OK George, stop gloating. I need to check this, but I suspect the nuts are going bad, not the studs. The brake disc is sandwiched between the hub and the wheel instead of the proper and correct position, bolted to the back of the hub. Since the 70's, car companies have been shedding pounds here and there to increase their CAFE numbers. That was subject a long time ago on OPINIONS.

Your reply reminds me of a time when my parents and I went to Detroit many years ago for a funeral. We took my Mothers Toyota. On the way back, a tire started going bad. We stopped in Breezewood and saw the tire had a really bad case of belt seperation so we needed a new tire. So some young gas jockey came out and proceeded to take the wheel off. He spun his 4 socket universal wrench and it stopped. Then he twisted the stuck nut and bolt right off. I yelled for him to STOP but he started with another. Same thing, spun and it stopped. He did stop that time. After my dad got really POed, the experienced station mechanics did replace two of the bad studs with two new ones, and we got a new tire. From that point on, I had been very careful, since I witnessed total stud failure. I read in one of the car mags about a crash that had happened in a Lexus. The bill came back and was some HUGE amount, covered by insurance, but the wheel studs were about 80 bux. I figured they were made from unobtanium or some such exotic metal like that.

I just had my windsheild replaced and I can see now. The old one was badly pitted. The installer and I, a buddy of mine, were talking and he said that quite a few cars now are using the windsheild as a structural member of the car. The A-pillars are not as strong as they used to be, but he said the 700's did not use this 'technique'. The Explorer we had a few years ago would emeit the worst cracking sound, from the windsheild.