riffraff

so i just left job one and on the way to job two when i hear a smack and the left drivers side rear goes down to the ground. my first thought is ****, i just broke an axel (i have been having problems with berring/wheel play. just replaced the berrings, collars, and oil seals this weekend, but that did not seem to help).. as i am slowing down to pull over i look to my left and .... gee that wheel looks fimiliar... as it rolls down the street at about 40 mph, and leaps over a tree.

i am guessing that the vibration (slop) in the berring transfered through the wheel and vibrated the bolts off.. only damage that i can imediatly see is that the rotor is slight torn up around the edges, as i drove on it to slow down and pull over. there are also some scratches inside the wheel from where it hit the rotor.

after i pulled over and got out of the car to check things out i see this family walking with their jaws dropped.. i ask them if they saw where my wheel went. they point to a house about one hundred yards down the street. and there it is, on the roof of some guys house.

specRX7_22

this same thing happened to me with my volkswagen!!! except the wheel stayed under the fender due to lowering springs. i was checkin something and i tightened the lug nuts but not torqued them. so when i was driving the steering wheel started shaking and then BANG... down on the right front. the rotor had landed on the inside of the wheel and made a spiral pattern around the inside. i guess from the shaking wheel, it stripped all the lug nuts right off of the studs while also stripping the studs, ripped a stud right out of the hub, and all 4 stud holes in the wheel were bored out into ovals.

but after some midroad surgery i limped it home and the only damage was the wheel. i was amazed. im just glad it didnt happen on the race car going 120 with my dad driving.

TORQUE LUG NUTS EVERYBODY!

riffraff

the strange thing was that there was no extra vibration or shaking... everything was normal, and then smack..

hopefully my suspension is alright. i have a tri-link setup and panhard bar back there, and will be checking both of those tonight afterwork..

luckely the wheel just shot straight out and did not get caught under the car.


i used an air wrench to tighten the nuts, but didnot check them afterwards (just figured that the impact gun would be enough)..

Sudox_E

I know the feeling. I just did several hours of work doin an entire suspension swap/4 wheel disc conversion on my friends celica. Right after we got done, it started making a strange clicking noise. At first we though one of the new struts was bad. Took it to a suspension shop, and they agreed. I guess we were all wrong, a day later, front drivers side wheel feel off while we were going 40. Wheel bounced across several lanes of traffic, and found its home in a nearby bush. Bent up the frame, cracked the tranny, messed up a control arm, ground the rotor down to nothing. Anyways, like specrx7_22 says, torque yer lugs

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

don't feel bad. i was on the race track going 120mph. front end and steering wheel vibrated. pulled into paddock. stopped. wheel kept rolling and smashed drivers fender. all 4 lug studs fell out! damn shop didn't use loctite and tried to blame me. i told them THEY installed the studs. needless to say they jacked up the car and put new loctited threads in right then and there. and i took off fender and rubber malleted it back into submission.

i did torque the wheels the previous evening!

glad it stayed on @ 120mph!

riffraff

once i figured out what was going on i was actually laughing my *** off.. the strange thing is just that there was no extra vibration, no warning that the wheel was comming loose. the seven was driving like it always does, and then the wheel was even with my door..

lotsacars

You didn't happen to get a pic of your wheel on the guy's roof, did you?

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

I was at the junkyard taking apart a 1st gen and I see a big traffic report with citation in there. the 1st gen's wheel fell off, went over freeway divider, and caused a nice sized traffic accident when it smacked a windshield of oncoming car which then spun out. Report said owners father had rotated the tires that weekend.

DOH!

riffraff

seems as this is an all to common situation..

no i did not get any pictures of the wheel up there.. (although that would have been one to keep)

brownmound

I'm surprised that this hasn't been asked already, but how did the wheel get on some dude's roof?! 40 mph is pretty fast for a lonely wheel, so I could see it hitting a curb and bouning the 10' or more required to land on a guys roof. Or maybe you are in a hilly area and the house sat at a lower elevation than the road.

