Understand that a few guys here are having some issues with wheel stud on Gen3 but yesterday, I broke one and feel that some other studs have been elongated but yet to break. Has anyone found this or is it me as this car is the only one that still gets dealer servicing.
Soft wheel studs? Or severely over torqued lugnuts on a regular basis by service people using pneumatic impact drivers? I think the latter.
Wheel studs are made of hardened steel for safety and reliability (don't want studs breaking off while driving, do we?). So obvious cause of stretching is over torqueing with impact drivers. When I need new tires I always take the vehicle to Discount Tire. They always torque to manufacturer's spec and have a 2-person system in place to assure they are torqued properly. Sorry to hear of your abuse
That sounds like the "smoking gun". Talk to the Service Manager, and maybe the dealership owner? They might come around, maybe spring for complete stud replacement. And a shake-up in the service department? I wonder if the lug nuts would be suspect too?
They should be doing the final tightening of the lugnuts by hand with a torque wrench. It is usually policy for safety and quality assurance.
I always carry a torque-wrench just in case, after noticing many years ago, after parking, that one of the lug-nuts on my Corolla had backed-off to the last couple of turns - I had just collected the car from having the tyres done! Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Torque sticks are fine as long as they remain calibrated. I would worry that they change properties as they are used ('work' the metal) so may not limit torque as effectively. No substitute for a proper torque wrench, though.
