So, I hate Discount Tire

[Sstupid]

I guess one of the genius techs at Discount Tire cross-threaded one lug nut on each of my back hubs. When I went to rotate my tires on Wednesday, I was met with a broken stud on each side. The piece left in the lug nuts would not come out, so I assume it was cross-threaded in there.



Luckily, the studs were only 2 bucks each and all I had to do was take the caliper off, take the rotor off, take out the e-brake shoe tensioner, hammer out the old stud, slip the new stud in the hole and use a lug nut with a spacer to suck the new stud into the hub. I had to use my 1/2" torque wrench that has about a 3-ft handle on it to get the stud sucked in. I replaced all my lug nuts, so there was the extra cost there, but it wasn't too bad.



Thank you, Discount Tire!!!!

[kmiles]

I'm with you. I had purchased two sets of tires from them and started running into a broken stud more than twice after their work. The breaking point was a morning when I heard a rattling noise before heading out on a 120 mile round trip. When I arrived home that night, I thought I had better check it out. I opened my right rear wheel cover and found I had three broken studs. This was two days after having had my tires rotated at Discount Tire. I shared my concerns with the store manager, he was sympathetic, but took no responsibility. I think they had their air power tools cranked so high that they were over-torquing the lugs to the point of cracking them. Tough to prove, but when I went around to re-torque the rest of my wheels, I could hardly loosen them without a ton of leverage.

[szh]

Yeah!

It is for this reason that I insist on them using hand tightening (no air tools!) ending with a torque wrench set to the correct value whenever I go there.

Z

[Gene Ln]

I recently found out I had one bad lug stud on the rear of my 03 M45, I didn't even have to pull the ebrake tensioner, I just turned the spindle until the one I wanted out went into the deep cavity at or near the 10 o'clock position and hammered it out and put the new one in, also using a stock nut turned flat side in and a spacer just sucked in the stud.

[ZMQguy]

Read this post and feel the need to play Devils advocate. I am not in any way going to defend discount tire. I've never worked there, gone there, or known anybody that has worked there. What I will say is this, I've been an ASE certified mechanic for over 10 years. The air tools you guys talk about are weak to put it mildly compared to the 20v 1300 ft-lbs matco cordless impact I use every day. We use torque sticks on everything. As most shops do. Never had an issue. Ever. I've only ever seen cross threaded lug nuts a handful of times in all my years. And that was always from someone extremely inexperienced. In my experience wheel studs are almost always broken while being removed, after being over tightened numerous times. Usually by DIYers that have no business even looking at a wrench.

[Sstupid]

I bumpstick mine to 70 ft/lbs.

[Gene Ln]

I love torque sticks but I dont see them used by every shop. I actually had 2 bad experiences with one shop this week. first I ordered tires off tire rack delivered to a local shop. 8 tires 2 cars. sat i took the m45 in had tires put on, no problem i got home and was doing work i went to take off tires, I have an old black and decker bull dog corded electric impact, it doesn't have really high torque but it does the job for most things, it wouldn't take off the lug nuts. That was my first clue, so then I grabbed my long bar and took them off I felt the tire trying to spin with the weight of the car on it. well I just retorqued them with my torque wrench and done. Monday I bring the other car in I tell them about how over tightened the m45's nuts were and say I only want them to torque this one to 90 ftlbs. I get it home and put it to the test some were so tight I needed to grab my 3 foot cheater bar plus the long bar

[bicsintegra]

you gotta watch people do their damn jobs these days, could have been worst. I saw a guy drive off with a new set of rims and less than a block away the front passenger wheel and rim flew off and he wrecked the car. The shop owner was so embarrassed, I just got my car and left

[bakili]

I have consistently had broken lug nuts after their service. To be exact out of all 10 rear lug nuts, over 9 months period after three services 8 lug nuts had to be replaced.