In retrospect I should have dealt with this issue a long time ago...better late than never I guess.
I have a toyota corolla S type with the aluminum alloy wheels. I bought some winter tires along with generic rims, the problem is, the studs on the corolla S were a bit too long for the rims, so the lug nuts that came with the car cannot be installed on the winter tires...
So I had the winter tires installed at a chainstore garage (non-toyota), at the time they informed me of this and they put on some generic nuts to secure the winter tires.
Obvious issue, the studs are exposed to the elements, not to mention all the chemicals and such used to melt the snow on the roads.
Now, this seemed like an issue to me at the time, but the thing is, I get my oil/filter changes done twice a year at a toyota dealership garage, and I get the tires swapped at the same time by them (winter to all season or other way round depending on the season). The fact that my toyota dealership garage didn't make an issue out of the exposed studs sort of pushed the matter to the backburner for me.
Now I'm thinking, they probably want the studs to rust off so they can charge me an arm and a leg to replace them down the line........
So thats the problem, and I need to know the following:
1) How long will it take rust to seriously damage the studs to require replacement ? How can I tell if its already too late ? From what I can tell its only surface rust for now, nothing that cant be fixed with some scrubbing, but I figure eventually the damage will be irreversible.2) How should I resolve this in the meantime ? Meaning the exposed stud ends. Can I just paint over them during the winter ? Maybe a thick wad of grease just on the ends ? I heard of winter lug nuts, but this wouldn't resolve the issue because the studs are still too long for the winter rims... How about if I put double nuts on each stud, i.e. secure the first nut to 85 ft-lb using a torque wrench, then put on another nut at a slightly lower torque setting (even as I'm typing this it seems like a bad idea, but I'm curious to know why...).
3) Now for the really bad news, how much would cost me to have the studs replaced later on ? I've heard anything from $50 for 5 studs on a wheel to $500 for just a couple...TIA