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My 2004 Oldsmobile Alero on its right wheel has what is apparently a broken wheel stud. I went to remove the lug nuts and 4 of the 5 came off, but that 5th one was STUBBORN, and now the stud just turns in place.
There is a garage about 5-6 miles from here, and the roads don't have a lot of stop lights, heavy curves, and I could drive 40-45 mph most of the way if need be. Would that be okay for hobbling to the local service station to get the wheel stud fixed?
Also, I was doing this because I was changing the brakes on the car. I already changed the left side successfully, I was trying to do the right side when this occurred. I did manage to peek in there enough to see that it looked like the right side needed fixing too. Two questions (a) would it be safe to drive that far in terms of the right side being still faulty but the left side fixed and (b) I just changed the pads barely 4 months ago, what in the WORLD would make it necessary to replace them again so soon?
As a real person, I would tell you to make sure the 4 are tight and the car stops straight and evenly. If so, go ahead and drive there, you should be fine.
If I were a garage, I could be liable if I told you to drive that way and you crashed.
I cannot make that decision for you and I don't think anyone else here can.
You probably ruined the pads in 4 months if your rotors were crap or there is another problem there, such as calipers, fluid lines or just poor installation.
If it were me, next time you're doing work to both sides, get both sides loose before starting any work.
As for your brakes, there is almost certainly some problem that needs to be addressed if you went through a set of pads in 4 months. Maybe the shop can help with that.
For me, as a rule, I replace things in pairs. Tires on the same axle if I'm not doing a set of 4, brakes on the same axle, suspension pieces like bushings and bearings, etc. When the bushing started to go on one sway bar end link on my car, I replaced both. Same goes for the radius arm bushing on my truck. One was creaking so I replaced both. If one goes the other isn't far behind, and I prefer things to be as symmetrical as possible.
Well it got ugly. I decided I'd try to get the wheel off and fix the brakes before taking it to the shop, so that the brakes would be a DONE DEAL and complete, out of the way, not clouding the issue.
But gee whiz--besides the 5th one acting the way it was, 2 OTHER ones absolutely REFUSED to budge. I ended up trying to bully them off using the original tire iron & a pipe wrench, and ended up breaking one other stud all the way off. The other one became so stripped that the lug nut wouldn't "seat."
Thus, I drove the car to the shop on just 2 out of 5 studs.
Gee whiz, I didn't know just getting lug nuts off could be so complicated. Imagine trying to change your light bulb & it got this way, you'd be totally going "what in the WORLD?" Also, unlike the right wheel, the left wheel was as easy as pie. I had moved beyond the "stock" jack & tire iron & had purchased a 2 ton floor jack and a "4-way" lug wrench so I wouldn't have to keep removing and reorienting the tire iron where it would keep hitting the ground from being so long. Instead I could get it going, no removing and re-seating required, and then ultimately spin it quickly.
I should've known--earlier, a few days ago, I had to change the tire on the right side to fix a flat, and 2 or 3 of the lug nuts were so stubborn I had to keep using the lug wrench to the very end, they NEVER became loose enough where you could "spin" the wrench or finger-loosen, I had to use the wrench with both hands grunting right up to the very end.
My 2004 Oldsmobile Alero on its right wheel has what is apparently a broken wheel stud. I went to remove the lug nuts and 4 of the 5 came off, but that 5th one was STUBBORN, and now the stud just turns in place.
There is a garage about 5-6 miles from here, and the roads don't have a lot of stop lights, heavy curves, and I could drive 40-45 mph most of the way if need be. Would that be okay for hobbling to the local service station to get the wheel stud fixed?
Also, I was doing this because I was changing the brakes on the car. I already changed the left side successfully, I was trying to do the right side when this occurred. I did manage to peek in there enough to see that it looked like the right side needed fixing too. Two questions (a) would it be safe to drive that far in terms of the right side being still faulty but the left side fixed and (b) I just changed the pads barely 4 months ago, what in the WORLD would make it necessary to replace them again so soon?
Make sure the 4 good lug nuts are tight, and go. Just drive carefully and at a moderate speed.
Regarding your rapidly-wearing brake pads you probably have one of several things going on - or maybe a combination of some:
- Caliper cylinder is ridged and not releasing properly, thus causing the pads to drag.
- Your brake pins are dirty and/or rusty, and the assembly isn't sliding freely.
- Your rotor is rough.
The problem with the brakes should not be hard to figure out.
Well it got ugly. I decided I'd try to get the wheel off and fix the brakes before taking it to the shop, so that the brakes would be a DONE DEAL and complete, out of the way, not clouding the issue.
But gee whiz--besides the 5th one acting the way it was, 2 OTHER ones absolutely REFUSED to budge. I ended up trying to bully them off using the original tire iron & a pipe wrench, and ended up breaking one other stud all the way off. The other one became so stripped that the lug nut wouldn't "seat."
Thus, I drove the car to the shop on just 2 out of 5 studs.
Gee whiz, I didn't know just getting lug nuts off could be so complicated. Imagine trying to change your light bulb & it got this way, you'd be totally going "what in the WORLD?" Also, unlike the right wheel, the left wheel was as easy as pie. I had moved beyond the "stock" jack & tire iron & had purchased a 2 ton floor jack and a "4-way" lug wrench so I wouldn't have to keep removing and reorienting the tire iron where it would keep hitting the ground from being so long. Instead I could get it going, no removing and re-seating required, and then ultimately spin it quickly.
I should've known--earlier, a few days ago, I had to change the tire on the right side to fix a flat, and 2 or 3 of the lug nuts were so stubborn I had to keep using the lug wrench to the very end, they NEVER became loose enough where you could "spin" the wrench or finger-loosen, I had to use the wrench with both hands grunting right up to the very end.
Sounds like they got cross-threaded on their last install.......
OP, something is really out of kilter on that side. Hub bearing, wheel is not seated right, rust build up, something that caused those stud to sheer off. And toques lugs on studs.
Btw, replacing studs is no big deal, if you have provision for this in the hub. You simply hammer old one out and carefully hammer new one in. Unfortunately, on some vehicles, stud is basically integral part of hub. Not sure about yours.
I had Ranger like this, it was eating through stud threads. But I bought it rebuilt, so I was not surprised. I finally replaced several studs on driver side F hub, and sold it, without any more issues, year later.
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