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My brother drives a 2004 Acura TL and while driving he broke off 2 studs. When we went to change them all of them showed damage or wear to the point that it was just worth changing all 5 instead of just fixing the 2. We get done changing them and I go home. The next morning he calls and says it’s making the same noise as before when the 2 studs were gone before he got out of his apartments lot. So when I get there 4 of the 5 lugs are loose to the point where I could just take them off with my hands and the other one is still as tight as we left it.(they were tighten properly tight but not to tight) also everything was put together properly and the brake caliper is fine. Any one know what could cause the lugs to come loose again, one of the studs is starting to show very slight wear already also.
How do the studs mount on an Acura? Are they force-fit driven in from behind the hub like most cars?
1) The car was driven with a loose wheel until the studs wore their mounting holes too loose/large. If new studs don't drive in hard and tight, the hub is shot. Once seated by a fully torqued wheel nut, you should be able to bang them pretty good with a soft hammer without having them come loose.
2) The wheel has oversized holes and/or a mismatched bolt pattern that allows it to move or loosen while driving. The wheel should fit onto the slim center hub only with a little force, stay there unless pulled on, and every stud should be perfectly centered in a hole. Any shift of centeredness, bad bolt pattern. Any movement while on the hub lip, bad wheel or mismatched fit.
They are semi permanent so they drive in from behind. We bought a tool(pretty sure it’s a bearing that gets the stud to feed more but it doesn’t damage it or require you to file down parts like a lot of people suggest) that allows you to get them in tight and flush. None of the holes on the hub or rotor are warped but at a second look at the rim 4/5 holes are warped into an oval. I’m thinking it could be the rim but i don’t know if that by itself could cause it. Also the one lug that stayed tight was the only one not in a warped spot. Should we try a new rim?
I think the part where you said something about him living in an apartment might have something to do with it. He's either got an enemy out there, or there are some kids around by who think that they're being funny.
Something like this happened to me when I was a teen with a car load of friends one night. We were driving out to a party way out in the sticks somewhere. We stopped at a gas station along the way and went in for a little while. When we came back to the car we saw a couple of kids running away laughing. Nothing was stolen from inside of the car so we didn't think much about it.
About 3 or 4 miles later one of my back tires started wobbling and then we felt the back corner lift up in the air and crash down on the brake drum. This was before cell phones on a dark county road in the middle of nowhere with no traffic on it. Me and my friends got out and started looking for the tire, but never found it. Somehow we found 3 of the 5 lug nuts on the road though. We put the donut on with the 3 lug nuts on the 3 studs that were the least messed up and made our way to that party, and then back home again afterwords.
Yep, I think your wheel is shot. Try swapping it with the axle mate and see if the loosening happens on the other side instead. I would not drive until you get this resolved.
I think a wheel shop can drill and sleeve bad holes, if the wheel is too expensive to replace. Job for a real pro with the right machine, not someone who will "take a crack at it."
You never had wheel set flush on the hub. Either due to rust on either wheel or hub, or both, or some debris, or mechanical damage. As the result, you "tightened" lug nuts but, as there was gap between hub and wheel, after some driving, it all went loos again.
Some wheels, esp alloys, are very finicky about being set just right, or else. Also, alloy wheels, aka rims, require formal lugs for alloys. Not just any cheapo lugs. If not, they will either loosen or, worse, self tighten, to the point that you break stud removing lug nut. Alloy wheels, being made out of soft material, have channels for lug nut sleeves, that should fit in and prevent any play. if you are not using proper alloy lug nuts, with those sleeves, you will bust something.
If the lug studs were seated all the way in where the splines bit into the hub and were tightened all the way through then you must of had the wheel lug nuts not tightened all the way or the wheel was seated cockeyed and not all the way against the hub.
I would replace the wheel if the holes are hogged out
You never had wheel set flush on the hub. Either due to rust on either wheel or hub, or both, or some debris, or mechanical damage. As the result, you "tightened" lug nuts but, as there was gap between hub and wheel, after some driving, it all went loos again.
Some wheels, esp alloys, are very finicky about being set just right, or else. Also, alloy wheels, aka rims, require formal lugs for alloys. Not just any cheapo lugs. If not, they will either loosen or, worse, self tighten, to the point that you break stud removing lug nut. Alloy wheels, being made out of soft material, have channels for lug nut sleeves, that should fit in and prevent any play. if you are not using proper alloy lug nuts, with those sleeves, you will bust something.
That is my first thought.
Or, perhaps, you are tightening the lugs on the bolt but the lug is not flush against the face of the wheel, either because the wheel face is not uniform any longer or there are are spacers missing that go onto the bolt with the lugs (similar to a washer on a bolt before the nut).
If just one is not completely flush from lug through the hub, it does not take much driving to start it. Before long, the vibration works the others loose.
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as above...(presuming you equally torqued lugs when mounted)
1) New studs were not seated properly, causing them to pull in farther / = loosening wheel lug nuts
2) obstruction (wheel not seated when tightened)
3) bad wheel (cones / tapers for nuts wallowed out / uneven)
4) Enemy (loosening your wheels when you are away)
All above can be fixed, tho #4 might end with you in jail.
#5 (not able to fix / must replace. bad hub / stud mount too loose)
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