How to Calculate Lug Stud Length
Video tutorial on how to determine your vehicle's correct lug stud length when purchasing new lug studs. It is always good to have the correct length as using loud studs too short is a major safety hazard which can risk your life, as well as others. Not all vehicles are equipped with lug studs, a majority vehicles on the road have studs with lug nuts instead.
Tools/Supplies Needed:
- stiff wire
- tape or marker
- vernier or tape measure
Have a stronger stiff wire about 5 inches or 13 centimetres long and then stick the wire in the hole so it pokes through the backside of the threaded hole a small amount and spin the hub which will determine if there is any interference in the backside. Using pliers, bent the tip of the wire at a 90 degree angle, don’t make it too large as it won’t fit in the hole, this is only needed to hook on the backside of the hub. Using a piece of tape or a marker will work too, mark where the face of the hub is on the wire once you hook it on the backside of the hub. Using the vernier or tape measure, remove the wire, then measure between the tape and inside of the hook. This measurement is “H”.
Determine what the length of the lug stud is where the taper stops at either the shank portion if equipped or the threaded portion. This measurement is “T”. Insert the lug stud into the hole as it would normally go in and then measure the exposed portion which meets the wheel hub face. This measurement is “E”.
Subtract E from T which will give us our wheel thickness measurement that we will call “W”. If you don’t have a lug stud on hand, then simply stick the depth probe from the vernier in the lug stud hole and stop at the base of the taper, which will give us our value of “W”. To determine the length of the lug stud, add H and W which will give us our total length which we will call “L”. H + W = L
If we have spacers, the spacer thickness will be S which would bring our equation to H + W + S = L
