Is it safe to drive if a wheel stud broke off from the rotor until I get a replacement?

 

Yes. I drove with 3 for 300 miles (on freeway). I dont recommend it, but i did. Been driving with 4 for a couple years now too (on one wheel that is) Just make sure the other 4 are torqued correctly.

 

I'm looking for a thread on how to replace the bolt. Would you know how?

 

Need an impact. I do mine sadly quite frequently. Need to hammer old one out and use an impact to bring in the other one through. There are plenty of vids on youtube on how to do it. I'm sure you can do it by hand, but would take forever, impact is like 3 minutes.

 

wait what. you've been driving around with 4 studs for a couple of years now?

 

Driving on 4 is not a big deal I just wouldn't recommend doing it for long. Replace it ASAP.

 

I've driven on 4 for over a year on my Maxima with no major problems. Only thing is the rust that will build up.

 

is it safe? no. and you know it isnt or else you wouldntve asked it in the first place.
your instincts told you that it might not be safe and thats why youre questioning it.
your instincts are usually right.

cars/wheels/hubs are designed with a specific number of studs for a reason.
now that one of the studs is missing, the torque of the wheel to the hub is disproportional,
because it was not designed to run with 4 out of 5 studs. it isnt an option to run 4 out of 5.

sure some people have done it in the past and gotten away with doing it, but some others
havent and arent alive to tell about it.

youre running at 80%. it might not take much for the other studs to break under load and then
that could lead to catastrophic failure (the rest of your studs breaking, the wheel flying off, you
losing control of your vehicle, damaging your and other vehicles or worse, hurting/killing yourself
and/or others.

so is it safe? no, and i dont think its a risk worth taking.

 

I've replaced a stud by hand... I just hammered the old one out, put the new one in, used a lug nut and a very thick washer/nut, insert the washer/nut in the stud (with the new stud already in place to be torqued) then used the lug nuts and torque wrench to tighten it all up... Not sure if you understood the process lol.... But I'm willing to help with pictures if you need it. Just pm me.

 

no impact needed. Like BBRolex said, hammer and washers. Its easier with a bunch of washers.

 

lol dude its really not safe, especially if you hit potholes.. forget it bro. i think if you take it to the mechanic shop it should cost no more then 50 bucks to change it out if you cant do it yourself ..

 

pictures and DIY please? i'm running on 3 nugs on my 21s. o,O

 

I'm shocked at how many of you have actually done this for any extended period of time. Its so easy to pop off the caliper and replace a stud.

 

4/1 missing lug= You can get by for a while but recommended to change
3/2 missing lugs=You can get your wheels on but if broken right next to each other can lead to disaster
2/3+ missing lugs= HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO NOT GET THIS FAR.

As for DIY
1. Remove wheel
2. Remove caliper and rotor assembly (optional, some cars without dust shields or easy access to the hub doesnt really require you remove caliper/rotors)
3. When your are at the hub, find lug you want to remove. If its bent, its probably best to cut it at its point before the bend.
4. Take hammer and bang out that stud you want gone.
5. Insert new stud. Since you dont want to hit the hub going forward/outward, reassemble rotor on hub and put the wheel on momentarily. Make sure you have it in enough that it doesn't bounce around. Put on lug nut on new stud and tighten so that stud pulls outward.
6. Reassemble rotor/brake assembly and put wheels back on and good to go!

There are tons of different methods but this is my driveway method that works 100% everytime

 

thanks for the write up man! my mechanic said there is a 50/50 chance of damaging bearings. Is he just BS-ing me? Can i really do this myself on a lazy Saturday in my garage? Supposedly i would need to pull against the hub bearings to access the studs and that can be hard, to the point of damaging it... and that this supposedly will take 2 hours to complete