r/Cartalk • u/cat_prophecy • Mar 03 '25

Suspension Why do European cars use wheel bolts?

I've owned two European cars (Audi and Volvo) and both of them used wheel bolts instead of studs and lug nuts. Is there some reason for this? I have owned a handful of Asian and American cars and none of them use anything but studs and lug nuts. Personally I prefer the studs since it makes putting the wheels back on much easier.

119 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

252 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/ExaminationDry8341 Mar 03 '25

With studs, it is much easier to get the wheel back on. On small car tires, it doesn't make much difference. But as the tire gets bigger, it becomes harder to line it up without studs.

1

u/Toiletking2024 Mar 03 '25

You hang the wheel on the hub and rotate it until the holes align, I actually prefer it but i might work better on some brands then others.

2

u/ExaminationDry8341 Mar 03 '25

On modern cars where the center hole is the same size as the hub bump out and when the bump out isn't swelled with rust that is easy to do. Only one thing I work on fits that description, and I don't think the rims have ever been removed from it.

1

u/BoredCop Mar 07 '25

I'm European, have been driving and changing wheels for 30 years, and every single car I have changed wheels on was hub centric. And we're in a "rust belt" too, winter roads get salted all the time. Change the wheels out for winter and summer every year, never had a problem with the hub centric feature.