Scary :S

Phal · 16 Jun 2006 at 16:51

As some of you may have already read, I recently bought myself a 99 A4 TDI

I had heard a very slight knocking sound coming from the front left wheel but it was only audible when going round corners so I wrote it off as something that I would have to get looked at soon.

The noise stayed that way until yesterday / today. It was a little louder yesterday but today as I was driving into work the noise was getting louder and louder :/

Luckily I had the car booked in for a quick check anyway so I thought id get them to check the wheel too.

As I left the car with them I noticed a bolt missing from the wheel which was bad enough! Wasnt until they drove it in and looked at it that they found that not only was 1 bolt missing, but 3 others were loose... Guy said I was lucky it didnt fall off :S

Scary :S

Lashout_UK · 16 Jun 2006 at 16:53

should have checked it then really?

I check all my wheel nuts once a week for tightness, takes all of 2 mins, because it's pretty vital

...s'along with my usual checks of fluids etc

Phal · 16 Jun 2006 at 16:55

Yeah, I know they 'should' be checked regularly and maybe this little incident will make sure I do from now on but... I guess its just one of those things I knew in theory but never really bothered to do

Zip · 16 Jun 2006 at 16:56

Has anyone here ever had a wheel fall off before?

pany · 16 Jun 2006 at 18:02

must admit, never check them. Or the fluids. Got complacent with a company car i guess.

Mujja · 16 Jun 2006 at 18:07

Never ever checked my wheel nuts for tightness.

I guess those yellow tags on HGV wheel nuts are there so they can see if a nut has come loose. You see the tags on a lot of HGVs so wheel nuts coming loose might be more common than we think.

Maz · 16 Jun 2006 at 18:24

We've had customers in the Garage where the wheels have either come loose or come of the vehicle.

Expensive repairs when it happens.

Andybtsn · 16 Jun 2006 at 18:31

Zip said:
Has anyone here ever had a wheel fall off before?

Yeah, I forgot to put a spigot ring on one of my front wheels, it's the plastic ring that sits on the hub, makes the wheel sit more snug and secure on the hub.

Came round a corner on a country road and car came to a halt and there was a big scraping noise, got out and saw the arch was sat on the wheel! My car was lowered so that's why the wheel probably didn't roll off!

Scary though, especially if it happened on a motorway or whatnot :eek:

So remember people, NEVER forget spigot rings!!