MUKAK

great video from Japan, fast forward to 7:55 to see what happens

i am sure these GTR owners didnt use the cheap Ebay brand and they still failed

FASTFATBOY

Is that a lug stud or lug nut?

I have never found the fascination with lightweight parts that hold important parts on the car, like wheels.

hklvette

How much weight would that even save? five pounds at most? Aluminum fasteners are rare for a reason.

Olitho

I have been using them for almost 10 years without issue. I know a lot of others who do too.

Perhaps the best reason for aluminum is stud life. I don't get the galling on the studs with the multiple time per day wheel changes. I just periodically replace the aluminum lug nuts.

Btw - they are about twice the length of acorn nuts so I have no issue with them.

dvandentop

damn lucky didnt go into the wall

Olitho

I just watched the video. I will also add that I have seen that kind of galling on the wheel surface to the hub. That come from the lugs not being tight in the first place. I bet further research would show someone forgot to torque those lugs and they broke.

Rob Willis

Did we ever decide for sure if the failure was lugnuts?... or lug studs?

I don't know how the GTRs are setup.

I know a lot of European cars use lug studs, no?

ZedO6

The GTR's use lug nuts like the Corvette. The failure on the video is from the lug nuts loosening. The "pit crew" forgot to torque that wheel and they are trying to save face by calling it a lug nut failure. I've seen this before when all the studs shear off.

To Oli's point, Porsches have come from the factory for years with aluminum lug nuts and while the racing organizations require steel, we don't see epidemic failures of lug nuts on Porsche's that have seen track duty with aluminum lug nuts.

hklvette

Curious: How often do you replace the nuts? Any issues with galling on the nuts themselves?

Olitho

I do a lot of races. After about a year I change the lugnuts. After a while they will start to gall and that is the clear sign to replace them. It is better and easier to replace the aluminum lug nuts as they wear vs. the ARP studs.