Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
Weargle had stud breakage, I believe without rings (Wes, details?).
I only had one stud break while autocrossing; the ATS Comp Lites don't allow rings due to the taper where the hub contacts the wheel. The other three studs broke when using the rings on the DD Enkei RS-5's. After I have adjusted the torque from 95 to 85 lb/ft, I have yet to experience another failure.
I've broken three rear studs and one front, which kind of doesn't help your case Phil. I also wish that the Miata weighed 2000 lbs; it's closer to 2450-2550 depending on trim level, fuel level and wheel options. Nationally competitive CSP cars get down to 2250ish. I also wish that there was a 50/50 front to rear weight distribution. When we cornerweighted my car, the cross weights at stock ride heights with driver were 49.8 and 50.2. The front to rear was something like 52/48. I'm of the opinion that the marketing guys didn't understand what 50/50 balance is from the engineers and it has stuck.
The Miata front studs are the same as both front and rear studs on the Contour, but the rears on the Miata have a beefier knurl section. It's hard to harness the 110 lb/ft of torque with anything else.
And I think that you're a bit off with the loads that the front sees. Sitting on the ground, sure each hub has the appropriate weight on it, but an ABS stop from 80 puts a whisper more weight on the fronts than what you indicated above.
I stand by my assertion that the hub centering rings bear zero load when the wheel is bolted to the hub. If it did, then there'd be slop in that the wheel would move relative to the hub, and this simply cannot happen using male tapered lugnuts in a correspondingly female tapered receiver (the wheel)
Whirling dervish of FFOG.
| 
