Ran VIR south course this past weekend and had a ton of fun!!! I slapped on my stocker 17's with V710's and off I went. Sunday I was running pretty damn hard, session over and came into the pits with the front brakes smoking slightly. No big deal, had that several times. My problem is here... at the end of the day went to take off the wheels and the front right appears to be "frozen" on. I didn't think I needed any anti-sieze on the lug nuts but appears I should have put some on. Anyone else have to deal with this? Fixes???? Broke one stud already, I can feel another twisting off as well. Just break them to get them off???

 

I had the same problem with the Camaro I used to have. All I could do is break them off and replace them....good luck

 

The nissan studs are weak anyway. I replaced all of mine with ARP and went with open lugs. I snapped one last time out a the track when torquing them on before a session and several others I know have snapped multiple studs.

http://www.splparts.com/Parts/Univer...es/default.htm

 

I had a set of wheels that had a cover plate over the lugs so I had to use short open ended lugs. I got a cheapo kind from Autozone not thinking that it would make a difference. Turned out that the tapered area on the lug nut would cave in onto the there after being torqued to spec. 2 lugs were siezed on the studs, I had snap the stud toget them off.

 

wow, all i keep reading is, snapping/breaking. I think I will looking into the ARP bolts. I feel like that is the same company i used to use on small block rod bolts/head bolts.

does the open ended make a difference???

 

Yup, ARP is mostly known for the strength of their rod/main/head bolts.

There is no performance advantage to an open ended lug that I am aware of (i could be wrong) but some racing organizations require them I believe so they can ensure there is sufficient thread engagement.

 

I just replaced mine w/ the spacers included w/ the ichiba/H&R spacers. I never had a prob. w/ the stock lugs. Are you guys using a torque wrench and proper torque specs.?


BTW. I wanted to replace a couple of lug nuts so I called the dealer. Parts dept. says they're are 2 diff. sizes for the Z and I need to bring my registration for him to tell. I told him it's an 03'...I thought there is only one size. Anyone know?

 

No advantage to open end (other than for visual Tech inspection), there is a disadvantage though. Mosture is more inclined to get in between the lug and stud and will cause rust to form. On many older cars that are neglected; the lug and stud sieze together and need to be snapped off. Since I would remove my wheels every so often for autoX and track days I was under the impression that it would not have been a problem. The material on the lug that I used was a very cheap steel. After that issue, I use McGard 2 piece lugs on all my cars.

 

According to SPL's website:
"ARP wheel studs are made from heat treated chromoly steel and have a 190,000 PSI tensile strength rating.

14.3mm knurl studs are 10mm longer (fits Z32 front, S14 front, Z33 front and rear)

13mm knurl studs are 20mm longer (fits S13 front and rear, S14 rear, Z32 rear)"

Mine is an 03 and we had no problem installing the 14.3's.

And yes, I always use a torque wrench.

 

^^ Thanks man. I'm going to pick up 2 stock replacements lugs and order a set of the ARP's.

 

How many ft.lb did you torque the wheels to?

Over tightening of lug nuts is a common cause of jammed/snapped studs. If anything, your torque spec should be lower at the track where the aluminum mags will expend more thermally than the steel studs.

On the use of anti-seize on the studs.

Limit that to the bare minimum. The anti-seize will basically lubricate the thread, transforming the 85ft.lb of torque into the equivalent of 1xx ft.lb. Extending the studs beyond the elastic limit, inducing a lot more fatigue and eventually breaking the stud...

When the Honda RnD factory team decided to cut down drastically on the use of anti-seize, they went from breaking a dozen studs a year to zero...

 

Was never 100% sure of the torque specs but at the track i ALWAYS torque each lug to 85ft lbs. I torque them in the morning and once after the car has sat usually right before the next session. I have this phobia of my wheel passing me on the straights doing about 130. That might make me dribble a little bit.

I ran to Carquest at lunch and picked up a couple extras so i can atleast get the car back on the road. definately going to order the ARP bolts. Expensive little bastards tho.

 

Expensive yes, but probably cheaper than having this happen.









I think his torque wrench was out of calibration, but as mentioned before it is common for our stock studs to snap. Upgraded studs are cheap insurance. He's now running ARP studs.

 

Man, for a second, I thought that was my Z!!! Was this at MSR Cresson by Forth Worth? I had a similar picture taken of my Z at MSR Cresson -- same spot on the track. And no, I did not lose a wheel when I was at the track last year. I guess he wasn't having a good day at the track . . .

I always re-torque my lug nuts after almost every run on the track just to make sure. I use open-ended lug nuts so I can visually inspect the tightness on the lug nuts at all times.

 

Yup, MSR Cresson. Pic was taken during the ZCON track day last year. I think he was running 295 front and 305 rear hoosiers, so had plenty of grip.

 

wow, he is REAL lucky that car didn't roll coming out of that corner into the dirt. See that just scares the hell out of me

 

Yeah, he was very lucky. It was painful watching them push the car off of the flatbed and onto his trailer with no wheel on there. The damage could have been much much worse.

 

Speaking of torquing... this is done very rarely at the track that I see, and I'm guilty of not doing it sometimes myself... but to really keep accurate torque on your lugs, and not over-tighten them, they need to be broken loose every time before you re-torque them.

There also needs to be a slight delay and slight movement of the lug before the second click just as you release the wrench.