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Has anyone here run into this issue with the magnesium Speedline wheels offered on the C5? I’m talking about the pressed in inserts for the lug nut studs mine recently failed.
I had my car in the shop for some maintenance and when I got it back I noticed my front wheel was wobbling. I pulled it off and to my surprise the inserts had broken. Looks like the shop used an impact gun on the lug nuts which stretched the inserts and eventually caused them to fail. Two were completely broken and the other three were badly stretched.
I couldn’t find replacements anywhere online so I ended up making my own out of 7068 aluminum. I pressed them back in with grey silicone and so far they’ve been fantastic 1000 miles later they’re still torqued perfectly the angles for the cone on the lugs and wheel
match the originals and everything has been solid. I also gave mine a slightly smaller inside diameter for added strength compared to the originals which were cast.
If anyone needs some for theirs I can help make and ship them.
Just curious has anyone else had this happen and if so how did you fix it?
The inserts you removed should have been steel. While the aluminum insert you fabricated is harder than the magnesium, it's not harder than the lug nut. I have never seen an aluminum wheel insert.
I can't imagine what caused the original inserts to fail...
Over-zealous impact gun??
FWIW, I'll tell you what recently happened to me.....My DD is a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it has the "air suspension". About 5 months ago, the air unit crapped out, and since I purchased the "lifetime warranty", I took it back to the dealer for repairs. While there, and possibly to milk some more money from the warranty company, they gave the Jeep a "once-over", and found a leaky steering rack. Replacing tis required removing the wheels, and they found that the brake pads were about 60-70% worn and really should be replaced. I knew that, and since I was feeling a little lazy at the time, I gave them the go ahead to do the brakes.
A couple of weeks after I got the Jeep back, I wanted to take the snow tires off and put the "all seasons" on for the rest of the year. I don't know who put the wheels back on the Jeep, after the brake job, or WTF they were thinking. In order to loosen the lugs, I not only had to use an 18" breaker bar, but I also had to stick an 18-20" cheater pipe on the end of the breaker bar. I was afraid I would snap the hex off the breaker bar, before I got all 20 lugs loose!!!
The inserts you removed should have been steel. While the aluminum insert you fabricated is harder than the magnesium, it's not harder than the lug nut. I have never seen an aluminum wheel insert.
By factory all the c5 magnesium wheels have aluminium inserts, Ive never seen a steel one before, IIRC it'll oxidize, aswell as on the base wheels they dont come with inserts just the casted aluminum.
By factory all the c5 magnesium wheels have aluminium inserts, Ive never seen a steel one before, IIRC it'll oxidize, aswell as on the base wheels they dont come with inserts just the casted aluminum.
You've never seen a steel insert for an aluminum wheel before? They are widely available.
Yes, steel is more reactive than aluminum with Magnesium, but I do not recall the level. Everything oxidizes.....especially bare metal like the inserts you so nicely machined. If the inserts were over-torqued, I would be inspecting the wheels for evidence of cracking. They really destroyed that one for sure.
You've never seen a steel insert for an aluminum wheel before? They are widely available.
Yes, steel is more reactive than aluminum with Magnesium, but I do not recall the level. Everything oxidizes.....especially bare metal like the inserts you so nicely machined. If the inserts were over-torqued, I would be inspecting the wheels for evidence of cracking. They really destroyed that one for sure.
True I ment ive never seen steel inserts on c5 corvette wheels before, I did check the wheel itself for any damages and luckily there isnt any signs of damage and yes my inserts would tranish too but not to an extreme like steel
I have a set of BBS wheels, with "current" tires on them, for my regular driving, and during the winter, when the car just sits, I use the OE wheels and some old tires. I just went to my basement and took a look at the oe wheels (5 spoke aluminum). There are no inserts.......
My dad once had a 3/4 ton Chevy 4x4. I don't know who tightened the 8 lug nuts, but I couldn't break them loose with a breaker bar, so I also put a 2ft length of pipe on the breaker bar. Then I broke the breaker bar!!! My 1/2" drive pneumatic impact couldn't budge it, either. It eventually took a powerful 3/4" drive impact to do the job, and it still struggled on some of them.....
C5 Magnesium Speedline Wheel Insert Failure
