this past saturday, i was running a set of diamond racing 13x8s on my 93 civic si.

ive been running them lugcentric, as ive heard that the center hob-hole is not very well centered. i bolted them up (like i usually do, 1/4 turn at a time in a criss-cross pattern with the wheel in the air) and drove the autox. everything was fine, and they bolted up quite easily.

come the end of the event, and i go to take them off. 2 of the lug nuts are *really* hard to take off, and the threads on the studs had been damaged. the threads were first few that engage, so the lug nuts were pretty badly damaged. thinking that it must have been an error on my part, i thought nothing more of it. this happened on the passenger side.

come sunday, a friend of mine with a 91 crx (non-si) wants to try them out, and i am curious about experimenting with a pair of his 205s on the front of my car with my 195s on the rear.

we put the wheels on his car, and everything bolts up fine, just like we would expect. come time to take them off, and he breaks one rear stud and nearly strips the rest. on the passenger side.

do you think this is a wierd coincidence? user error two days in a row? (even though these wheels have been used and bolted up by me before with no problems) could it be that i should not be running them lugcentric?

 

What lug nuts are you using?

Scott

 

That's what I was thinking. Are you using the 45 degree cone seat lugnuts?

 

did you use a torque wrench?

 

Firhter on the "what lug nut?" front, amu chance that you you used the stock ball style seat Honda lug nuts whent he wheels were made for conical seats? I made this mistake once for one session with a set of VW wheels on a CRX and they kept working slightly loose. Enough of that and you can bind and screw up studs.

Also back when Tire Rack was shipping aluminum lug nuts with their Kosei K1s this was happening pretty regularly. A freind drove his Integra to Indiana from New Hampshire for a track event and snapped seven front studs taking his Koseis w/alum. nuts off. Needless to say, he stayed a bit longer for a fresh round of new lug studs.

 

I've been running 13x8 Diamonds this season. Using stock Honda lugnuts with well worn seats. The thing is, the lugnuts sort of "wore" into the shape of the diamond seats so that they fit flush and pretty much assumed the 45 degree shape. I inspect the wheels after each event, and the seats on the wheels do not show any unusual wear. The lugnuts never got loose either, torqued to 80 ft-lbs.

Actually, I'm more concerned with the potential wear caused by the small Honda hub diameter on the larger Diamond hub seating surface. For now, there are only signs of some paint chipping and not the hub actually "digging" into the wheel. More a long term concern on an autox car. Probably more an issue on a RR car. I will look into getting some oversize diameter spacers for next season.

 

i've been using the stock honda ones, and i think the crx guy was using stock crx ones.

we torque'd them 'tight enough' since neither of us can afford a torque wrench. before you flame me though, i have a reasonably well developed torqing ability =P

should i invest in a set of 45 degree lugs?

 

Yes, and a torque wrench! Lug damage can result from too much torque also.

 

They do specifically say on the website you need a set of the 45-degree seat lugs and of course you need a torque wrench. Just get a cheap one, of course you can afford one if you could afford the wheels. My autocross torque wrench was like $12, it's plenty close enough for torquing wheels.