Oh yes

"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
03/29/2019 at 22:13 • Filed to: None

Picked the right wheels for sure. Too bad Subaru lugs are apparently made of paper and I snapped ANOTHER stud.

Fortunately just one. I texted a mechanic buddy of mine who called to say he’d broken 3 so far on his mom’s BRZ. So at least I don’t feel so bad. He offered to help me throw a new one on and do an autocross alignment next week, so it’ll get fixed. I’m annoyed, but whatever. Shit happens

DISCUSSION (20)

pip bip - choose Corrour > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 22:23

all subaru wheels studs are very brittle for some reason

RacinBob > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 22:31

I assume you are torquing at about 90 ft pounds. Also, do not lubricate the threads or the rim. Torque specs assume dry surfaces. .

WRXforScience > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 22:41

Get some ARP studs, the fronts are super easy to swap and the rears aren’t too bad.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 22:43

So their wheel studs are like there motors. Weak and fragile

VincentMalamute-Kim > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 23:08

You need to do more leg days and less arms. I’ve never broken a Subaru stud with my girly arm development.

Maxima Speed > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time
03/29/2019 at 23:15

RIP

Maxima Speed > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 23:17

Looks very nice. I see one on my commute every morning goingvthe opposite direction. Same. Plot as yours but with the extended deck lid spoiler thingy and black wheels. They’re pretty cars.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Jayhawk Jake
03/29/2019 at 23:20

The OEM studs are shit. Replace them all with ARPs ASAP. They do standard length ones if you want to keep the OEM nuts. T ook me 6 months and 3 bust ones to figure that out - 3 years later and I haven’t broken another since.

It’s an easy job with a cheap stud pressing tool - you don’t even need to take the hubs off. Don’t let a shop do it unless you trust them - the fastest way to change studs is to hammer the old ones out, which takes years off the life of the bearings.

Jayhawk Jake > RacinBob
03/30/2019 at 06:10

Yup. Somehow must have gotten a thread or two off while installing a nut and it got stuck. Only way to get it off was to snap it.

The part that confuses me is I hand tightened it as far as I could. I think the wheel wasn’t flat against the wheel and the added pressure of the wheel against the nut knocked it off the thread, somehow. On the remaining wheels I was extra careful to hold the wheel against the hub until it was tight enough to be certain the nuts went straight in, and had no more issues

RacinBob > Jayhawk Jake
03/30/2019 at 09:49

Are you using Aluminum lug nuts?

RacinBob > Jayhawk Jake
03/30/2019 at 10:01

I really doubt the studs are failing because of weakness. There are three types of stud failures that I can think of .

1. You lubricate everything and the force transmitted to the stud stretches it to failure. I’ve watched someone do that

2. The wheel is not centered and you torque it down. Then it centers and the nuts are loose, you drive it and it starts breaking studs. I’ve done it, and a friend did it with his S2000 recently. I hand center and make sure all are down before I start torquing.

3. You use tuner aluminum studs that gall and won’t come off. You use a hand wrench and break a stud. I did several of those, but due to rust. If I had used an impact I would have been fine. Are you using an impact or hand wrench.

Bottom line, a stud failure is caused by something, it’s not because they are weak. Also, it looks like you have aftermarket wheels, maybe they are giving you a false feeling of being centered.

Jayhawk Jake > RacinBob
03/30/2019 at 12:30

I mean, they aren’t great. I’ve found many threads pointing out the ease at which they get cross threaded and then have to be broken.

But 2 is what happened to me I’m certain. I thought the wheel was flush and centered, it wasn’t, so the lug got off thread and stuck. The thing is that happened fairly frequently with my Mustang and I never had an issue.

Lesson learned the tough way I guess. It’ll get fixed, and I'll be extra careful in the future.

Jayhawk Jake > RacinBob
03/30/2019 at 12:31

Idk. I’m using whatever was included with the wheels.

RacinBob > Jayhawk Jake
03/30/2019 at 18:07

Just a lesson learned, if you change enough wheels it will happen to you. You just gotta be careful. People including myself just hit them with the impact, then torque them. Sooner or later the wheel will take a false set, loosen and brake a stud or two.

My point in writing this is to grow awareness that a broken stud is usually caused by something you need to pay attention too. Don’t blame the car.

Jayhawk Jake > RacinBob
03/30/2019 at 20:05

Maybe it’s just because my last 3 years have been swapping wheels back and forth on Mustangs with 150 ft lb lugs that seem completely indestructible, but after going through this with the FRS and talking to others that have had similar issues, some of it can’t just be technique.

RacinBob > Jayhawk Jake
03/30/2019 at 20:49

My guess is 90 is the spec or less.

Jayhawk Jake > RacinBob
03/31/2019 at 21:42

It’s 89. Which is what I use. Doesn’t matter when the lug ends up on the wrong thread and jams.

I was tightening the lug. It stopped. I then tried to loosen it, and it got stuck. Couldn’t go either direction. Solution? Torque the fuck out of it until the stud snaps to at least allow the wheel to come off. Stud will be replaced.

The first time I tried to swap wheels on this new to me car 3 of the lugs were cross threaded fiercely. Managed to get the nuts off of two and had it fixed by Carmax. Then this one happened installing my new wheels.

As I said before, I *believe* what happened is the wheel wasn’t flush with the hub as I hand tightened the lug. When it got to the point of me thinking I couldn’t hand tighten anymore, I moved on to the other lugs. Then as I snugg ed each up I noticed the first one got stuck in either direction.

This is where I admit fault, but also observe that in changing wheels idk, 15-20 times a year?, I’ve NEVER had this happen. I don’t think I suddenly lost the ability to install wheels, so even though I made a mistake something about this particular setup made it more incident prone. That’s all I'm saying. I know I fucked up, but these lugs certainly seem less forgiving than every other car I've ever worked on.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Jayhawk Jake
04/04/2019 at 12:34

This is your old car, right?

Kinja'd!!!

I was doing some carmax procrastinating and came across it and thought it looked familiar with the silver PP wheels and the fact it is in Kansas haha

Jayhawk Jake > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
04/05/2019 at 08:55

Yep. Overpriced as hell haha

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Jayhawk Jake
04/05/2019 at 11:33

It seems in line for what everyone else is asking for these cars. I don’t know what they are actually selling for, resale, but everyone seems to know what they have lol