I purchased a 2005 Crossfire Roadster Limited a couple of months ago and the owner replaced all four tires. When he delivered the car to me he told me that the Firestone that changed out the tires broke a wheel stud while it was in service. I didn't think too much of it until I took my daughters vehicle in for new tires and happened to mention it to the guy at the desk. He told me it was not a good thing and it could affect the rotor but assured me the tire would not fall off. I'm wondering how bad of a problem this could be and what I should do about it. I don't want to be driving on the freeway and have some sort of dangerous problem because of this. I'm also wondering if I the facility that broke the wheel stud should be held responsible since it could be an expensive repair on the car.The gave the man I bought it from a reimbursement of $8.28 for having done this which obviously is not nearly what it might cost to resolve this issue. I've been driving the car and haven't experienced any problems thus far. Any advice is appreciated.

 

Its not good and you would not pass the VA state inspection. Yes they should fix it and share in the cost if you can get them to admit it.

But you said broken stud????? You have bolts and one of them breaking might be interesting to remove the broken part, Iam, sure I could do it if that is the problem but Id have to figure it out, again, its a problem and needs to be addresses so as to protect the cars integrity. Woody

 

Waldig is correct; we have wheel bolts. The same thing happened to me about a year ago. I ordered 4 new bolts from TireRack for about $4.00 each. Replacement is a piece of cake.

I also agree that the remaining bolts should be checked too, since the issue may have been too much torque being applied during the mounting process.

Don

 

Thank you Woody and Don for the responses. Well Firestone already admitted it on their customer invoice and I have the service advisor's name. I'm calling it a "stud" because their invoice says "reimbursement for wheel stud broken while in service". The car shakes a little when I'm hitting around 65 miles an hour and I was thinking I need to have the tires aligned, but maybe they screwed up the other bolts and I have a loose tire for all I know. I can go by a mechanic's shop and see what they have to say about it and then contact the Firestone. Thanks!

 

I wouldn't think much of a tire store that couldn't fix a common problem like this. I can't believe they would even let the car leave their facility. The liability for this IS huge on their part especially admitting it in writing. Take it from this old cop, they need to fix their screw up for free, and put your car back into service.

 

Hey Don...since you had this happen before, how was it not a problem for you? The Discount tire guy told me that they are different on the crossfire than a normal car because they have the bolt and then whatever piece it's attached to from the inside. He made it sound like that inside part would have dropped into the interior and could damage the rotor? How did you remove it when that happened to you if that's the case? Or was he incorrect?

 

thank you..do you think I need to take it to that specific Firestone or can I go to the one up the street since I have it in writing?

 

thank you..do you think I need to take it to that specific Firestone or can I go to the one up the street since I have it in writing? I called that Firestone the day this happened and they told me they didn't have bolts for a crossfire and didn't make it sound like it was a big deal. The guy at the Discount tire made it sound likes it a big deal on the bolts as well. Sorry about the difference in font size!

 

I really didn't know anything was wrong until the tires were replaced. The "trick" was removing the residual bolt remaining in the hub. However, the tech was able to get a purchase on it and removed it easily.

Good luck..........

Don

 

I notice that you running after market rims on your Crossfire I would say that the shake at 65 is because you don;t have centic rings on them that to is a easy fix , ( By the way nice looking crossfire )

 

Since you are running aftermarket rims, you should remove one lug bolt and measure the length to get the proper replacement. Front and rear may/can be different depending on the application.

 

I posted a response a second ago to the wrong place I think...trying to get the hang of this forum! I appreciate the information on the shaking and I will pass it on to my mechanic when I hear back from him and mention it. I have no idea what those are, so I'll look it up. I took it this morning for him to check the shaking and also have to have bolts checked on all four tires. I'm going to make sure they don't see any residual of the bolt. I'm so glad I found this forum! Thanks for the compliment on the car...finally got the two kiddos into cars and I can finally have my fun two seater!!

 

Thanks for the info! I contacted the Firestone that replaced the tires and asked him about it. He pulled up the invoice and said that the bolt was already cracked and when they removed the tire it broke. But he then said that the guy I bought the car from went to the dealership and purchased a new one for them to put on. Why on earth he only told me that they had broken the bolt is beyond me. At any rate I took the car to my mechanic today just to make sure everything is okay in that regard and to see why the car shakes at around 65 mph. Someone else here was kind enough to say that it's probably needing centic rings so I'll mention that to my mechanic when I hear from him. I'm off to check to see what those are! Love this forum and thanks again.

 

My mechanic called and said that the shaking is something he can't fix and that I would need to take it to a aftermarket tire place? So now THAT sounds expensive! Can you tell me about the "easy fix" idea?? Thanks!

 

Our car wheels - hubs are designed to do the centering.. not dependent on the lugs. This might help.

How Hub Centric Rings Work - JustForWheels.com