[s-cars] Donkeyitis - A tale of luck and lug bolt laxity

[Walsh, Edward]

Ian,

He says thanks for the help.

Of course, the question is, what size tap?  The lug bolts are ?mm , so the
tap should be ?mm

I was also thinking that I should buy slightly longer lugs for the RF hub as
well. With longer lugs, I could access some fresh threads deeper in the hub.
I am fairly certain the my after market rims are thicker between the conical
"seat" of the lug surface and the back of the wheel vs. stock, so
accommodating a longer lug bolt shouldn't be a problem.

Anyone know where I can buy a longer lug bolt?

Thanks a million, Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Duff [mailto:iduff at rcn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 3:49 PM
To: Walsh, Edward
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: RE: [s-cars] Donkeyitis - A tale of luck and lug bolt laxity


I'd be tempted to get a correctly sized tap, and chase the holes clean. The
torque setting is intended to stretch the lug bolt a consistent amount,
yielding a consistent clamping force. If the hub holes clean out, there
should be no change in the clamping force as a result of this cleaning. The
lug bolts are what's stretching, not the hub holes. BTW, you might want to
advise "your friend" that not only was he lucky, but also fairly astute to
both notice the situation in time, and then creatively rectify it without
causing further damage.
-Ian Duff.
-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Walsh, Edward
Sent: Tuesday, 06 May, 2003 12:50 PM
To: 's-car-list at audifans.com'
Subject: [s-cars] Donkeyitis - A tale of luck and lug bolt laxity


Let's just SAY you knew someone who didn't properly torque their RF wheel
after installing Summer rims.  Let's continue to say that this person was
doing 80mph entering a left hand sweeper on the highway when he or she felt
a severe shimmy in the front end.  This person pulled over and, much to his
or her horror, discovered that the RF wheel was being loosely retained by
only 2 of its original 5 lug bolts.

After puking in the woods, this person noticed 2 of the lugs had fallen to
the ground only 5 feet from where he parked.  Inspection of the lugs reveled
severe thread deformation/nonexistence at the length where it enters the
hub.  This person borrowed a lug from each of the remaining 3 wheels,
secured them to the RF wheel, and made his way to the dealer to buy 5 new
lug bolts.

When I get home I remove the borrowed lugs from the RF and notice that they
too are now somewhat deformed.  When installing the new lugs into the 3
holes originally found vacant, I notice that they don't just spin in freely
like the others.  In fact, only 2 lugs snug up well (but with resistance)...
One lug will just spin with little resistance in the hub hole...  So
obviously I've some damage to the hub... which I would assume means that the
overall hub to wheel tension is low (bad), even though the 4 lugs are
torqued to 85lbs, as I am torquing the lug to hub, not lug to wheel.

What is the best way for this person to rectify the situation?  New hub?
Can the threads be repaired?

I'll pass any information along as this person is a wee bit humbled,

Ed


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