Wheel nuts came loose!(a warning)

[luminous]

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

 

[luminous]

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`

 

[luminous]

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......

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
Had them all checked again and torque is fine from last week,phew!