stretched wheel studs

Heard a few people had the studs break off easily. I have had no problems and I rotate tires twice a year.

 

Look for another garage.

I hate taking any car to garage to replace tires. Shops are running compressors at 175PSI unregulated, and wrench monkeys torque wheels with impact wrenches on highest settings.

Most of the time if you got flat you won't be able to undo wheel, even if you jump on top of the OEM lag wrench. I have a piece 4' iron pipe at home to undo the lags. It is a good idea to undo and re-torque lags after service, otherwise you may be strangled on the road with flat good luck

 

Most likely, someone at the dealership used an impact wrench to put the lug nuts on and overtorqued them. A local Costco tire dept. has a bad reputation for this - my brother-in-law has had a number of wheel studs replaced due to them. He keeps going back 'cause their prices are so low.

 

Most likely the mechanic over-torqued them and broke them during your 10,000 mile service. I seriously doubt that a mechanic would spot studs that had been previously over-torqued unless they were overtorqued to the point of being broken in two.

 

Yeah free tire rotation at Costco is nice for the price.

I know that the service inside Costco is very good, but in my experience the people working in the Tire Shop provide poor customer service (this is evaluating about half a dozen Costcos).

 

I now always take loose wheels to Costco to replace tire. They over torque or cross thread the bolt/nuts all the time. They are better now but still I don't trust them or any shops.

 

you can take wheel off and inspect with magnifying glass.. and if anything wrong replace yourself or take to dealer.

here is how-to replace stud instructions:
Wheel Stud Replacement - Replacing a Stripped Wheel Stud

 

Yes I just decided to rotate tires on my 2010 prius. Had to use a breaker bar to loosen the lug nuts. when tightening/torqueing the right rear, two studs would not reach torque. i felt them stretch while doing this and one of them broke. went to the dealer and he gave me 5 new studs and 1 lug nut for free, image that!!! they also over-tightened the oil filter. gonna do my own maintenance from now on!!

 

What a horrible way to die!

 

Post deleted, question already answered.

 

Exactly. "Wheel stud stretched" sounds much better to the customer than the technician "cross-threaded the nut and stripped the threads" or "broke it off with an impact wrench".

Bolts stretch when they are torqued. That is how they fasten. A bolt can be overstretched by torquing it beyond its "elastic limit", but I don't know how the average technician would know that other than by damaged threads or a broken stud.

Anyone know what the elastic limit or yield point is for a Prius wheel stud? I would guess it is much higher than the 76 lb/ft torque spec.

 

I had a tire go flat in my garage due to a nail puncture and I had to use a long 3/4" drive breaker bar to get the lugs loose. Last person to touch that wheel was a Toyota dealer who did tire rotation. Now I just do my own tire rotations and use a torque wrench to tighten. I like rotating my own tires on all my cars since I can visually check the condition of components like brake pads, brake hoses, rotors, CV boots, etc.