Hey guys, I had a pretty interesting day. The chevelle and I are home safely now.

STORY:

Worked on the chevelle and got the kickdown hooked up so I went for a test drive. It seemed to work good around the town so I decided to jump on the freeway, go a few miles and go home. So I get on the freeway and everything's nice and smooth. I get off and flip around and head back. I accelerate to get in the fast lane (going roughly 75-80mph) and hit a very small bump in the road. All of a sudden a loud pop occurs (close to a gun shot sound) and the front passenger side of the chevelle nose dives into the pavement! The next thing I know i'm spinning in circles to the right (luckily heading towards the slow lane)!!!!!! I was scared as * and just along for the ride. Thankfuly there weren't really any cars right behind me or next to me! After spinning a good 2-3 times I come to a stop! One problem, I'm in the middle of the freeway, sideways, stopped!! Cars were coming so I did the only thing I could think of, I floored it and hoped for the best! It payed off as I fishtailed my way to the shoulder!!!


WHAT WENT WRONG?:

ALL FIVE WHEEL STUDS ON THE PASSENGER SIDE ROTOR SNAPPED!!!! Thats why there was no vibration or any clunking before hand. Plus, they snapped BEHIND the knurling, so I know there was no movement or anything, just crap parts. It pissed me off cause I did a cheap "Duracrap" brake job just to get me by for the summer and this is what I get! It grinded the bottom half of my rotor pretty good. Oh, and mag wheels will produce giant slivers when rubbed against!

WHAT I LEARNED?:

First of all, do it right the first time! Secondly, stick to american made parts. Thirdly, the front of my car is the perfect height (nothing important scraped the ground) but the rear needs some work (the car started to tip during the spins due to the extra high rearend). Also, when doing an emercency brake job on the side of the road watch where you lay the greasy bearings(they seem to be very found of gravel and quickly make buddies with it!:clonk:)


WHAT I'M THANKFUL FOR:

My luck. My practice with doing doughnuts. The tire shop having my tires on backorder so my new wheels weren't on the car when it happened!

Wow, good save.

What are you torquing your lug nuts to?
125?

What are you torquing your lug nuts to?
125?


No, I've always torqued them at 80-85. In a criss-cross pattern. I've always been careful when installing wheels cause I learned that lesson as a young kid. A wheel almost fell off of our suburban cause the tire shop didn't tighten them down.

Did it do any damage when the wheel left the wheel well?

LK

Ive never had any problems like that but I have had a few close calls with other idiots on the road.

1. Driving the Chevelle through town. Looking in the rear view mirror I saw a Ranger swing out quickly. I figured he was going to pass me and try to squeeze in between me and the car that was in front in the other lane. Sure enough he flew by me and cut me off. Luckily I saw this coming ,because I have delt with these idiots plenty :p. So I let off the gas and slowed down a little bit. Crisis Averted. But if I was not watching him ,and I hadn't slowed down, he would have clipped the front end of the Chevelle and probably spun out.

2. I was driving the Chevelle to a friends house. Some moron in a mini van pulls out in front of me from one of the side streets. I have to brake pretty hard to not hit him. And you know what happens next? Some stupid old lady pulls out right behind the van. Now I have to cut the wheel down to where I'm heading torwards the curb so I don't hit her.

The expression on my face must have been pretty harsh because that old lady looked a little funny.

I have plenty of other stories about idiots out on the road. But those are the two that really stick out.

I messed up big time once out driving that thing. I was making a right turn on a red light. There weren't any cars coming when I started to go. I screwed up and almost stalled it. The car keeps rolling. Now I am halfway out into the lane I'm turning in and here comes this big black BMW SUV from across the intersection. There wre some trees hanging out a little bit which would explain why I didn't see the car when I went. I am a very cautious driver but something went hay wire that one time.

I practically dumped the clutch and took off. Horns are going off and I'm taking off like a bat out of hell. Well I guess it wasn't that bad I didn't spin the tires at all.

I know nothing happened ,and I am very thankful for that. But things like that still bother me. I always wonder how did I screw up that bad.

