Sheared Wheel Studs

[Batman]

Has anyone sheared off any wheel studs (by hand) when removing wheels on PT Cruiser. Last week I was switching out my winter wheels and tires when I sheared a single stud (flush with the lug nut)off from each of the front rotors. Dealer was surprised (I only have 15K miles on the car) when I brought it in but still charged me to replace them. He asked who installed the wheels (I did without power tools). Anyway, I'm just curious. I'm planning on contacting DC for a possible refund but I don't expect much.

[CREWZIN]

I wouldn't expect much from Chrysler either. I rotate wheels every 3K with an oil change and never had a problem but from my old days at working at garages, I always put a lite coating of high temp grease on every stud before putting the lug nuts back on and always use a torque wrench to 100 ft lbs to tighten them. A little moisture and time plus a little too much torque between the stud and lug nut will rust/lock them up good an tight.

[Basset Hound]

I had two that were cross-threaded. One of them twisted off when a friend tried to remove the lugnut while installing my new wheel well LEDs. It didn't cost much to replace them. Since I always have my PT Cruiser servised at our local dealership (super people) they didn't charge any labor. The dealership service rep admitted that they may have caused the problem.

[quicksilverdon]

Yours is the first I've heard of on any Forum. Guess it's possible you got a weak stud. I had one break years ago - I went right to tire store and chewed them out and got it replaced.
Did you tighten them up with wheels off the ground?[:I]

[Jimbo]

Never had that problem.rotate wheels on both Cruiser twice a year,
Always use torque them to 100 ft lbs.I've seen some guys really get carried away with those torque wrenches, it's like it's a game to them.

[JohnM]

Yep, I snapped one of my studs off too. I was rotating the tires at 5K miles and, using a high quality torque wrench set at 100 ft lbs, it snapped off when I was tightening it. My mistake - I think - was cleaning the lug nuts and wheel mounting surfaces and leaving them very lightly greased. That allows the nuts to slide on the mounting surface too much and stretching the stud. The dealer replaced under warranty, but they were really surprised that the torque spec is 100 ft lbs. They recommended 80. I now torque them to 85 with no troubles.