Hello all,
I just ordered a set of wheels and the company sent me standard lug nuts and basically adapters to make studs on the Mini. Should I be worried about this? They are basically a bolt with the head cut off and an allen key would be used to screw them into the hub. Then I would mount the wheels and use regular lug nuts to hold the wheels on.

It seemed a little shady to me since the Mini uses lug bolts and not lug nuts. Kinda like the cheap way around with the 'adapters' that they sent me!!

Any ideas if I should use them? If not, where would you recommend buying Mini lug bolts (tuner size)? Anywhere that is local so I don't have to order them and wait any longer? Any help would be greatly appreciated since I am not sure if I should be happy or mad!!!

 

I would be happy. Lug bolts are a pain in the neck.

 

Well, i just want to make sure that they are safe and not the cheap way out. If everyone agrees that they are fine, i'll stick with them. Just for reference, this is what was sent to me:

 

It's hard to know the quality of the specific hardware they sent you, but generally a stud conversion is a desirable thing. Makes wheel changes much easier. Quite a few people, myself included, have paid money to do this conversion on their cars.

As long as the hardware is good quality, it's not a safety concern.

 

those are great until one breaks at the hub and you can't remove them.
don't over torque it and you're fine.

there are many aftermarket stud conversion kits out on the market. :smile:
I would use a small dab of locktite on the threads that go into the hub.

honestly, i like the lug bolts as it's a lot easier to use spacers when
needed (just get longer lug bolts).

 

Ok, it sounds like I might be ok. I thought it was some make-shift thing that these people sent me because they didn't have the correct hardware. I'll get right on putting the wheels on. I just hope that the quality is good. They look nice and strong, but I have no idea unless they have markings on them that I can show my mechanical engineering buddy!!

Thanks for the peace of mind!

 

i just converted my new wheels over to studs and tuner nuts last weekend. i love it! you do want to use red loctite and don't worry about over torquing the studs because you will break the allen wrench before that happens, i promise.

 

sounds like u know this first hand!!!:smile:

 

you got that right

 

I'm okay with lug bolts. Must be a German car thing, my last 5 cars have all been Teutonic and they all had bolts and I'm used to the balancing act now. If you convert to studs and nuts, is there some kind of "beauty cap" that covers the nuts to finish it out?

 

Yea, started for me back with VWs. Bugs had them from day one. Maybe it's a small car thing?

 

I think with lug bolts you run less chance of damaging the threads. With studs, if you're not careful, you can damage the threads when installing and removing the wheels by resting them on the studs instead of the hub center. With bolts, if you ever do damage the threads, it's easy to just replace the bolt.

My A4 had bolts, not a problem once you get used to it.

 

You lucked out The rest of us had to pay to get what you got for free...

 

i got very cool tuner nuts from steve's in los angeles. pilo has lots of choices, if you want colored ones.

 

whos wheels did u get?!

 

personally those studs look like crap and I would not touch them with a 10" pole. If you convert to studs (as I have) then get the best you can find. I got mine from Turner as they are race proven and ar in fact set up for demands of racing.

The ones you show here willl almost certainly be a big problem.
What are these "adapters" you are talking of?

 

I did too, but at the same time felt they were somewhat overpriced. At about $100 for just the studs, plus more for nuts it's an expensive proposition.

Unfortunately, with this type of thing, there's not much you can do to gauge quality other than spend money on a brand, or something that looks better.

 

well yea ur right abour price its more like a rip off, but when it comes to kepin' ur wheels attached cheap insurance in my book.....i had asked what grade bolts these are cuz they dont look to be a high grade but oh well dont know for sure so wont say anythin' negative about them till i know what types of wheels he bought..

 

I got HP Racing Evo's in 17x7 from www.wheelguyz.com

I think you are the one that told me abut them??? Well, they kinda lied on the weight of them. They told me they were 20 lbs each and they worked out to be 23 lbs each, so in all, i am dropping a whopping 2 lbs/wheel total (with tires).

I love the look of them though so that is really all that matters since this car is a daily driver and not a track/autocrosser!!

Onasled, as far as the 'adapters', I just equated the wheel studs to adapters since I have never seen wheel studs that SCREW in. From what I remember, I thought they were all press fit?? Could be wrong since I've never had the opportunity to change wheel studs.

Personally, I am not going to go out and spend $100 on wheel studs. I may use what I have now, and then just switch over to some higher quality lug bolts for $30-$40. Any ideas where the good ones are? I am assuming Pilo, since i've heard it mentioned, but other than that, i am not sure.

 

yea i know i should of relayed that small detail to u about them bull shitin' on the weights Helix & myminiparts.com has sum i believe.
Als0 try turnermotorsport.com,minimania.com

 

Well, thousands of metallurgists are going to be out of work if you can really tell whether metal is high grade just from looking at it. ;-)

I have studs on my track car and would recommend them for anyone who changes wheels on a frequent basis, for instance for autocross. But for the average person who swaps wheels somewhere between twice a year (summer/winter) and never there's not much point.

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

My first car,'69 Fiat 850 Spider, had lug bolts. Hated them ever since. I used the BMP/ProMini studs and nuts on the MINI. Love 'em.

Jim Williams

 

ah, yes u can tell what grade a steel is by the colour of it!!!

i've had the luxury of using different types of studs, bolts, lugz, to be able to tell jus by looking at it. u dig !?!?!?

plus i did state that it looks like it might be low grade

 

Why don't you just use your original bolts instead? That is what I did.
As for these converter studs, I am not sure how one can see the quality of them in a pic. Remember also when you ask questions in any public forum you get responses ranging from "smart and correct" to "biased and misleading to assist a friend or a friendly company" to "completely ill informed and wrong."



Happy motoring
Herbert

 

Huh? Would you care to expand on that one in great detail? I for one am all ears.