I had something similar happen. I was mad one day leaving work in my 64 Chevelle and did a really large, obnoxious, sideways burnout into the street. Just like you, a loud bang and the back right corner fell. I ripped all the studs outa the axle. I jacked one corner of the vehicle up a time and stole one stud and nut from each wheel. Then drove home VERY carefully on three studs.

BTW: Never get in the zone. Oreily's has MUCH better parts for decent money. The other place has angered me more than once which is why I don't shop there anymore.

So why do you think the studs snapped? That's pretty unusual. Could they have been pulled through too hard and cracked when they were installed?

You are lucky man!

Ok, I Have A Set Of Duralast Rotors That I Bought From Autozone For My 70 Chevelle But Have Not Installed Them Yet. Is Anyone Else Having Problems With Them ???

No, I've always torqued them at 80-85. In a criss-cross pattern. I've always been careful when installing wheels cause I learned that lesson as a young kid. A wheel almost fell off of our suburban cause the tire shop didn't tighten them down.

FYI, stock 7/16 studs per the factory service manual are supposed to be torqued to 65 ft-lbs. I don't think 80-85 would fail the studs, but it's certainly too much torque. My bet is on crappy studs, or the rotor wasn't machined properly and didn't let the wheel completely seat against the rotor.

Losing a wheel at speed is not fun. I was a passenger once with a friend for a "wheel-departure" incident. Messed up the front fender pretty bad... on a brand new paint job.

Well, I've seen studs snap from overtoquing, but the usually snap at the knurling or inbetween the knurling and the threads. These actually snapped (well, the two that were left in the huat of the rotor) inbewteen the knurling and the flange/raised part of the stud.

I went out and looked at it today and it does have more damage than I thought. The wheel well moulding is bent and the fender's bracing (The flat part near the battery tray) is bent. The brace for the bottom of the fender broke, and the bottom extension (from the wheel well to the bumper) bent outwards causing a bad crease near the corner lights. Oh, and the brand new ball joint had it's zerk fitting broke off.

So today I went to autozone to get my money back. Before hand, i removed the driver's side rotor also. Guess what I found, one of the studs was wiggling on that rotor too! I brought them in and was rightfully angry and the guy started going on about incorrect installation. I showed him the driver's side and he said that it was fine. They let me borrow a hammer and every stud (except one)came out with a gentle tap. Then he starts saying how the knurling doesn't "grab" untill you start to tighten the lug nuts. At that time the customer next to me is cracking up and can't believe the BS he's hearing. I demanded my money back and they said they'd issue me a company check in the mail. :mad: So for the next 20 minutes I sat there arguing about why they wouldn't honor their warranty. Finally, they gave me my money back.

The only other factor that I can think of to cause this was the rust issue. Those rotors rusted a week after installation. I don't see this causing too much of a problem but who knows.

I think the lugs were just heat treated incorrectly.
They were prob very hard and got brittle near the end.
Otherwise they should have broken in a tread somewhere.
All five going at once is amazing.
Have a machine shop somewhere do a rockwell test to see how hard they are.

Yikes you are lucky it was slow traffic. I once put a set of Cragars on my 60 chevy. Drove about a mile and heard a klunking in the front. Got out and the unilug holes were starting to round out. The unilug nut were just the right length to start to tighten down on the rim so it felt tight but to long to tighten all the way. Ruined 2 wheels and learned to check the lug nut length.

Rian,
Please dont take this reply the wrong way, I am only concerned with your safety and well being.

I have been working on cars for over 40 years, and have been in the business for 20, and I have seen some broken studs but every single time they broke it was due to some type of installer error. I was going to address the lug nut length but Patrick beat me to it. If the lugs are too long, the wheel could move around some and it would make the studs come loose in the rotor. Also, others have mentioned making sure the wheel is sitting all the way on the rotor etc. I doubt seriously that the studs broke because of a defect. Make sure when you get it back together that you check all these items and your torque wrench too.

Be safe,

Glad you're O.K. and the car isn't too badly dinged. Get a new pair of underware and listen to what the other guys are telling you. We all learn some lessons the hard way sometimes.

