i was trying change my wheels yesterday and one of the lug nuts is stuck to the stud and the stud spins freely. I was going to use a nut splitter but I have acorn style lug nuts. any suggestions

Well, there are many ways to fix this, but I think we need more info. Is this on the front or back? And when you say the stud is slipping, is it spinning easy or got a good amount of drag? Do you have a pretty good arsenal of tools?

it's the rear, it doesn't move freely with your finger but with socket and impact tool.

You can try a number of things.

I'd try tightening it up for a bit then back it off first, hoping the stud gets stuck in spot again... slim chance though.

Maybe putting on a big set of vise grips on the back of the stud could hold it back. If you got drum brakes, you're screwed if you try this idea.

How important is the wheel? There's ways to demolish the lug nut, but if wheel appearance is of top priority, you may want to slide the axle out and get to it from behind the wheel.

there are a couple of ways you can pretty easily snap off the stud, but you may damage the wheel.
one way is to try to tighten it back up until it gets tight enough to snap off the stud, or you can put a socket on the nut hooked up to a spinner and push up and down until the stud snaps off. it's amazing how easily those studs snap off like that.
if you are really careful, you can do it without scratching an aluminum wheel, but i won't guarantee success in that regard. maybe pile a few layers of masking tape around the offending nut before attempting it might be a good idea.

I'll try the spinner up and down system. the wheel is a stock steel ss wheel that will now have to be repainted. thanks for the ideals

if you use an impact to tighten and/or loosen your lugnuts, thats maybe what caused it in the first place, even by hand most lugnuts are way over torqued, and alloy wheels need even less.
plus most people can't resist playing "7 second pit stop" with an impact and not making sure the nuts are started properly, sometimes crossing the threads and seizing the nut.

Pull the rear cover off & pull the c-clip and pull th whole axle out. Then you can get to the back & either hold it or grind it off.

LK