Wheel nuts came loose!(a warning)

luminous

luminous

luminous

Associate
Joined
10 Apr 2006
Posts
373
Location
Edinburgh
Noticed bad noise from rear passenger side(like a flat tyre but it wasn`t flat),and crawled to garage and got them checked out.The rear one had one bolt missing and many other loose,just waiting to come off.While i was in,another bloke had his wheel hanging by one nut.
Thing is i had them all done when the alloys were changed 3 months ago,they maybe overtorqued them.
I googled just now and apparently this happens because of knock,vibration & braking and rear passenger takes worst of it.Overtightening is a cause too,mainly by those air machines,they should always be done by hand to get correct torque.
I was due to go on a fast bypass the next day thank god it showed up before..
Just wanted to give you a heads up to get them checked regularly.
Cheers
Al
 
Why would rear passenger take the worst of it?

Im sure done correctly your wheel nuts should stay on for agesssss..... sure nothing else is up, wheels balanced correctly which may cause them to work loose?
 
I had a similar experience. I was driving along at...over the speed limit...and heard a similar sound to you, like a flat nut checked and couldn't see what the problem was. I too crawled back to the VW garage that had just changed my brakes...low and behold, some **** hadn't tightened the wheel nuts on the passenger front and was very nearly off...

Major apologies from them but jesus, I had been doing in excess of a ton when I first heard it knocking...imagine if that had come off!

Hope you car is alright and it hasn't caused any other damage.
 
I have a similar story from a while ago now:

I swapped my tyres front to back on the car - the fronts had a lot less tread than the backs, and I wanted to even things up again. Was having bother with air leaking out from my rims at the time, and after a day or so, one of the tyres had gone quite flat. I decided to put the spare on, off came the centre cap of the wheel, and I discovered that the bolts weren't very tight at all. Not so loose that they were falling out, but they weren't much more than finger tight :eek:!

Checked all the other wheels immediately, and they were all fine, but it looked as though I'd simply forgotten to tighten up the bolts all the way one that particular wheel. I was stupidly ashamed, glad that I'd only driven 4 or 5 miles to the shops in the intervening time, and thanked my lucky stars that a leaky wheel rim caused me to change the tyre...

I triple check my wheel nuts every time now!
 
The mechanic had mentioned somebody might have tried to nick em as couple others were loose on other tyres,but on an old p reg punto? and they don`t look new either.
I had an mot not 2 weeks ago at another place and i reckon because back rear rod was replaced he took wheel off and the mechanic forgot to tighten them.I will be going into them tomorrow and get them all checked out.I`m not sure i should raise the riot act tho,but i got a big scare.

I found these following quotes on net,as i`m no expert they could be wrong of course!

"Over tightening stretches the studs..."

Wheel-off accidents have gained more than their fair share of headlines lately. When wheels come off at highway speeds, people get hurt or killed. Wheels let go for several reasons. Loose lug nuts, cracked wheels and worn or damaged bearings are among the most frequent. You can check wheels and nuts quickly and easily by hand. One of the most frequent reasons lug nuts are loose is because they were over-tightened with an air impact wrench. Over tightening stretches the studs, reducing (not increasing) clamping force. That lets nuts back off. Final tightening should always be done with a torque wrench by hand. If your inspection finds one nut loose, chances are more will work loose on that wheel, and any other wheels hit by the impact wrench that day. You may have to replace the studs, too, if they’re found to be stretched.

In the UK, loss of the wheels from the left hand (nearside) rear drive axle seems to be most common and this is thought to be due to the effects of road camber and the fact that these wheels are subject to both braking and driving torque. However, as almost all wheel studs have right hand threads, which are tightened in clockwise direction, there have been several suggestions that the use of left hand threads for the left hand side wheels would overcome the problem. Again whilst this may prevent full unscrewing and loss of the nut it does not address the main cause of loss of tension in the fixing following initial tightening and the wheel would eventually be lost because of fixing and /or wheel wear and fracture.

quoted from here http://www.boltscience.com/pages/failure4.htm

Had thought of the post title `lads check yer nuts` :D
 
Last edited:
I had an interesting time in an old ford mexico (1973) where i'd put some minilite alloys on but forgot to tighten the rear drivers side...

At 80 on the motorway I heard the wheelnuts hitting the inside of the wheel arch then the car sank down at the rear, i looked in the mirror and saw a shower of sparks followed by the wheel which was bouncing about 10 foot in the air up the motorway, it actually over took me at about 70 and came to rest about 1/2 a mile away.....

1 pair of fresh pants and a new set of wheelnuts and I was away again....luckily no damage to the car (bar some worndown u bolts) / me / anyone else......
 
Wheels that have been changed should be re-torqued to the correct torque after 50 miles of driving.
Dirt,rust etc between the mating faces of the wheel and the hub can cause wheel nuts/bolts to become loose after a short journey.
 
My mates uncles had that happen to him aswell.....flying up the motorway in his 607.....back wheel cames off and rolled away lol....fricking mental :eek:

It happens on bikes to.....i launched off a huge stairset in town.....got to work.....was messing with my bike at lunch and was wondering why my wheel was awfully flexy.....ah the ****** QR was loose as hell!!!!!! :mad: :( that would have been a nasty accident if i had launched off and had no front wheel......jesus i felt lucky.
 
wilders said:
1 pair of fresh pants and a new set of wheelnuts and I was away again....luckily no damage to the car (bar some worndown u bolts) / me / anyone else......
Click to expand...

:eek: thats crazy man,how you didn`t hurt yourself or total the car is hard to believe.Reading everyone`s stories here and its surprising how many escapes there have been.I guess we`re the luckiest unlucky people :D
Had them all checked again and torque is fine from last week,phew!
 
I've had a similar experience but mine were only hand tightened by the garage after a tire change. Needless to say, I never went back to that garage again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom