Studs in the Garage!

Just showing off my new McLaren hat Christmas present. It was chilly in the garage, so the hat was a big help! Also showing off the new belt-drive garage door opener.  NMS is now in the 21st century and we can open and close the door with an app on our phones, although we didn't splurge for the even fancier one with a camera. Garage door opener trivia from the expert that installed it: if you've heard of the LiftMaster brand, they are made by Chamberlain, so you just might be able to save yourself some money if you buy a Chamberlain at Home Depot like I did, instead of a LiftMaster. We bought this new one because the old one broke. Considering it was 19 years old, it had a good run. 

Back to our blog post title today, Studs in the Garage isn't the name of a rock band, it's the latest project on the Cayman. I changed the wheels from normal lug nuts to studs. Here's how that went: 

Here's the "before" picture. 
The wheels have 5 regular lug nuts. 
These nuts are kind of a big deal. 
They hold the wheels on!
Don't leave home without them!

Step 1: old lug nuts removed.
OK, before that I loosened them and jacked up the car. I also had breakfast.

      Step 2: Wheel studs ready to be installed. They just screw in where the old lugs were. 

     The solid end goes into the wheel, and the outer end will have the 5mm hex bolt fitting         sticking out so you can tighten them down. 

Step 3: The studs will also get some of this stuff, because you do NOT want those studs getting loose and the wheels coming off. Well, I don't know if YOU want my wheels staying on or coming off, but I want them to stay ON!

Step 4: The kit came with studs, lug nuts, liquid Vibra-Tite, and this handy little 5mm tool. 
Later I bought a real 5mm hex bolt socket so I could check the torque on the studs. 
You know, safety. 

OK, the first 5 studs are in, so according to my quick estimate, there are approximately 3 more wheels to do too! Sorry my car is dirty. Caused by actually driving it. On the caliper you can see one of the two brake bleeder points. The other one is on the back side of the caliper. During this operation I found one of the little caps had come loose, so I tightened that thing down and checked that my brake fluid in the reservoir was still good. You know, because sometimes you have to STOP the car. 

Step 5: New lugs for the studs. The rounded end goes on first, so that you still have the bolt to wrench down to 96 ft-lbs. Again, because safety. 

This is a front wheel, so maybe I could have gone with a shorter than 75mm stud. 

Step 6: Torque the bolts. PRO TIP: ALWAYS go with having the wheels stay ON the car! 

Floor jack and another great present, the rolling bucket padded seat top! This made working on the wheels much more comfortable! The other great solution would be having a full lift for the car so you could get the wheels up in the air, but we don't have one of those in the garage. Yet. 

Checking brake fluid level, it's above the MIN line, and not all the way up to MAX. To get this view I have to stick my phone in a little side port to see where the fluid is resting and
take a picture. The entire brake fluid and other parts of the car in the front trunk are all hidden under plastic covers.