Wheel stud replacement - DIY or take it to a shop?

[ATL Sparty]

I broke a wheel stud on my 2015 3.8 RWD. If there's nothing to it, I have the time to replace it myself. But if you need any special tools or there's a risk of really screwing something up, I'll happily pay someone else do do it What do the experts here say?

 

[Alfer]

Pay an expert to fix and warranty the work. Not worth the hassle to try to fix it yourself.

 

[joegr]

You might try a quick stab at it. If you can get the stud out, putting a new one in will be easy.
Turn the hub to where the back of that stud is unobstructed, and see if it will pop out with a few reasonable blows of a hammer. If it will, you can use the lug and a spacer of some sort to be able to pull in and seat the new stud. If a few blows won't pop it out, it may be more that you are willing to do. You'd possibly have to take the hub off and press the stud out. (You don't want to hammer too much on it, you could distort the hub or damage the bearing.)

 

[greekgeek]

It is expensive to repair at a dealer. DIY is challenging and you will need to cut the metal shield to access the studs unless you pull the hub. Good luck, and if you need brakes and rotors then replacing at the same time might save on labor for one side.

 

[arcman]

Should be easy to do yourself. There's a bunch of videos on the Tube showing how. I think the rotor is held on by two countersunk screws. If they're Philips and you can't back them out with a screwdriver, use an impact of some kind. Once off, rotate the hub and stud to a place it can be banged out without hitting anything behind it and whack it with a hammer. Pull the new stud in with a stack of washers or a larger nut under a nut of the same size as the stud. Prefer not to use the lug nut to pull it in as they usually don't have much of a shoulder to pull against.

 

[carguy75]

I broke a wheel stud on my 2015 3.8 RWD. If there's nothing to it, I have the time to replace it myself. But if you need any special tools or there's a risk of really screwing something up, I'll happily pay someone else do do it What do the experts here say?

First question; do you have any impact tools or air compressor? Second question; do you have any experience working on cars other than an oil change?

If no to both questions; then just have a mechanic do the work for you. However, if you can get access to an air hammer and slide hammer axle puller; you can just hammer out the broken stud and tap in a new one after removing the wheel bearing hub assembly.

To be honest; I would just buy a new wheel bearing hub assembly that includes new wheel studs due to having to remove the old hub anyway plus hammering the new and old studs in and out of the hub.

Note: I forgot that you use a stud installer tool instead of hammering the new stud in the hub, so it will be cheaper to just change the broken stud if the wheel bearing is still good.

 

[ATL Sparty]

Thanks to everyone for weighing in on this. Once, as a younger and much poorer man, I replaced the timing chain on a Ford 302 V-8. Based on my finances and the fact the car wasn't running, that was a "got nothing to lose" situation. Easily the most involved mechanical repair I ever tackled, but I'm still no gearhead. Based on the fact that my Genny looks and runs as good as it did when I bought it 5 years ago, there's too much to lose here. I think I'll let the pros handle it.

 

[ATL Sparty]

Update - I let Thornton Road Hyundai do the repair. 2.5 hours of labor at the dealer rate (ouch), but it's done.