Author Topic: labour time to change a wheel stud?  (Read 1373 times)

Offline AllanPearson

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labour time to change a wheel stud?
« on: September 03, 2010, 03:32:47 pm »
I go to get my new tires put on and get a call from the shop saying that two of my lug nuts are seized to the stud and that one stud is striped. they told me it would take them around 10 hours to replace all three studs.  talked to another shop and they said 45 minutes tops for each stud.

Am i getting screwed here?

anyone know someone thats up for the job, or a good shop to take it too?


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Offline Richard Clark

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2010, 03:45:48 pm »
it takes no time at all to change a wheel stud, that fist shop is ripping you off forsure.

Offline Sy Haw Wong

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2010, 03:58:06 pm »
Glad you went and got a second opinion.

A lot of shops try to pull a fast one on you cause they think you are an idiot.

Everyone has been in that situation around here where some shop mechanic made a choice to try to rip a customer off.  Honestly, its really their lost of business because of that.  Not to mention they can potentially tarnish the name of that shop.

So which shop was this???

We will remember to avoid this place.


Offline AllanPearson

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2010, 04:38:00 pm »
i only went to this shop because of how close it was to my house and my one of my tires were flat, plus i just thought it would be a quick switch of the tires.

Grandview Tire & Auto Centre Ltd is the name.

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Offline Graeme H Burvill

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2010, 05:55:21 pm »
Get some WD and a few extra sockets you can smash on to the stuck studs. This method will destroy the studs and the socket but at least you can get them off, if you have access to a torch you can try adding some heat to get them off. I have extra wheel studs everywhere so when i have a problem like this i just smash a socket onto the stud and wratchet it off. You can go to ctire or something and just buy cheapo sockets to use. i would look at the cost of this method compared to how much a shop is going to charge you.
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Offline Mikael Mikkelsen

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2010, 10:44:00 pm »
Its not hard its just more elbow grease...or as we say in Denmark "knuckle fat"

Get a nice 5lb small sledge, take the abs off if you have it, if you dont, its easier. If your going to remove it ever, nows the time

Also I suggest getting 1 extra nut, you can use it to tighten the stud. I did this on my explorer and took me an afternoon, But I didnt have an abs issue, but i did do all 5 on it, cuz I dont like doing things twice.


The best advice I can give you is:

DO ALL 5

Seriously, dont fuck around....

When one goes it puts strain on the others, obviously your putting pressure on the studs for them to strip & break. The rest MAY be weakened. Do you want to loose a rim going down the hiway and die?




You can FOR SURE do it yourself, just take some time on the first one, and the rest is pie.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2010, 10:49:00 pm by Mikael Mikkelsen »

Offline Brett Haviland

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2010, 07:08:15 pm »
well we have to know a couple things....

first of all 1G ABS and 1G non-abs are different on how you get the studs out.  1G ABS require the complete removal of the knuckle and a press, you have to press the hub out, then you can remove the studs to be able to be able to get at the wheel studs because the ABS ring is in the way..  usually when you press the hub out you will destroy the wheel bearing so you will have to buy a new bearing as well to put back in when it all goes back together. Taking the old wheel bearing out can also be problematic as the outter race tends to sieze into the knuckle/spindle.   This can take a couple hours or more depending on if anything is siezed.  10 hours to replace the studs on one hub is a gross over estimate.  I would say probably around 2-3 hours is the norm for that job on a 1G ABS.... 

On a 1G NON-ABS its super easy beacuse you can just hammer out the old studs and put the new ones in without having to deal with the ABS ring...


On a 2G i beleive its pretty simple job as well cuz the hub/bearing assembly is not a press on unit like the 1G's have.  But if its siezed on there it can end up being very difficuly and time consuming.  Not sure if you can hammer out the studs and replace on a 2G without removing the hub.

Good luck!



But if you have a 1G ABS and had to replace studs on both front sides then i could easily see the job costing over $1000 with new bearings and all the labour to replace them.
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Offline John Hartman

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Re: labour time to change a wheel stud?
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2010, 07:27:12 pm »
1g studs on an abs car are that much of a big deal??  Holy crap.  Good thing my wheels and tires never stay on for long enough to get seized in place, wow...

10 hrs is probably still too high, but its gonna be like Brett said, with parts, labour, shop supplies, tax etc.
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