Has this happened to anyone?? I've been having this rattling noise that has been getting progresively louder over the week. But in the last few days, the sound is more like i have a flat tire... but pressures were good. Finally took a closer look and the the drivers side rear tire was missing a lugut and the wheel was wobbly. Damn scary... Tightened all the remaining bolts and went to Nissan to get a replacement Lug, to find out that the stud that the lugnut screws onto was snapped off???? WTF?? I have 03' Track with stock wheels and no mods on the suspension. This cant be normal...

 

well the same thing happened to me but it was my fault. i always swap wheels from track and road use and i torqued them too much and it pulled the threads apart and one day i was taking my wheels off and the lug bolt broke off.. well needless to say i didnt track that night, so i went to autozone and pressed out the old bolts and pressed in the new ones and within a couple hours i was good again.

 

never seen a track day here...

 

hmm well all i can think is that the wheel stud bolt must have had a fracture in it and just broke off. My stock Y-pipe randomly broke off which must have been fault of crappy japanese aluminum or steel. so its not a big deal and if you have to fix it yourself i wouldnt expect you to pay much more than 7 dollars, although the dealership should cover it.

 

It happens. Lazy technicians use a air gun instead of a torque wrench. The lugs can only take so much abuse.

 

taking it in on Monday..thanks for the info guys...

 

If you constantly take your wheels on and off it may warp the studs after a while, or the person putting the luggs on may have over torqued the lug or strip the thread while trying to put it back on. This happened to me too. It sucked alot, but it just ended costing me more money to put it back on.

 

+1 torque wrench

 

FYI, I think 80-85 ft-lbs is the proper torque spec on our lugs. Just in case anyone needs it.

 

from service manual

73-93 ft-lb

 

Close enough

 

the wheels were only taken of once for a dyno and thats it... it should be covered under warranty right?? guess we'll find out. but here are the pics

https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....7&d=1139105312

https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....8&d=1139105399

 

i can tell by the last picture there that the lugs were not tightened when reinstalled. You can see the damage to the wheel from the wheel stud slamming into it under accel and braking. It broke because it was loose for a long time and was being slammed into the wheel. The lug centric lugnuts are what stop your wheel from moving, and if they are not tightened then the 2 tapered surfaces will not meet and the wheel will have a couple degrees of rotation available on the hub, causing the lug seating flange damage you are experiencing.

i doubt they will warrenty it, when you can clearly see the damage to the wheels from the lugts not being tight.

 

Too loose or too tight will break wheel studs. Always use a quality torque wrench! Do not allow air gun/wrenchs to be used on your car!!

 

good news guys, they are actually gonna replace my entire rim!!! Its gonna take a few days, but thank god for warranty. Thanks for all the info.

 

they are replacing the wheel?

either must have damaged the wheel or something else...

no spacer on there huh?

 

yup replacing the entire wheel. Nope, i dont believe there was a spacer there..