I have no idea how this happened... but one of my studs broke off with the lug attached... I was driving on the highway and my car started making a dunk dunk dunk noise and this is what I found (see pics below). I took off the remaining three lug nuts, centered the wheel and as I'm tightening the lug nuts ANOTHER ONE BREAKS OFF!!! So now I have two studs left, they're not across from each other either so I'm thinking I'll need to be towed if I have a shop change the studs.






My question is - has anyone changed the studs themselves? Is it a big job - or something simple that I can do on my own? TIPS, PICS & LINKS please thanks!

 

It's not hard to change your own studs. First thing I need to mention is make sure your aftermarket rims are hub centric and not lug centric. You can get a hub-centric adapter from most any decent wheel shop. If the primary weight of the vehicle sits on your lugs, they will break it's just a question as to when.

You need two tools to do this. You need to have a 2-3lb mini-sledge hammer and a long brass hammer pin you can use to hit. Get some PB-Blast and lather up the front and back of the broken lugs. After about 30 minutes, hit it again with some more PB-Blast and then go to town. It will take about 5 minutes per lug. You will also have to spin the hub just right so the lug will pop out of the back without interfering with the flange. Once you have them out, it's very easy to put them back in. Use the lug nut to help work it back into place. You may not be able to reuse your existing lug nuts on the ones that broke off or missing.

Just out of curiosity, how long have you had those rims on the box to make the lugs go pop like that?

I didn't take any pics of my broken lugs when I did mine... otherwise I'd post em up for you. Good luck and post up your progress pics for others to see.

 

Well those are TRD rims so they came on the car. I'm sure they're centered or whatever you were speaking about. My question now is how do I get to the point where I can bang out the lugs? Do I need to remove brake pads or rotors or something? Or can I take off rim and bang them out? Thanks for the help so far.

 

so yeah i found this thread about switching to longer studs... i'm thinking i can use this process to put in new studs. i'll probably swing by the scion dealership tonight and get em.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26704

any other tips?

 

That would be it. It's the same process. You need to remove almost everything. I just noticed the TRD logo on the rims... didn't know they were available in gunmetal/black. Save yourself about $50 and do the work yourself or just have a friend do the work for you. It's much easier than I thought it would have been.

Also, if you use a brass striking pin you don't have to worry as much about damaging any of the other equipment. I didn't have to take my rotors off when I did mine.

 

Hmmmm cool. Thanks so much... I think I'll do this alone and save some money.

And I painted the rims black with pink lip... one of a kind ;)