Hi All, I am enlisting any suggestions you can offer to address a sheared off lug bolt. Yesterday, literally, on the last bolt, the 20th bolt, I sheared it off. I was in the process of switching out to the winter treads, a wheel/tire package from tire rack that included a set of lug bolts, and suddenly "things just spun out of control". I was doing it by hand with a torque wrench set at 100lbs...and no, I'm not that strong! Can these be drilled out or am I facing a new hub? BTW, I immediately removed all of the bolts from Tire Rack and replaced them with the OEM black BMW bolts for good measure. Thanks for any/all suggestions.
Since the bolt goes into the hub, your rotor is fine. I suppose you can drill it out and use an easy out. Are you able to grab any of the remaining bolt with vise grips? If you pull the rotor you should be able to grab a little more of the bolt. 100 seems a bit high, but still shouldn't have broke the bolt. Shouldn't it by 88.5 ftlb?
Thanks very much!...yep the hub, not rotor. I was guessing at 100lbs. Nothing exposed from the front, and haven't ventured any deeper. Probably need to take it to a professional.
I'm assuming the bolt is flush with the rotor? If so if you can pull the rotor you can probably get the bolt out. Rotors are pretty easy using basic tools. Probably doesn't matter the model.
Thanks Steven! The video definitely made it look doable! Can't work on it tomorrow, but perhaps Thursday. I'll let you know if I decide to venture in...Cheers
As far as immediate things to try goes, Steven's suggestion to pull the brake rotor and see if you can get it turned out with pliers/channel-locks/vice-grips (or whatever works) is certainly the first thing to try in your driveway. I've had bolts break before, and were able to get them threaded out pretty easily, because the bolt wasn't jammed in, bottomed-out against anything, or cross-threaded. If you can get pliers or vice-grips on it and it's difficult to thread out, you might be facing a problem. If the hub threads for the lug-bolt are damaged, then you may be stuck replacing the hub, which means a wheel-bearing job. I've had very old lug bolts snap, but 100 ft-lbs should not have been enough to break a new bolt unless it was jammed, or inherently weak due to a casting flaw or other issue.
I also thought of this. I wouldn't drive too much with 4 bolts. Not that the wheel will fall off but I'd be concerned about damaging the rotor. Hadn't thought about cross threading the hub but it's certainly possible. I'm assuming the bolts were installed by hand? If I use an impact wrench it's at a very, very slow speed.
Steven is right about not driving much with only four bolts. Sometimes the Tire Rack sends a set of lug bolts because the wheel in their package requires a different length bolt than the OE bolt. Have you called Tire Rack to let them know one of their lug bolts snapped?
