I bought some locking lug nuts when I first got the car because I was nervous from hearing all these people, at the time, getting their wheels stolen. They were never a *perfect* fit and I think they compromised the threads...not stripped them, but just kind of shaved them in certain places...

Plus, my wheels have been on and off the car so many times...proabably more than 30...and I may have slightly crossthreaded a couple of them.

So, I want to go about replacing all of the wheels studs. I have the Helm's manual, but I haven't found an R&R process for this.

Has anyone else done this? I have R&R'd the rotors, how much more is there to do to get to the studs?

 

Haven't done any myself on the S2000 but hear it's a serious b!tch. I think both jerrypeterson and silversurfer had the dealer do some but I don't remember hearing of anybody doing it at home. Good Luck

 

I've done them on other cars.. just removed the rotor and hammered them in with a small sledge. Put the new one through best I could replaced the wheel and used about 100 lbs to 'set' the stud in. I don't know if that is the right procedure but it has worked for me more than once. You probably do not want to pull the stud through with conical seat nuts, but it works ok with on a spherical seat.

 

Chris, rumor has it that the S2000 set-up is not as straight forward as you would have hoped .... at least the dealers charged the victims for something more than "normal"

 

I've hammered the old ones out and did the same thing that you did, but without the wheel being mounted. I used some old lug nuts that had a larger diameter thread with some old lug nuts, so that I didn't damage anything. Turn the nut that you are using to pull the stud through with upside down first. If there isn't a shoulder on the stud, you are OK.

I haven't tried this on the S2000, but it has worked on several other cars.

Good luck Greg,
Bob

 

Well, if its anything like changing them on my old Integra, then what a pain in the ass! I had remove the entire steering knuckle (which includes removing the calipers, rotors,LCA's, Axles,Steering linkage and upper control arm) then taking the knuckle to a shop so they could use a press to take the wheel bearing apart.. then putting in the new stud, then pressing the wheel bearing back togther in a press, (being careful not to screw up the wheel bearing). then you put it al back togther.. what a pain for a damn stud huh? well hopefully its not that tough heh, Im sure I will probably break one soon so I will find out heh

 

The studs do push out the back, but to remove the studs you have to disassemble the hubs. There isn't clearance for the stud to come all the way out the back. I consider this the last resort.

The first thing to try is just "chase" the threads on the stud with the correct die. This should be enough since the stud material is quite hard. The thread in the nut (the stock ones anyway) is much softer and will fail before the stud.

I change wheels frequently at autocross. I cross threaded a couple times for a turn or two before I learned my lesson. But the nut took all the damage. The stud cleaned up fine with a die. I now keep spare nuts.

Throw your suspect nuts away immediately. From what you have said that may be all of them. (Majestic sells for far less than dealer parts dept). A new nut on a cleaned up stud will probably work fine.

You don't say whether yours are original or aftermarket wheels. I'll assume original. The originals have a spherical seat, rather than straight conical. If your locking nuts were conical, then they would not feel right when torqued into original wheels, because they would contact the wheel only at the very tip of the nut. The tip of the nut could now be pinched a bit and drag on the stud threads. Any previously cross threaded nut will also drag. By now you have had the lockers or previously cross threaded nut on every stud. This is likely what you are seeing, but hopefully it's just polishing the stud thread a bit, with no significant material removed. Until you try a new nut on a cleaned up stud you will not be able to tell.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by gregstevens
[B]I bought some locking lug nuts when I first got the car because I was nervous from hearing all these people, at the time, getting their wheels stolen.

 

For chasing the threads, be sure to use a "thread-chasing" or "thread-repair" die, not a "thread-cutting die". The former (two different names for the same thing) is intended only to repair damaged threads; the latter is for cutting new threads on a plain rod.

Most threads are "rolled", rather than cut. If you look at a bolt, the peaks of the threads are slightly higher than the unthreaded portion of the bolt. A "thread-chaser" repairs the threads and leaves them higher like that. A "thread-cutting" die will undercut the threads so that the peaks are the same diameter as the unthreaded part.

Look at a bolt that isn't threaded along its whole length to see what I mean. Cut threads will only be as high as the rod they were cut from. Rolling threads sort of pushes the metal out, making the thread peaks a little higher.

If you want to demonstrate what I mean, take a brand new bolt and run a thread-cutting die (the right size and pitch) part of the way down it. It should remove just a little metal. Take another bolt and run the thread-repair die down it. It should go on just like a nut. removing nothing.

In some applications, the difference may not matter; however, when talking about critical applications (brakes, suspension, steering, wheel studs), I'd buy the right tool for the job.

I apologize to those who know the difference for beating a dead horse; however, I remember the time when I didn't know the difference and I think for wheel studs it matters.

 

Wow, thanks for all the responses...!

BTW Gregg, I have the Mugen MF-10's on my car and they use the angular, as opposed to the conical, style of lug nuts. I do have a confession. At Gingerman this past weekend, I actually broke off one, so I will have to take them out of one hub, at least. So I thought that I would go ahead and do them all. But the rethreading idea is a great one...I'm going to try that on the studs that are in the worst shape.

I have also ordered new lugnuts and will be using anti-seize, as well.

I knew it would be a PITA to replace them... Oh, and I promise to be more careful in the future...

Great advice...thanks!

 

Greg, you may want to read this before applying anti-seize on the wheel studs:

http://www.autopia-carport.com/forums/show...light=antiseize

Anybody care to comment on this?