Beware of lubed wheel studs / use of impact gun

My truck was in for my 32,000km service a couple of days ago. Today I swapped my rims to my winter set. I noticed the rear drums smelled of spray penetrating lube. As part of the third service they inspect and lube all moving brake parts. Some of the spray lube was on the studs. After removing all rims and doing my swap (impact off and hand tools on) I had issues tightening one stud in particular and was questioning what was going on with a couple more. I started the truck and moved it back and forth and tried to ensure the rims were seated properly. Went back and tried tightening again. It became clear that one stud was yielding so I tightened it until it snapped. Something that shouldn’t be possible with my short bar and socket. Dealer is replacing all studs front and rear tomorrow.

I am not a big fan of impact guns. Great for removing but should never be used for installing. My rule is hand tools to tighten so I will be able to remove the lug nuts in the case of a flat tire. I am convinced that between the lube that got on the studs from the rear brake service and the use of an impact to tighten that is where the issue came from. Luckily I was swapping to winter tires today or else I might have had a failure while in motion.

 

Lots of places use impact guns when they install tires, very bad practice unless you stop short and use a torque wrench as the final step.

 

Wonder why it broke ? Read this. Same torque with lubricant will break it, I don't care if its impact gun or even hand tightened with a torque wrench.

http://www.smartbolts.com/insights/impact-lubricants-torque-readings/

 

Just count the ugga duggas. It's pretty straight forward.

 

The dealer probably ran them on with an impact and cross threaded the studs, then when he kept trying to tighten it, it broke. Just my guess.

 

It was from the lubricant.

 

dunno ive used torque sticks for years never had an issue, maybe your just super strong

 

Look up the member here that used an impact gun and broke aftermarket lug nuts on wheel spacers.

He was drilling for a couple days.

Don’t use aftermarket lugs or an impact gun, unless you know what you’re doing.

 

how do you run aftermarket wheels then lmfao

 

I highly doubt that.

 

Not sure, but something about these and an impact gun didn’t end well.

 

I was in industrial sales of fasteners before going back to the trades. I am well aware of dry vs lubed torque specs both in my training as a salesperson and as a millwright. The damage was done before I ever took them off. It yielded before they even tried to tighten up.

 

That’s why I said I bet the tech used the impact right from the start to put them in. I see it all the time, at least hand start them to make sure they are cross threading, or better yet take a few extra minutes and use hand tools so shit doesn’t break.

 

I use my Craftsman 1/2" drive battery impact on my wheels and never had an issue !!! . I will buzz the lug nuts on then a quick tap then I will use my Snap On digital torque wrench to set the torque value

 

I do similar. Two things to note / add is that the socket should rotate before the wrench clicks / slips and the wrench should click / slip while moving smoothly.

 

If I remember correctly it wasnt just one it was several broken from an impact gun on that post

 

Happens all the time. It’s not like in 1985 where you could crank on nuts with an impact and everything would be fine. Most newer passenger vehicle wheel studs are made of shit materials; over torquing causes them to stretch, become weak and eventually fail. I just put the snows on my wife’s Lexus and I needed an extra bar slipped over my Johnson bar to break most of them loose. The Lexus dealer just did a free rotation and balance about a month ago. They just lost all my future business. Over torquing is a easy sign of a shit mechanic/shop IMO.

 

I thought he used the wrong locktite plus over torqued them which resulted in end result. 100 percent user error cause lots of people run spacers with no issues

 

They wouldve had to torque the snot out of them for the penetrating lube to have any effect on it imo. Its the heavier lubes that you dont wanna put on threads, antisieze, grease etc. I doubt a lightweight oil like that is the source of the issue. Most likely a tech who used too many ugga duggas.

 

I use my battery powered impact driver for my lug nuts, much safer than an impact wrench...impact drivers are usually a lot less powerful and far less likely to break something. Use it to break them free and thread them on, then top off with my hand wrench