BLUF: Installing Craven Speed Strut Tower Defenders and a strut stud has broken off twice now.

IN DEPTH:
I just want to see if anyone else has had this problem.

I went to install my Craven Speed strut tower defenders and one of the studs from the strut mount snapped when installing the stud extenders. I was using a torque wrench set to the correct 25ftlb.

I had the studs replaced, and had them replaced on both sides just to be safe.

I go to install the 2nd time and didn't get all the studs to 25ftlbs but I got them close, so I went on with the install. Got the plates on this time and was tightening the top bolts and ANOTHER stud snapped while tightening, again with a torque wrench to 25ftlbs.

I got the passengers side on fine, but I honestly can't remember if the stud extenders were torqued to 25, but I know the top nuts were. However, i'm still skiddish about them.

The drivers side, I know the stud extenders are not at 25 and only 1 top bolt is at 25, another is at about 19, and the 3rd is snapped off as mentioned.

I'm wondering if the strut mount bolts are just made of too soft of a metal and need to be replaced with a stronger bolt before installing? I seem to remember reading that they are very soft somewhere? Or could it be something else?

I'm sitting at ~$350 for the strut tower defenders and 1st repair cost and now I have to pay repair costs again. This time i'm just going to have the defenders installed professionally now so that any other breaks are on the shop.

 

Did you knock the strut towers back flat before install? Replacing with a stronger stud won't hurt, but my next question is are you sure the torque wrench is calibrated good? My friend had a similar issue with something unrelated and found his wrench to be off by nearly 15 pounds!

I'm not a fan of using stud extenders either, that has an effect on torque as well. While you might be putting the correct amount of torque on the nut, the extender is increasing the amount of torque on the stud as you tighten the nut.

I really like the ECS strut defender design. It uses special nuts that have a color on them to reach the original stud. No extenders required.

 

Didn't need to, they weren't deformed enough to. The plates just slid right over the posts no problem. Yeah, we haven't had the torque wrench long and have rarely used it.


That makes sense, the longer they are the more the torque.


I looked into a few, but WMW is right up the road from me, these are what they recommend, and I already have them so no sense in changing now. I'm just going to let Way do them.

 

Sounds like a plan, what brand strut mounts are you using? I replaced mine with kyb, I didn't even use a torque wrench, just tightened till then felt good and checked on them periodically for a few days.

 

Not sure on the strut mount brand. The shop I take it to just simply replaced them because I asked.

 

Stud extenders, and socket extensions don't really change the amount of torque since they are on the same axis as the original studs. A change in wrench length will change the torque values of the torque wrench, like when adding a cheater bar/extension to it, or using a crows foot not attached at 90 degrees.

The studs were possibly weak from the mushrooming/stretching, or the torque wrench is off. Also, torque wrenches are generally not accurate at the extremes of their range. Are you using a torque wrench that starts at 25 ft/lbs, or is that somewhere in the middle of the range?

 

We do have a fairly long torque wrench. ANd no, 25 is roughly in the middle and its a fairly new one too.


I talked to Way and he said I can just knock the broken bolt out and pop a new one in. He also said to not worry about torqueing them and just hand tighten, that's what he does.

 

sounds like weakened studs from mushrooming. The long wrench will make it easier to torque, but as long as you are using it as is, it should already be calibrated for it's length.

 

I agree on the hand tight, but the extenders not making a difference in torque that's not so, it's rotational torque, he may have tightened the extenders to 25, but as he tightens the nuts on after that there will still be a small amount of extra torque being added as the nuts get tighter as that puts rotational force on the extender to the stud as well.

And he says he did not have mushrooming, just adding the defenders to replace it. As well as these are new mounts, so there is no way they were effected or weakened by the car.

 

I never liked extenders so I went with VIP plates instead. They use custom machined T-nuts and the plates are full thickness without recesses for the mounting points. Not sure if it really makes any difference, but it seemed better at the time.

 

I'm diggin it, those look nice, I like that style of nut as well since it doesn't need the extenders. I'm sure that's more solid than the little bit of recess that I have but there's a point of something being enough, plus the price was great compared to the other style that I didn't even like. Before I saw the ECS that didn't need the extanders I was gonna machine my own plates and use longer studs on the strut mount. Wouldn't have looked as pretty though lol.

 

The ECS defenders didn't exist when I got mine... pretty much only the Cravenspeed, M7 and VIP that I can remember. I do like how the ECS towers also have the curved recess for the rib in the tower. The square machined recess on the M7 defenders look like a weaker design. Like you said, it might be strong enough, but the little detail of the curved face on the ECS and VIP should be stronger. Same with M7's strut bar attachment. I'm not sure why it's in so many pieces, or if it makes it weaker, but it just makes me think they designed it that way to reduce shipping and packaging costs.

 

Really sorry to hear you have had so many issues with those studs, but glad you have WMW to call on. It certainly is not normal for the studs to break under torque. 25ftlbs is the spec from MINI for the stock nuts, so we suggest the same, that's all. We have gone through thousands of these in the last ten years, and although I am sure some studs have broken it doesn't even happen yearly. That sucks it happened to you twice.

I am glad to see that VIP chose to make a full thickness plate. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link, right? I am not sure why not to like our bolt extensions, but it seems like what VIP has there is just the same thing only with the nut combined.

Third time's the charm, best of luck.

 

Not the original poster with the broken stud problem, but I probably would have gone with your Cravenspeed plates, even with extenders, if I wasn't thinking about a strut bar in the future. They were the most popular option then, and still (IMO) the best looking when mounted. They don't have that giant block of metal look, and blend in with the rest of the components under the hood.

It can also be argued that the VIP and ECS plates are only as strong as the thinnest part of the plate in the machined recess. With the forces involved it probably doesn't matter, and all of the plates are strong enough to prevent mushrooming, but sometimes it's just some minor thing in your head that makes you choose one product over another.

 

It's just a preference thing, and it's not that you make a bad product, it's the strut mount studs being weak that make me personally like the other design better. Less links in the chain as you say.

But that's why there's more than one flavor of ice cream, not everyone likes the same flavor. There are a few Cravenspeed parts on my wish list by the way so don't think I don't like the company!

 

I know, no hard feelings. Just want to make sure folks know I am out here and available to support our products, or defend them to the grave if need be.

 

"While I may not agree with your opinion, I will defend your right to voice it to the death"

---Someone on the Internet I read somewhere.

 

We just tighten them now hand tight so I think there was an issue with the torque wrench as I know we've put over 25ft lbs on them before and not broke them.
We have no issue with using the stud extenders with the Craven plates as it is nice that they will tighten down flush to the sheet metal on every car then allow the large nut be the point tightening down the plate.
We make our own WMW strut plates that just use the stock nuts, but our plates are designed to allow the addition of our strut bar later.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-str...0-r52-r53.html