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Tech Tip: C7 Corvette wheel studs

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  • Tech Tip: C7 Corvette wheel studs

    The C7 Corvette is a great chassis and lots of fun on track, but there are some short falls.



    Various C7 models could come with either iron brakes (above) or the optional Carbon Ceramic Matrix (CCM) brakes. We have noted some issues on the CCM versions, shown below.

    C7 CORVETTE WHEEL STUDS ARE TOO SHORT

    This is a a known issue in some of the C7 world, but we here at Vorshlag experienced this first hand in early 2020, when trying to slip a 3mm wheel spacer behind the wheels for a C7 Z06 which had the optional CCM brakes.



    We tried to sneak the 3mm spacer (above) on behind the wheel, but when installing the lug nuts we noticed - they didn't turn enough times. Hmm...



    Look at this picture above - that is the stock CCM 2-piece rotors with the OEM wheel studs. What we want to see is "one diameter" worth of thread engagement but we saw less than that when we started counting turns / measuring engagement.


    We have some videos showing how we came to this conclusion that will be added here at a future date.

    INSTALLING ARP WHEEL STUDS

    The solution to this issue above is to replace the short OEM studs with either the ARP 2.5" long or ARP 3.25" long wheel studs we sell.



    The picture above shows the OEM C7 wheel stud next to an ARP 2.5" long wheel stud, which has an extra ~20mm of threaded length.



    Once the car is in the air, remove the the front wheels then you can literally hammer out the OEM length studs.



    Getting the 2.5" or 3.25" long ARP studs installed is impossible without this next trick. Remove the ball joint nut shown to gain access to the cover panel behind the wheel bearing, then you can loosen the hub from the spindle - but you don't have to remove it completely.



    Without the added wiggle room the 2.5" long ARP stud (above left) is too long to slide behind the wheel hub. With the access gained by loosening the wheel bearing you can slide the 2.5" long stud in from the back.



    After you have started the ARP stud in from behind, use the Lisle bearing style stud installation tool, as shown above. This allows you to thread on a new lug nut (like our long reach M12-1.5 lug nuts shown here) and not damage the tapered seat or the hub face. Use an impact gun to tighten the nut and it will pull the splines of the new wheel stud into the hub. Once the impact gun stops changing pitch, stop. Check the back side, and if the head of the stud is seated flush with the back of the hub, you are done.



    Repeat the process for all 5 studs on each front hub. Then carefully reinstall the brake rotor, caliper, and wheel. Torque the M12 sized lug nuts to 85-90 ft-lbs, with a light coating of anti-sieze on the stud's threads.



    One question we get a lot is "how far do the longer studs extend past the open lug nuts?" The image above answers that - this is with our open lug nuts and the ARP 2.5" long studs. With the 3.25" long studs they would stick by 3/4" more than shown, obviously. The 2.5" long studs are good for a 1/2" thick spacer, and the 3.25" long can be used with even thicker versions.

    The rear wheel stud install is a lot more involved - and you can read about that here at the Corvette Forums.

    Thanks for reading.
    Last edited by Fair!; 09-22-2020, 02:21 PM.
    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev
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