[Shop-talk] Lug Bolts?

[John Miller]

>     Do you?  Even on something like my F150, the best selling vehicle in 
> the country at around 1M units annually, $0.002 adds up to a whopping 
> $2,000 annual savings.  That's not enough to pay for someone to come up 
> with the idea, nevermind the engineering and tooling.
> 
>     And most of the cars with bolts are sold in vastly smaller volumes than 
> that.  It cannot be cheaper overall.

Bolts are easier to replace if the threads are damaged.  And it's easier 
to swap back and forth between wheels of different hub thicknesses.  The 
downside is that if the threads are damaged IN THE HUB it's another story.

Really, it's a cultural thing - Detroit uses studs, Europe uses bolts, etc.

As for volume, BMW is now close to a million 3-series a year between 
Germany and South Africa, IIRC, and nearly 300K 5ers come out of 
Dingolfing.

John.