Broken wheel stud

MICHAEL LAVENZ

MEMBER
1995 CADILLAC ELDORADO
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
320,000 MILES

I recently had the power steering fixed on my Cadillac. On the way home, the driver's side wheel studs sheared off and the tire kept rolling down the road after the car was stopped. Additionally, I found that one of the passenger side front wheel studs was gone. Would any of this be noticed by the mechanic(s) who worked on my car? I had prior work with flat tires and such and no one noticed problems with the front tires before. I would hope if an issue like this was seen, someone would let me know.

1 Reply

HARRY P

MECHANIC
2,293 POSTS

Hello and thanks for visiting 2CarPros. Well it might depend on exactly what they did to the power steering system. If they replaced the pump or rack and pinion, then I don't see where they would've even touched the wheels. They may have never even looked at the wheels. If they did, they should've said something, and they probably should suggested replacing the front wheel hubs. Over time, as vehicles age, the holes that support the hubs get a little rounded out, from years of riding down the road and hitting bumps. When that happens, the wheel studs get a little bit of mobility, and then they can either work the bolts loose, or just snap off. Basically, you probably need new wheel hubs on the front.

If it's not that, then it's possible that someone left the bolts loose, or equally likely, someone over-tightened the lug nuts, causing them to strip and break. It might have been a couple of weeks ago, perhaps when someone was doing a brake job on it or something else around the wheels. This is why you should always check the tightness of lug bolts whenever someone works down there.

With the high mileage of the car, I'd suspect that those hubs are worn out need replacing.

Harry