One of my front wheel lug studs broke off when my 17" wheels were removed to put on my 15" GSR wheels. I've done this myself a dozen times with no problem - and then one trip to the tire place and bam. All the front studs look really rusty and worn (car has 103K mi) so my 2-fold question is this: One, is this a hard thing to fix? One guy told me he thought he'd have to remove the hub and maybe then have to replace a bearing, and other people (who also don't work on hondas) seemed to think I could just wack it out. I haven't taken the wheel off to look myself. Second question, should I replace all front 8 studs if they're looking rusty? I'd hate for them to break while autocrossing, or worse on a 70mph corner on the track. I imagine labor would be 100x the cost of the lugs themselves...

 

you will need to remove the Axle.

 

sounds like a bitch

 

the rears are easy. just take off the caliper&rotor and then you can hammer 'em out.

the fronts are a much different story. the shop i took it to let me watch. they just pulled the hub, hammered out the stud(s) and regreased the wheel bearing. it took them maybe around 45 minutes to do. i wouldn't attempt the fronts by myself.

 

your not supposed to hammer out the bearing,its a sealed unit.on most cars you could remove the rotor then hammer out the stud but on alot of tegs/civics theres a ring thats in the way. the dealer has a special press used to remove the bearing.in other words its not cheap or easy.

btw did you leave the hub ring on by accident thus breaking a stud? thats how i broke 2 studs last year

 

I broke one of my studs about 15,000 miles ago on the passenger side. I wanted to get it fixed but found out it costs about $300 to do so. So, since the other three lug bolts are sufficient to hold the wheel on, I didn't get it fixed. I have noticed no difference on my car's handling, just make sure the other three are tight. However, don't blame me if it doesn't work out in your case. Just telling you what my experience is.

 

actually with only 3 studs holding on the wheel you could warp your brake rotor. $300 is an awful lot to replace the wheel studs. if you shop around you'll be able to find a shop that'll do it for $50-80.

btw i meant to say hammer out the studs, not the hub for the fronts you can use a hub puller.. snap on has one for like 30 bucks.

 

heres the funny thing, the studs costs about $1

i learned the hard way,and this may actually be a good alternative for you (if you can wrench)

last winter when throwing my steelies on for the winter season i accidently left a hubcentric ring on and it caused my stock wheel not to fit flush,thus putting alot of pressure on the studs. anyhow i broke 2 studs, i thought no biggee i'll simply replace em myself. when i tried there a lip/ridge in the back that doesnt quite let you remove it. so i hammered the bearing out and replaced them,well the bearing is a sealed unit that never needs greasing. since i cracked it open it was making a horrible noise. so now i needed a new bearing! I BOUGHT ONE! (about $50) tried putting it in but you need a press! anyhow i ended up taking it to the dealer and paid them $60 cause i just brought them the assembly (the whole arm w/ disc etc) instead of paying them $270 to do it. im not 100% sure that you need to replace the bearing when you do it the proper way but i didnt so i had to, so you might be able to get away w/ $60 in labor so long as you bring em the entire arm.

 

Great info everyone - I'm going to shop around and find out how much to fix... I'll let you all know what I pay...

thanks!

-edit-

Dealer told me they would want to replace the bearing as well, with a grand total of $250 for parts & labor. I called another shop that specializes in Hondas and they told me $83 parts & labor if they don't replace the bearing. cool.


[Modified by uncleben, 1:28 PM 10/23/2001]

 

Yeah, 250 is about what the dealer told me too. Didn't price any local shops though, maybe I'll look into that. Just redid my brakes (original rotors still at 93,000) and had the rotors resurfaced. I really don't notice that the lug is broken.

Question: There is still quite a bit of the stud left. Does some one know if there is such a thing as a self tapping lug nut. If I had something like that it would be better than just 3 lugs.

 

That's a biotch.. Someone tried to steal the rims off my HB back in the day. They were not successful, so they stripped one lug off each wheel. So I was riding around with a 3 lug conversion.

 

Sounds to me like the tire shop may have used an impact wrench on your lugs. Too much torque on a lug and it can stress it or snap it right off.

Trench, 3 lugs = bad. Ever see a wheel go flying of at 70 MPH? The results generally aren't pretty.

 

That wheel ain't gonna fly of. With only 2 studs? Maybe turning a corner. And even then you'd hear some creaking. But three studs are about as strong as four. The other three are on tight and whenever I take the wheel off they are still tight. So, I'm not worried about it.

Man, those thieves stripping stripping one bolt on each wheel. What jerks. I hope their cars never run right

Hey, Lucas, where did you buy your bearing at?


[Modified by Trench, 3:20 PM 10/24/2001]

 

i diagree on that statement as well... there is a reason there are 4 lugs... i had a bad experience with only 3 lugs on my car before... on my integra... i forgot for what reason... bu i only had 3 lugs on each wheel... well... driving along... the wheel starts shaking alot... (steering wheel) i pull over (im on the expressway btw)... i cant even check the lugs cuz i had c2's on (rims) and they have a cover over the lugs... i get to a gas station quickly cuz by this point i really couldnt drive the car well... i couldnt get the cover off for once because the lugs were pressed up against it and the wheel was so loos it was basically wobbling... i finnally got the cover off (messing the thing up in the process) and all 3 were loose! oh... and i had tightened them before...

moral or the story... 3 lugs= bad!

 

ek9t,
What are you doing to your 97 civic hatchback?

 

Not just tight. The lug nuts need to be torqued.

 

why spend all that money to get it fix when u can do it yourself!! just search google theers bunch of websites

 

:t hud::thu d:


why the fack would you bump a 9 year old thread????