Hit a pothole...

MORE SPEED

MORE SPEED

MORE SPEED

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2008
Posts
2,535
Location
Reading
So yesterday I hit a fairly hefty pothole in Wales and after having a look for any damage, there was a massive egg shaped bulge in the sidewall. Didn't feel like risking the 110 mile drive home so thought I'd put the spare on and sort the tyre out later.

Tried to undo the bolts and all that happened was the wheel wrench bent (thanks Peugeot!). So had no choice but to use my breakdown cover to change it, who are Start Rescue.

First guy turns up, undoes the 3 non-locking bolts, commenting "I thought you said they were tight", and then on the locking wheel bolt happens to shear the head clean off the bolt with barely any pressure. Great.

He then left and another guy turned up to transport the car back home, where it's now sat.

I did a bit of research and apparently the bolts are designed to shear when the wrong locking socket is used, or if the socket isn't in the right orientation (which I'm pretty sure is what's happened here).

Now I thought I would easily be able to claim the cost of getting this fixed back from Start Rescue, but on reading the terms it says they aren't liable for any damage caused by the recovery operator.

Does anyone have experience in claiming for anything like this?

Secondly, both fronts were Michelin PS4's with about 3.5-4mm of tread. I obviously need at least one new one, but would you replace both fronts at the same time? The difference in tread depth is making me a bit cautious, but is it something to worry about?
 
Of course they are liable if they damage your property. If they wrote in a contract, “If we murder you we are not liable” do you think that would stand up?

Question is what you can do to enforce it. Complain to the company first, expecting they will reject it. Take legal advice. Maybe small claims court.
 
Garages doing wheel nuts up way to tight is quite common (and annoying). They airgun them on instead of torquing them properly :/

If you over-tighten them by to much your actually supposed to replace them as it causes them to lose their shape. Making them more liable to coming loose or breaking, like what happened here.
 
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They weren't over tightened, they were torqued up correctly. The problem, as I said in OP, is that the locking wheel nut has an anti-theft measure built into it so that if someone tries to remove it incorrectly, the outer collar splits from the stem.

Anyway, been to 4 garages and none of them will touch it. I've been given the number of a guy who has a lot of experience in removing Peugeot bolts, so will see if he can do it.
 
MORE SPEED said:
Anyway, been to 4 garages and none of them will touch it. I've been given the number of a guy who has a lot of experience in removing Peugeot bolts, so will see if he can do it.
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Why won’t the other garages deal with it? Have you spoken to the recovery people? I’d do that first before doing anything to resolve it yourself.
 
MORE SPEED said:
the locking wheel nut has an anti-theft measure built into it so that if someone tries to remove it incorrectly, the outer collar splits from the stem
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Did you inform the fitter that the car had shear design locking nuts?

Reading around on the items that french manufacturers use, they're prone to breaking remarkably easily even if you're removing them correctly.

Can't see you getting very far pursuing this with the recovery company.
 
NewGamer11 said:
Why won’t the other garages deal with it? Have you spoken to the recovery people? I’d do that first before doing anything to resolve it yourself.
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Because of the type of locking wheel bolt, they wouldn't be able to remove them with the tools they have, as there is the only thing to grip is a spinning collar.

I've sent an email to them before going to the garages, but I'll give them a call too. I'm trying garages first as I need the car to commute to work.
 
Kenai said:
Did you inform the fitter that the car had shear design locking nuts?
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Would you have known what type of locking wheel nut the car uses? I'm not sure that should effect his job either, as using the key correctly shouldn't yield any problems. I've just gone and loosened the other 3 myself with no problems.
 
I know what type my car has, yes.

You've got a type of locking nut that reading around suggests fail easily even when used correctly, you've phoned a recovery company and told them the bolts are so tight you've bent the supplied wrench and then the bloke has had one of the shearing bolts fail. I don't see where you're going to get any joy chasing them for this failure.
 
Kenai said:
I know what type my car has, yes.

You've got a type of locking nut that reading around suggests fail easily even when used correctly, you've phoned a recovery company and told them the bolts are so tight you've bent the supplied wrench and then the bloke has had one of the shearing bolts fail. I don't see where you're going to get any joy chasing them for this failure.
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Congratulations, impressed with your knowledge. Would a member of the public, not so knowledgeable with cars as you perhaps, also be expected to know what type of locking wheel nut (bolt in this case btw) their car uses and then give the recovery bloke a run down before he has a go? Give me a break..

As I've mentioned above, the other 3 locking bolts have come loose with no problems, so it's pretty obvious it's user error in this case.

I appreciate the pessimism, as I'm a pessimistic man myself, however I've had much joy with chasing them for the damage as they are going to cover the cost involved with repairing it.
 
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