And did you have to ring the bell, "Uh, excuse me, sir, my wheel is on your roof. Do you have a ladder?"

Right on.

riffraff

that is exactly what happened.. it rolled towards a curb, hit that then flew over a tree and still had the momentum to land on the roof of the guys house next to that...

he heard a bang (as he said) and came out to see what is was at the same time that i was walking up his driveway... so that helped the initial "hi. i need to get on your roof " introduction.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

How're the lug bolts on our cars made? It's a threaded rod with splines on the end and a bolt head the slides onto those splines, right? Yeeeeah... Hmmm.. Time to change that crap now...

Ugh... That's gonna make me use the torque wrench next time instead of the impact gun... I thought I could trust Snap On... Maybe I can, just not the shitty little air compressor I have.

Keaponlaffen

You're never supposed to torque lug nuts with an impact anyways

Torque wrench is the only way to guarentee your torque is correct. Too much torque = warped rotors/drums possibly, too little, and, well.... we've seen the outcome already...

In canada at least, if you can prove that a mechanic zipped your lugs on with an impact and never checked them with a torque wrench, they can get in big poo-poo.... and you can sue them if your wheel falls off, or your brakes, etc are damaged.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

At the tire shop I worked at, we had these color coded sticks about a foot long... They fit on the lugnut at one end and the impact at the other... They varied in thickness, and it was that that sets the torque... We were supposed to use either those or the torque wrench...

V8kilr

yeah impack guns blow, there good for takin stuff off but for puttin it back on your lookin for trouble,

I ahd a local tire shop balance my tires and they stripped out three of my lug bolts, I noticed a day later when they mysteriously disappeared.

I never bother to complain cause now i run nothin but gsl-se suspension which has lug nuts like just about all other cars do.

riffraff

well i have a torque wrench now, so this problem should not happen again. (cannot keep fixing peoples roofs now can i).... what should i torque the bolts down to? 90 ftlps?

Maguire

iTrader: (1)

Damn, that's pretty funny, in a bad way. How did the guy respond to the wheel attack? Did it damage his house?

In the haynes manual i think it says 80. I usually do them all to 60, and then come back and tighten the at 80. So i know they are real snug.

riffraff

he was not laughinh as hard as i was at the time, but he was not pissed or anything. i gave him my phone number and told him to call me once he got an estimate. it looks like it would just be replacing some shingles, so i am guessing that it will be less than a couple hundred bucks to fix.

Maguire

iTrader: (1)

HAHAHAHA, thats good to know. i was just hoping the drywall inside the house didnt cave in. sounds like that wheel was really flying.

Ps. get some studs. I bought some from wheelcomponets.com. dont buy the wheel "locks" though, there a total rip off and dont work right.

specRX7_22

not that your wrong, but how can too much torque warp rotors?

Keaponlaffen

Impacts can exert a lot of force on a bolt, and your rotors aren't exactly bulletproof. It doesn't happen often, but it can, especially if you don't tighten them in a criss-cross pattern.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

What kinda moron doesnt tighten in a criss-cross pattern, or star pattern on a 5 lugger...

That's on decals on some spare tires.

They really should teach that kinda **** in driver's ed.

How to change a tire, how to jumpstart a car, operation of a manual tranny, and basic maintenance or just when to take it to the mechanic.

knight1976

Hehe appearantly you havent been to your local tireshop where they hire freaking retards straight out of high school (dont get offended high schoolers unless your a retard and work at a tireshop). They dont know **** about cars just looking to make minimum wage and NOT work at Mickey D's. So yea tighten your lugnuts/bolt with a torque wrench in a star pattern and if you have to have your car done at a tire shop watch them like a hawk cuz its your *** thats on the line.


/end rant

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Uh... I used to work at my local tireshop.

Scroll up some, we had torque sticks that fit on the impact gun. Brand name was accutork or something like that.

Keaponlaffen

Just come visit my grade 12 Mechanics class....

You should see some of the stuff that happens in there