Inspecting Wheel Studs?

[eacmen]

Is there a method to inspect wheel studs before they fail? Some say they are routine maintenance for a track car. Previous owner had apex studs installed and wondering if I need to replace them or not. Is it just one of those things that just fail suddenly without warning?

[Feffman]

Is there a method to inspect wheel studs before they fail? Some say they are routine maintenance for a track car. Previous owner had apex studs installed and wondering if I need to replace them or not. Is it just one of those things that just fail suddenly without warning?

I had stud failure at Mid-Ohio two years ago. The studs were less than a year old. It was determined to be a manufacturer defect (I know four other BMW drivers with the same studs that had failures). Both the supplier and I changed to a well know USA steel supplied and USA manufactured stud. I'll still change them every other year.

Feff

[eacmen]

I had stud failure at Mid-Ohio two years ago. The studs were less than a year old. It was determined to be a manufacturer defect (I know four other BMW drivers with the same studs that had failures). Both the supplier and I changed to a well know USA steel supplied and USA manufactured stud. I'll still change them every other year.

Feff

Can you share the studs you used? Was planning on using the bimmerworld ones if needed.

[CrookedCommie]

Can you share the studs you used? Was planning on using the bimmerworld ones if needed.

I've ripped a couple BW. Switched to MSI.

[r4dr]

I've been using Motorsport Hardware on the track car with success (or no failures so far...) and I know many local people who haven't had issues with Apex studs.

I've heard it helps to take care of them – no torquing while they're hot from lapping, don't overtorque them to begin with, install with appropriate torque, etc. But I have no evidence how much this extends their life so I replace them every few track seasons.

[Apex_80]

MSI or Machining Solutions is the company that makes most if not all of the studs for the NASCAR teams down here. I believe after the troubles BW have had they quietly switched to MSI producing them. To answer the OP's question I view them as every 2-3 years if street driven and every year for track car.

[timmo]

I have ECS Tuning studs with about 10 autox on them. Hmm, perhaps I should look into replacing them soon...

[bigjae46]

A stud is a wear item. You cause wear every time you torque the fastener. When the wheel is torqued to the hub, there is no wear unless the wheel is not properly mated to the hub. Common causes for improper mating is dirt and corrosion on the wheel/hub. Especially on the lip of the wheel hub and the hub bore in the wheel. Need to keep those clean.

Wear is accelerated when the faster is overtorqued or if the fastener is so loose there's movement between the wheel and hub.

The more you remove wheels, the more often you need to replace studs.

I've had Vorshlag, Turner and BW studs...have never had one break. I've ran them for years. On the other hand, I got my first set of Apex studs and I twisted one off a couple of weeks ago...6 months old. I was pretty disappointed. Not saying Apex is bad but I'm going with something that I know works.

[Slideways]

Are you guys using the stock 89ft-lbs to torque these like the factory bolts?

[r4dr]

BW's instructions say 75 lb-ft but I've always torqued my MSH nuts to 88 lb-ft.

[eacmen]

BW's instructions say 75 lb-ft but I've always torqued my MSH nuts to 88 lb-ft.

Same here I use 88. However the studs/nuts I had did not have dry lube on them. Any kind of dry lube and the torque setting should be lower.

[foolio]

I change mine (Apex) every two years on a dedicated track car seeing 1500-2000 track miles per year. Also, never torque hot, or even warm, for that matter. No failures knock on wood.

[BigRussia]

My car came with Apex extended studs, its been 2.5+ years nearly 8k miles and 5 track days and 1 AutoX on them, with two different sets of wheels ran with wheel spacers ranging from 5mm to 12mm. Thankfully no issues yet, I always torque to 88lbs/ft and clean them with a wire brush anytime I take off wheels; I do this with the thought/assumption that it's good for the life and health of the studs, also cause I had put anti-seize on them during my initial ownership of the car and then realized that's a no no cause it can affect the torque rating when bolting down the wheels (and might end up over torquing).

But even still I've actually had this same thought as the OP in the back of my head all this time, wondering if I should be weary of the studs life and be thinking of replacing them soon?

[eacmen]

I went with the BW Premium Race Studs. Will be installing in the next few weeks. The installation torque values are much higher than the Turner studs we installed on a previous car.

In this case I am okay paying the premium price for peace of mind.

[r4dr]

I went with the BW Premium Race Studs. Will be installing in the next few weeks. The installation torque values are much higher than the Turner studs we installed on a previous car.

In this case I am okay paying the premium price for peace of mind.

It's interesting because those seem to be MSI studs sold by BW, but actual MSI studs for sale on another site (https://www.moreheadspeedworks.com/p...d-wheel-studs/) say to only torque to 20 lb-ft into the hub which matches my experiences with studs more.