Titinium lugs bolts = Cars n Coffee

Ti is stong, light, but relatively brittle. Ti lugs bolts/nuts have been banned in many segments of motorsport. For peace of mind go with steel.. I run German made H&R steel studs and OEM steel lug nuts and have never had a failure on over 100hrs of hard track use. I just replaced all studs as a precaution. I torque to 118 ft.lbs. The 96 ft.lb value is an old carryover from the days of the aluminum lug nuts that Porsche used in the 80s. Year, yeah, the manual says 96, I know. Most lug bolts snap from constant stress due to bending loads which are generally as a result of under torque. If your wheel does not accept proper ball seat lugs/nuts, I'd get another wheel. Good luck..

 

as far as a i know, btw "here" and my limited group of contacts and enthusiasts with whom i might commiserate? i am the ONLY friggin guy to have this happen. its maddening, really.

thx. running out of options! avoid Ti... ok... i'm already driving with my t-wrench in the boot. any other advice? ??

 

why not just run studies and cone lug nuts? seems like an easy way to solve the problem

 

but it won't since studs won't eliminate the weight being trasnsferred ( if thats even the proper descriptive? ) from the wheel to hub. which is again, the only explanation anyone myself included can surmise.

i'm going with 96twins advice to try the rad lugs and johns advice to avoid the Ti. i was under the impression Ti had as much tensile strength as possible for this app.

... and thats the other thing john mentions.. the tq ft lbs. I'm upping it to 100+ as ive been at 95 religiously and that may not be helping my cause at all.

the RADS: http://www.purems.com/Products/WHEEL...50CWheel-Bolts

problem ( still ) is i cant get around the necessity of a 14mm to get into the wheel! these are 17 mmand won't fit. i'm very limited in whats out there for a 14mm head size for a 1.5 x 14 lug. THAT is my issue. that and needing the damn cone seat lug when oem is of course the ball seat 17mm 1.5 x 40mm. argh.
add: ok just tq'd them all up to 105 frt/rear. i never had heard that. woldnt that be something if this was largely ft lbs related! man that would be nice.

 

We talked about this months ago, I gave you lots of advice. I'm sill going with improperly machined wheels, PCD or lug bolt centers or tapers.

GL!

 

One issue you "may" be having is the fact that your wheels not be machined exactly for 5x120 but just a hair off. Off just enough that when you tighten the lug bolts they may be under tension which places them in constant stress eventually leading to cracking. Are the centering rings doing their job? The wheel need to be hub centric and be supported properly at the hub. It is the hub (not the lug bolts) that needs to support the load of the wheel. As I said, generally the only thing that will cause fatigue cracking of lug bolts is flexing over time which is normally a result of flex due to under torque of the bolts. There is a reason Porsche specs all lug bolts now at 118 instead of 96. The lug bolts are the same 14x1.5

 

as long as your running cone bolts into cone holes its no different than running ball seat into ball seat. euro cars are about the only cars which run these style so its not like they are magically better. american cars with 2500 hp run cone bolts or lugs and they don't fail.
the centering ring isn't that big and ince installed can't move at all so unless your missing a ring its not a factor. radium makes great lug bolts i had them on my amg and never had any problems . remember everybody goes ga ga over oz racing and they use cone as well. i had a set of 6k$ asus 3 piece wheels and cone as well


pwderhound thanx for the torque update. i never knew this and ran 96 as well. guess ill up it to 118 and see what happens

 

When I used to torque to 96, I would have to re-torque at the end of each 30 minute track session. Once I switched to 118, this was no longer necessary. I still check them after each session but they do not need re-torquing. This tells me that 96 was not sufficient.

 

last thing i want is a loose wheel at 160 mph+!

 

If the centering ring allows any movement at all then the studs would get stressed at every revolution. I'd be looking really hard at that, the wheel shouldn't budge. All the lugs or studs are supposed to do is snug the wheel to the centering piece which should do the supporting. Face of the hub and the wheel should be what keeps the hub from spinning and stressing the studs. Maybe switch to center lock? Now those look to be a PITA,

 

i got that john.i cant speak to any potential hairline tolerances that may or not be "off" obviously. but xlnt point.

yes, the rimng was the first thing i stared at talked about etc. it appears to be doing what it should. it merely sits inside of the center of the wheel. again, would be overwhelmed with joy to find this is a unequal or insufficient tq setting, as i just noted i've brought them up to 108 or so. just now, but i also have rear tires that aren't even scrubbed so the next few days the tq wrench won't leave the backseat area

with all of your your collective help, i am/will get to the source of this. i just have to find the next batch of lugs, the best steel i can find with a 14mm head or throw away the wheels and begin anew knowing a lot more than when i started. I've never done this sh*t to this car, or any car for that matter.

 

yeah, i just upped mine.. not getting younger HA

the rings are good and centered lol as where else could they possibly be! and i'm not mistakenly having ANY mixed lugs all are conical, the issue with f'star is ( again ) as you know the HOLES are 14mm while the oem is 17mm. therein lies my difficulty sourcing the proper ( and steel ) lugs. all else is the same size as oem.

 

i'm with ya man, i dont see how the ring could be moving in place, creating anything less than a snug fit. though i remember hating even the idea i needed them, at all! i was outfitting wheels to eliminate spacers

 

what about these?

 

yeah, good call. thanks. spoke with chris G at usp today and he has the spullens? which look/appear to be same/similar as link. since i'm going to avoid those fancy zzz Ti ones i should take y'alls advice i may as well just give the no profit order to chris. hell, for the wheelies alone .. but again, good catch and thanks!

unless any has any other ideas besides ditching the wheels, which come to think of it? pretty sure that was chris' advice too ha. he sure didn't try to sell me $3.00 lugs! but they'll work good as any i suppose, they will work! I'm trying to order and cant seem to be able to specify i need 40MM length. just one o those days sheesh... good eye tho.. thx again. usp has only 17mm's so this is what i need, or will at least fit and i'll just up the ft lbs and frequency of torquing the bolts. its exercise lol