Racing Stud and Lug Nut Review
 

Earlier this summer, I purchased adjustable upper ball joints, but procrastinated installing them. I recently burned up a wheel bearing, so why not replace all the bearings and change the ball joints at the same time? Since I bought the HF 12-ton press, I may as well replace the studs with proper race studs while I have the hubs out. I spoke to a few friends about their experience with the gold APR studs on Amazon and the reviews were not good. Several of them had APR studs break mid-event. In fairness, my friends attribute some of the breakage to abuse - changing hot, banging the wheel etc... But this supposed to be a racing stud! Race teams slam wheels on them and torque them while the rotors are still red-hot…right? I was hesitant to make such an investment of effort in a mod that may make my car weaker.

By chance, I noticed a company that sponsored our local police calendar. The company was MSI Racing Products, and the logo was a stud & lug nut, so I made the 2-mile trek check out the “buy local” option.

Jackpot! This is the company that makes all the studs and lug nuts for Miata Global Cup cars, every NASCAR team, and Continental team, and numerous other series. All their studs are all made to the same standards as NASCAR (apparently the most abusive series) studs: material, machining process, heat treatment, and coating. The stud material is 4340 aircraft steel. The threads are roll-formed. They are heat treated to 38-40 RC. Lastly, they undergo tough Manganese phosphate coating for corrosion and wear resistance. The lug nuts are made from a proprietary material, formed threads, heat treated to 34-36 RC, and spin-dipped in a Teflon-based coating for corrosion resistance and lubrication.

Roll forming threads basically cold-forges the threads and yields much stronger threads than cutting. The nuts are slightly softer than the studs as they are designed to fail before the stud (although this is extremely rare). The long bullet tip guarantees that the lug nut is straight before engaging the threads, so they are impossible to cross thread. The self-lubricated coating allows you to get accurate and consistent torque settings. The coating was originally yellow because it made the nuts easier for NASCAR crews to see. The same coating material is now available in a much calmer gloss black. The knurling where the stud meets the hub has significantly deeper teeth than the OEM studs. This allowed me to press out the old studs and reuse the old hub and still have solid engagement. (Even if you buy a new hub, they come with studs, so this is an important feature either way.) The nuts have a smaller 17mm hex, so you can get an impact-rated socket on them without scaring your wheels. (If you are on an endurance team and need to change wheels quickly, they offer spring-loaded sockets that automatically eject the nuts.) Lastly, MSI sells studs in 5 thread lengths: 45, 55, 59, 63, and 65mm for larger wheels or spacer applications. We discovered my OEM studs were only getting about 4 threads of engagement on my custom wheels, so this mod was past due.

Now for the sticker shock…or not. Each stud is just over $10, and each nut is just under $5; basically each set is around $15. Compared to ARP studs for $3-5/each (not including nuts), this sounds really high. This was another reason I put off the mod. But after the monumental PITA of replacing the bearings (a necessary step in replacing studs), the cost of the bearings, the time off track, etc… I figure this is a relatively small investment not to have to deal with this crap ever again.
In fairness, I have not used them on track yet, so I cannot give personal testimony as to their reliability. I am basing my opinion on the reputations of all the pro teams that use them. As I get more time on them, I will write more. Also, I mounted them on the car before taking pictures. I will go by the shop and get some photos to add to the post in the next few days. Check them out for yourself at http://www.msiracingproducts.com/wheel-studs-1#honda

Note to the moderator: I simply live in the same town as MSI. I do not work for MSI, have relatives that work for them, get kickbacks from them, or have any other conflicts of interest that would bias my opinion or make this an ad. (He has enough business – this is for reader benefit only) ...and thanks for all the how-to's you've written. I used two last weekend.

As one of the aforementioned friends who had issues with APR studs, am very interested to see where this goes. I might even volunteer to change wheels for you at the next event while everything is still hot. Probably not, but I wouldn't completely rule it out...

I got the photos of the studs and nuts, but have no idea how to upload them. A little help here...

You can host them on something like Tiny Pic or open a Flickr account or similar and then post the direct link between image tags shown below.

I used to break stock studs all the time, went to ARP and haven't had a single issue since. Using 949 lugnuts

Attachment 66076
Here you can see the three coating options for the lug nuts. The black and yellow are coated with the same Teflon-based material. The gray nut is manganese phosphate. For a few cents more, I recommend the Teflon-coated version.

Attachment 165163
This shows the ARP stud and 5 lengths of MSI studs. You can see the bullet nose is longer and the knurling reaches all the way to the head.

I've not used them on track yet, but I can say it was nice to load a nut in the driver and just run them on without fear of cross threading. No more finger tightening the first few threads (I assume the same with ARP). Also the Teflon coating is very smooth. Before, I was using high-temp anti-seize on the OEM studs, but this held sand and junk, so I had to be careful to clean them each time (PITA).

I have MSI studs on my 911. Definitely glad I spent the money. I was convinced when I saw a car that hit a wall and the side that hit had 5 ~30deg bent studs, not broken. After owning them I love the bullet nose. Almost no chance of cross threading the bolt and the dry lube coating is very impressive.
If your driving your car on track regularly it's not a lot of money. I think it's less than a difference of $150 between these and cheap studs. It's a safety item and you use them all the time (wheels come on and off often).

I have noticed at track days, that some drivers get out of their car and immediately torque their wheels. Then do it again after the next time on the track. This torquing and re-torquing with hot wheels is what can result in stretched studs that will eventually break. I use ARP studs and have not broken one yet. Have taken hits hard enough to tear a solid axle off it's mounts and twist the axle (on TR3) or break a wheel (S2000) and ARP studs did not fail. I replaced the studs anyway after such hits.

I've been using MSI studs for a few years. Fantastic stud. Never had one fail. Never had a lug nut come loose.