Bolts vs studs

In my opinion studs are better and are required in racing applications such as drag and nascar racing for a reason and it aint to get the wheels on and off faster only. Drag racing requires certian length protrusion of the stud past the nut for safety reasons and bolts wouldnt have the same visual ability for inspection. The bolts look prettier but studs are safer. Its seems to be a european thing, north amreican cars use studs and it sure makes wheel installation easier in shops. Go with the studs, you will find much stronger studs to attach your wheel and never worry about the wheel coming loose and passing you.

 

Get the checkbook out I just ordered up a set of bolts for the rear wheels on my 355... those suckers are $50 each. I guess only Ferrari owners are dumb enough to spend $500 on 10 bolts. sigh. Hopefully the 348 ones aren't as much...

-R

 

The reason European cars use bolts is because the wheels are hubcentric (centered on the hub) rather than lugcentric(?) or centered on the lugs. Bolts give the bit of play needed to make sure the wheel centers on the hub without binding.

FWIW all my cars have lug bolts and I hate 'em too!

 

Domestic cars also use the hub to center the wheel and use studs just the same.

 

But using studs+nuts on 348 wheels will look terrible since there is no cover/hubcap to hide the studs+nuts -- am I missing something?

Rival -- I wouldn't necessarily assume that 348 lugbolts are the right thing to use to put 348 wheels on a Mondial (although they may be perfectly OK). IMO what you should do is measure how far your Mondial lugbolts protrude past the Mondial wheel mounting surface when they are seated in the cones -- then get/use lugbolts that protude the same distance from the wheel mounting surface of the 348 wheels.

Robin -- We feel your pain , but Sponsor Hill Engineering offers F lugbolts for only L8.95 each. Almost regardless of where you are on the planet, it's the best source IMO.

 

I really don't like the bolts, and you can get lug nuts that are closed (so you do not see the stud). This is preferable in my opinion.
BT

 

DAMN. Now you tell me Thanks for the heads up!

-R

 

Good advice. I once bought a car with aftermarket wheels installed by the owner. He used the original bolts, which were so short that only three threads engaged on the front hubs! 8O

 

Thanks for the lead Steve, I need 20 new bolts for my 308 and Ill get them from hill.

P.

 

FYI My 1972 Lotus is lug centric; I thought most cars these days were hub centric but I may be wrong.

Ken

 

Most cars Ive seen are as well. They mostly use tapered nuts or bolts as well though so its kind of like wearing a belt and suspenders.

 

Bolts allow for better wheel centering than pressed-in studs due to the uncertainty of where the stud will end up at once it's press-fit into the hub. Using threaded studs in a production application would just be foolish-expensive.

I like converting from bolts to screw-in studs for the convenience.
DON'T fall prey to chicken littles (like Discount Tire) that say using screw-in studs is unsafe. The exact same bolt stretch that keeps the original bolt under tension, or the lug nut on a typical press-fit stud car on will keep both threads on your screw-in studs under tension as well.