Rian,
I had the exact same thing happen to me many years ago. I put a new rearend together for a Camaro I had, including new studs, and was driving it down the road and the rear wheel fell off and passed me. After I cleaned out my underwear I discovered that all the studs had snapped. I took the studs to a local engineering testing lab and it came up that the metallurgy was horribly substandard. One phone call to the manufacturer, (with the engineering report in hand), and the damage was taken care of. Of course they wanted the studs back. They got four. I've still got one, as a souvenir.
:beers:
Mike

WHAT WENT WRONG?:

ALL FIVE WHEEL STUDS ON THE PASSENGER SIDE ROTOR SNAPPED!!!! Thats why there was no vibration or any clunking before hand. Plus, they snapped BEHIND the knurling, so I know there was no movement or anything, just crap parts.


DUDE!! Same thing happend to me just after making the DMW test, man did I feel stupid having to be towed back into the parkinglot of the DMW's and having to borrow tools to fix it.....five minutes earlier I've been bragging about what mint condition the Chevelle was in.
I'll newer buy parts from the dicount carpart shop again.

Im not trying go get on your case either. I have personally never seen 5 studs all break in one shot like that either. It is possible they were weak to begin with. Duralast rotors are actually better quality then a lot of other rotors out there. Did you get the wheel seated against the rotor with the weight off the ground before you torqued them down?

Rian,
Please dont take this reply the wrong way, I am only concerned with your safety and well being.

I have been working on cars for over 40 years, and have been in the business for 20, and I have seen some broken studs but every single time they broke it was due to some type of installer error. I was going to address the lug nut length but Patrick beat me to it. If the lugs are too long, the wheel could move around some and it would make the studs come loose in the rotor. Also, others have mentioned making sure the wheel is sitting all the way on the rotor etc. I doubt seriously that the studs broke because of a defect. Make sure when you get it back together that you check all these items and your torque wrench too.

Be safe,

The stud length was irrelevant in my case as I was using cheap open lug nuts. The wheels were sitting tight against rotor to the best of my knowledge. Plus, I've put well over 400 miles on the car since the brake job and never had a vibration, shutter, clunk or anything.

I have always tightened the lug nuts with the wheel off the ground. I go slow until the conical shape of the lug nut sits in the conical shape of the wheel. Then tighten them, lower the vehicle and check the torque.

No, I've always torqued them at 80-85. In a criss-cross pattern. I've always been careful when installing wheels cause I learned that lesson as a young kid. A wheel almost fell off of our suburban cause the tire shop didn't tighten them down.

Well, that might be the problem.
When I said 125, I was joking.
The proper torque for the 7/16-20 lug nuts is 60-65 ft lbs.
You're overtorquing the stud by 20 lbs. NOT GOOD.
Overtorquing will stretch the stud and it will break.
You need to replace all of the studs that you have torqued to 85 lbs because now they are all stretched and it's anyones guess when they will fail. I am dead serious.

Noticing when a stud is starting to stretch is a very delicate act. You have to have a very good feel. I am one who can feel it. When a bolt doesn't hold torque, I can feel it.
The other day I was tightening the header bolts down on some BBC aluminum heads on a friends dragster as he was trying to get to Friday night test and tune. He was in a hurry and I was helping where ever I could. I pointed out one hole that would need looking at when he got back as I didn't feel that it ever took torque. The threads were starting to pull.

Anyway, I have snapped off many 7/16-20 wheel studs on purpose. Sometimes it's easier to snap off the stud by tightening it, to get the wheel off an old car when you are at the wrecking yard. I usually only do this on the front with drum brakes, because nobody ever needs the front drum hubs. (if anyone does, email me and I'll send you a box full of them).

Rian, here is a good way for you to determine the feel of too much torque on a lug nut.
Go to the wrecking yard and find an old GM car with front drum brakes and wheels still on it. Take your star wrench or whatever you use and tighten the nut down until the studs snaps. It's not hard to do. I can twist them off easily. Then you'll see what happens when you overtorque.
Heck, I've snapped plenty of studs trying to loosen them when they are very rusty.