah. a total of THREE broken studs! on ONE wheel!!!! dammit. so anyways. what am i looking at here? i know i can get all the studs hit out then get new ones pressed in, but how much will this cost me? i know new studs only cost a few bucks but how much is labor? also, is there an alternative to this process? is there any way that i can do it myself due to the fact that i'm only 16 w/ a lame ass job? my parents won't help cuz they'll just tell me to drive another car (aka 1986 honda accord w/ rotting smell and slipping timing belt that screeches like a banshee for about 10 minutes after cold start) well thanks for the help

[CivicSiRacer]

Originally posted by tenzoracerevovii
wats up everyone. i have a 1997 honda civic ex which is completely stock. well i went to a bonfire yesterday and watever and i find out that 1 of my lug nuts fell off. turns out that the stud actually broke a little bit and it was badly stripped. this is along w/ the fact that i was only on 3 lugs in the first place due to another broken stud. then i try to take of my wheels and another lug is stripped! and attempting to take the lug nut off actually loosens the stud. so yeah. a total of THREE broken studs! on ONE wheel!!!! dammit. so anyways. what am i looking at here? i know i can get all the studs hit out then get new ones pressed in, but how much will this cost me? i know new studs only cost a few bucks but how much is labor? also, is there an alternative to this process? is there any way that i can do it myself due to the fact that i'm only 16 w/ a lame ass job? my parents won't help cuz they'll just tell me to drive another car (aka 1986 honda accord w/ rotting smell and slipping timing belt that screeches like a banshee for about 10 minutes after cold start) well thanks for the help

Which wheels? Front or rear? The rears are easier than the fronts.

[tenzoracerevovii]

dammit. it's the front passenger side. well i DO have ONE broken stud on the rear passenger side too. WHAT'S WRONG W/ THE PASSENGER SIDE WHEELS OF MY CAR! DAMMIT! IT'S NOT LIKE I AUTO-X IT OR ANYTHING. (even though i want to someday. w/ another car). well any help would be appreciated. and i like your car. looks very nice and it's cool that u auto-x it.

[strodda]

something similar happened to me. but one of the studs became loose, so when i tried to take off the nut, the stud just spun inside the hub. messed up thing was the broken stud was holding on a wheel with a flat tire. so i had to drive to the shop with a wheel held on by 3 studs and a flat. i think it was cause by the last shop i went to messing it up and over torquing it.

i dont know if its possible, but could the left side be extremely missaligned causing extra pressure?

[CivicSiRacer]

Don't get me wrong it's just going to be a little more work on the front wheels since you have to take the hub off since those are your drive wheels. Prolly take you 1 hour for the front corner, and maybe 30 minutes to do the rear.

If you are breaking/stripping studs are you torqueing your lugs down correctly? You should use a torque wrench which you can buy at Home Depot or Sears. OEM specs are 80 ft/lbs. Don't get a torque wrnech that is in inches cause it's a pain to convert

What you do is when changing tires (since I change me wheels/tires about 4 times in one weekend due to autocross) is put the wheels/tires on. Put the lugs on by hand til finger tight. Torque the lugs down. Then roll the car back and forth about 2-3 times and retorque again. You should hear a click on the torque wrench when you reach the specified setting.

Most of the time people OVERTORQUE lugs thinking that's better than loose, but the threads can only handle so much torque and then you start cross threading and warping other things. Also a little anti-seize compound on the threads (about the size of a 1/2 a pea) is good too, prevents the lugs from seizing onto the studs.

[tenzoracerevovii]

yea i know what you mean. i don't use a torque wrench but i try not to overtorque them too much, unlike some body shops. i don't know if you saw one of my earlier threads but i was recently involved in a car accident and while my car was there, they offered me new tires. i said sure why not and they mounted and balanced them. well i tried to change my brakes not too long ago and they stripped 2 of my bolts. remember i said that i already had one broken stud on the front and back???? that was because i was trying to take it off. those bastards. well anyways, i really appreciate the help but is there a place or a tutorial or anything that shows you HOW to fix it? thanks again for all the help. and to strodda, same thing happened to me to two studs though. the stud just spins inside the hub. how much did it cost you to fix it? i already bought the studs for my car, i'm just thinking if i'd rather take it to a shop or do it myself. my friend said he's done it himself before, but i just want a little background info. thanks

[strodda]

i dont really remember, but it wasnt much. i think it was somewhere between $40-60. like always, labor's a bitch. damn stud only cost me a buck.