Scirocco Register

Just re-torqued the wheel bolts on the front of the car, and one of them has snapped flush with the surface of the hub. Not good.

Looking at various sources, there seems to be some disagreement on whether a left-hand extractor ("easy out") will get the remainder of the stud out of the hub; am I better off drilling it? Anyone had success with an extractor in the same situation?

Also how safe will the car be to drive in the meantime? I'm not talking long distance or high speeds or anything, just around town (I need to use the car this week for work).

Drill and easy out. If the first attempt doesn't work then drill larger and use a bigger easy out and keep going, eventually the drill size will approach the thread diameter and the stud will have so little material holding it that it will collapse and fall out. Just make sure you get the drill central when you start off though. Make a good centre punch mark before drilling. Should be safe to drive but if the rozzers catch you you will get done!!
Rob

Cool, cheers for the advice. I know someone with an extractor, so that'll be a job for next weekend I think.

Thankfully my BBS wheels have centre caps, so no bolts on display... I'll probably just lay it up for the week though, and borrow a car. Better to be safe than sorry.

Have done this with an easy out before, exact same problem. Patience and it will come out eventually.

Can I ask what brand/make of easy out you guys use? I want to make sure I don't end up with something that's going to snap off at first use!

when you use the punch to mark the centre point, be sure to give it more than a good enough wack. you'll want to transmit some force through the bolt threads to help break up the tension between the hub/bolt. it'll probably be a combination of water and heat which has led to the bolt seizing.

could also be worth you checking the other bolts and maybe replacing them too, just to be cautious.

Yeah I'll be replacing all of them anyway - it actually snapped due to overtightening rather than seizing, and it turns out it was some sort of cast alloy rather than proper steel. I'm hoping that since it snapped off under the head, it'll come out easily enough since it's not tightened down onto anything.

One other somewhat related question - I have BBS RJs, which have VAG markings; can I assume that replacement bolts will be radius seats? I have a suspicion that the bolts on there at the moment are conical seats, which probably didn't help.

Got it:



Carbide drill bit into the centre of the remaining stud, and then found that it suddenly freed off and came out with an appropriately-sized flathead screwdriver. Off to get new bolts this weekend.

nice when stuff just works eh! haha.