Nice little story to this one. I was installing my new AEM cold air intake. Everything went well. Install went great. I also just bought a new Craftsman torque wrench (the clicking kind) to replace the old spring one I had been using.

So, I set it to 100ft lbs. tighten the lug nut on up waiting for the click and then SNAP. Snapped the lug stud right off. Further testing on 80ft lbs with the other 4 shows that it didn't always click. It seemed very inconsistent think I have a defective torque wrench. I directly blame the torque wrench for allowing me to torque it right off.

Anyway, the point of this post is to ask for any specific advice on how to do this repair job myself. I've searched the forum here and read a few similar posts and searched Google. I guess I'm not totally clear on what it takes to get the old lug out on the Cobalt specifically. I just want to make sure I know what I'm getting myself in to.

1. I know I need to remove the caliper and rotor, but do I have to remove any ABS ring on the cobalt to get the old lug out?

2. How do you get the old lug out on the Cobalt SS? Can I pound it out with a hammer if the C clamps I have don't do the job? Or does it need to be screwed out? This seems like it will be the hardest part of the job. I would hope they are not welded or anything like that on Cobalts.

3. To put a new one back in, it seems alll I need t do is push it through the hole a bit and then use washers and a lug nut to pull it the rest of the way.

Has anybody done this on their Cobalt SS thus far? Any pointers or advice would be helpful. Thanks.

 

isn't 100 lb. ft. way too much?

 

nope...but if it wasnt reading right...100 lbs. isnt too hard to crank...you prolly hit 150 or something ridiculous.

 

They hammer out I had one break on my rear drum and the cover needed taken off and hit the stud with a hammer until it comes out put the other one in and pound it most of the way in and then take the lug nut and tighten it on the stud, no wheel, and it should seat itself, and 100lbs is just right for a 5 lug.

 

pull the rotor off the car and then take a small sledge hammer and pount the old stud out. after you get the old stud out put the new one thru the hole. get either one really thinck washer or several smaller ones and put it over the stud you are putting in. then screw a lugnut (preferably one you don;t have to use to put the wheel back on with) and screw it down till it hits the washer/washers. if you have an inpact gun it works better but either way you keep screwing the lugnut down (which pulls the new stud into the hub) until the head of the stud (sounds dirty right?) hits the back of the hub and your done. reassemble the brakes and put the wheel back on. good luck!

 

I've broken two already

 

2 have broken on me as well, guy at work noticed otherwise I would have had no idea

 

yeah watch out though its like 7 bucks just for a lug nut thats insane

 

Ok. Thank you for the feedback. That doesn't sound too bad. Pound the old one out, stick the new one in.

I won't be able to work on it until this coming weekend. I assume that as a long as I don't drive my car hard, 4 lugs should hold the wheel on well enough to get me through this week?

Seems all my good luck with the car has run out recently. All sorts of things have been happening lately. Most seem to be attributed to simple luck of the draw though.

In the past two weeks, the sunroof broke, I've got a new whistle that varies with RPMs that started around the same time (guys at the dealership can't hear it well and haven't been able to fix it.) and now the lug. At least that's three!

At least the car generally seems to be driving well. I guess I'll count my fortunes! And as a side effect, I've been learning alot more of how everything is put together when I have to fix everything.

 

Yes you will be fine with four lugs until you can get it fixed. The manual calls for the lugs to be torqued to 100lb/ft.

 

broke one off, but heck the studs are only like $1 at autozone, and it took about 5 minutes to completely swap it. there's no reason to ride on around on 4 lugs when it's that easy to change

 

Thanks for the help last time gentlemen. It was a bit of pain getting the new lug stud in, since there's barely any room, but it was doable. A few taps with hammer did the trick last time. I say last because it happened AGAIN WITH A DIFFERENT TORQUE WRENCH! SAME WHEEL(different stud though)!

Jesus.. SOMETHING is wrong here.. So, this time I was using a strain gauge type?, the cheaper kind with the moving needle.

Now being that I've busted one of these off before, I don't tighten them all the way to 100ft lbs. anymore. Yet, STILL.. on the way to a bit past 80, SNAP.. Busted another.

These lug studs are NOT made to handle 100ft lbs. They are full of crap, just like listing 5 quarts for the SS/SC in the 2005 manual. WRONG.

GM and their cheap studs are really irritating me now.

Has there been any kind of TSB on this? This just doesn't seem right. I've worked on lots of cars and never had this problem. Now, I've done it twice in less than a year.

I am never tightening them past 80ft lbs again. I don't have a heated garage and it's damn cold to do any work this time of year. I can look forward to another piece of my Saturday down the drain to fix this again.

 

I wonder if you torqued them to 100 Newton Meters instead; the torque wrench has both scales.

 

Ive broken 3 studs before.

The use sintered steel, which is powdered steel that they compress to make "metal"

One of these days someones wheel is going to fall off their cobalt and GM is going to get big **** over it

 

I had it backwards - 100 Nm is actually less than 100 ft-lbs.

 

Torque them with an impact gun, thats the only way to go!!!

 

The French have cars with only three lugs............

what is it with the five anyways? The cheaper Cobalts only get 4 and just about everyone in Europe has 4. WTF is up with 5 - we're paying for extra **** we don't need

 

Don't mean to necropost, but it was my topic and I have more to add.

I went about a year and a half with no more snapped studs, however about 2 months ago busted another one just past 80ft lbs. On the front again. Something's gotta be defective. It tightens fine up to a point, goes a little more without additional tightening and then snap.

I have never had any issue with the rear studs. I can tighten them up to 100ft lbs every time. And also, the ones I have replaced behave perfectly as well.

I'm considering busting the rest in the front to vent my frustration, and replace them all as preventative maintenance! In the meantime I'm now smart enough to keep extra studs on hand for on the spot repairs. I've had to take that blasted caliper and pads off so many times now and haven't even had to do a break job!

 

sounds like you have defective studs or they have been stressed from overtorqueing

 

Have you got custom rims,use snow tires on steel rims.
Maybe you have the wrong lugnuts.
The ones for Aluminum rims have a different angle on them then the ones used for steel rims.

If someone overtightened them before with a impact gun then they would have been stretched and will break easily like you found out.

 

does ARP make wheel studs for the balts yet?

 

I know for me, I've broken many, but not on my Cobalt. On my 94 Intrepid I had a set of 5 lug Enkei wheels, and I was told 100 lbs. I broke many wheel studs because I hadn't found the torque wrench, I had used the air gun. Then I found the wrench, but by then I had broken about 4 or 5. Havn't had the need to worry on the Balt yet as I don't have wheel rims.. and won't if this job of mine continues to give me one day a week.

 

ding ding, we have a winner! I work in a tire shop and the wheel studs on Cobalts are no worse than any other vehicle. If they are torqued correctly ALL the time, they don't just snap......unless you've either overtightened them at one time or another or cross threaded them.

 

It probably has nothing to do with the wrench, the lugs are just worn. I had to replace at least on evertime I took a wheel off on my 94 Lebaron GTC.

 

Ive never broken a lug before and Ive takin hundres of wheels off cobalts.

I generally use a impact gun with a 80lbft torque stick, then use a tourque wrench ( SNAP ON ) to get them to the final torque.