So I decided to take a drive with my LS to florida last week. Before my journey I did basically a full tune up on my car. I changed my Lower Control arm bushings left and right (pain in the neck). Changed my oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs.. I got a full wheel alignment.. I had to get my front end re-adjusted to accomodate the rims because they're 20's.. All of this to avoid anything from happening while i'm on the road. So... I'm driving along the 95 cruising at about 65-70 mph when suddenly.. BOOM!!!! and then all I could hear is metal against metal and I had no brakes.. I instantly threw on my hazards and tried to steer my car off of the highway.. Luckily I was in the left lane. So apparently the wheel studs on my left front rim broke off completely.. They were all gone after I got my car towed... Advice to anyone with Rims on their LS, make sure you change your wheel studs if necessary because it can be very dangerous if you dont.. If my car wasn't dropped where the fender held the rim in place, this would have been a disaster.. here are some pics....

 

That is the most bizarre thing that I have ever seen on the LS. Glad you are OK though.

 

yea glad you're ok. wonder if the shop u took it too over tightened the studs. those impact guns are strong!!

 

Glad your car and most of all you made it ok.

No sh(beep)t, That's why I always use a manual torque wrench to finish the job.

 

yeah how in the world does that happen?? is the only way thats possible from over tightening them or over torquing them?? glad ur car was so low like you said or that could have been much worse. dang man.

 

First of all, I'm glad you are OK and the car did not take huge damage. I'd suggest looking into upgrading studs, other hardware, and maybe brake and suspension components when going to bigger wheels.

Bigger wheels and tires sometimes change (increase) the mass and moment of inertia of the wheel putting significantly more stress on all of any car's suspension and brake components. Think twice before you modify stock design to make sure you are not significantly increasing mass and centrifugal force that is going to stress the car's other components.

A prime and more extreme example of this is someone that puts huge tires on their SUVs while leaving brakes and other components the same. The much bigger wheels and tires weigh more and have much higher moment of inertia and centrifugal force that significantly stresses the stock brakes (designed for much smaller wheels and tires) leaving the SUV with dangerously underspec'd braking power (especially at high speeds) because of the increased size and weight of the custom wheels and tires. Same is true for significantly modified car wheels and tires.

Its weird for all your wheel studs to go at once - I wonder if they had broken slowly over time and the final remaining one or two let go when you were on the highway. Or if they all went at once it is likely the result of damage during tightening.

 

That's exactly what happened when I had a Mercedes SL. The stud suddenly broke off and I was sitting on the wheel. Luckly Mercedes uses reverse studs so it was a easy replacement.

Glad you were ok. So the polished interior of the wheels were caused by your brake rotor?

 

Holy crap dude. That must have been scary. Glad you're OK.

 

wow man that is harsh, good thing the only damage was just the rim...maybe the rotors.

where in NY are u at?

 

Glad you made it out of there alright. That sucks to have something happen like that especially after all that work. Good luck with the repairs and be safe.

 

This is the 1st place i'd go hunting for answers. THE PEOPLE TO PUT ON THE LUGS. If someone else does work on my car, i always watch and make sure they use a torque wrench. They have specs on torquing the wheels for this reason.

 

That sux bigtime but like others said it's not the studs it's because whoever put your wheels on over torqued them.

 

That happen to me a few time but not on the LS once on my grand Cherokee and a whole lot of time on my Lincoln LS everyday that car had a broken wheel stud werid. Any good thing your ok and your ride. By the looks real nice what suspension are you using? Are you still using oem struts?

 

The rim is messed up on the inside.. I looked at the spindle and it seemed a little crooked.... the car dropped on the upper control arm so thats what dug into the rim to stop the car.. when the tow truck picked up my car, all 5 wheel studs were gone except the one in the pic

Im in brooklyn

 

Im dropped on Tanabe DF210's and stock struts... car drives just as good on these springs like the oem