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'Race Studs 101'

 

 It is essential that you select the correct size nut or stud for your application. If you are unsure of what you need please consult an expert familiar with your application and the components you have on your car. The following are some of the dimensions and parameters that you need to understand about your specific application before you purchase wheel fasteners from ACS.


Type: Stud & Nut or Wheel Bolt.
Wheel bolts seal your hubs and mounting threads from the salt and weather.  This is still a good idea on a daily driven car.  However, almost all racing and performance applications use studs and nuts instead of wheel bolts. Studs facilitate faster & easier wheel changes at the track or autocross.  If you plan to install wheel spacers, longer wheel studs are a must.  Additionally some car clubs now require that you use steel nuts and steel studs if you are going to track your car.

Seat: Taper, Radius or Flat.
There are generally 3 types of seats found on OE, aftermarket and racing wheels. Tapered/Conical, Radius/Ball or Flat.

Tapered seats are common on aftermarket wheels and US & Japanese cars. These seats are usually a 60° conical seat. This is the only angled type seat we currently sell.

Radiused or Ball seats are, as the name suggests, ground on a specific radius suitable only for wheels with that exact same radius seat. This type of seat is common on OE German wheels. Mercedes often use a 12mm radius seat, VW/Audi use a 13mm seat and Porsche uses a 14mm radius seat.  "Ball seat" nuts are NOT all the same radius! 

Threads:
Wheel stud diameter and thread pitch are the most important factors to selecting the proper studs and nuts. A hub with an M12 x 1.5mm threaded hole will accept ONLY a stud with a 12mm diameter shaft and a 1.5mm thread pitch. 

Understanding Dimensional Nomenclature:
Often you will see studs and nuts listed with a dimension such as M12x1.5
The "M12" means that the stud or bolt shaft outer diameter (O.D.) is 12mm
The "1.5" designates the thread pitch, which is the distance between threads.
This is vehicle specific and must be checked.

Length:
For ACS "Track-Studs", length is defined as the total length of the stud shaft which includes the total length of both threaded and blank areas on the shaft.
The length is usually the dimension that gives people the most difficulty.  We often get the question, "I have this car, what length do I need."  This is difficult for us to answer and we usually suggest measuring. 

There are many factors which come into determining the optimum stud length for your application. Some of these factors include, wheel center design, wheel spacer thickness, brake hats, nut depth, wheel center thickness, etc. 

Hex or "Wrench Head" :
The size of the wrench you will need to use to fasten the nut. We sell the most common 17, 19 and 21mm styles.

Remember:
The list shown here is a guide only, always check the specification of your application to confirm.

How to Install:

 

 

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