So I am driving down the highway going about 40 mph when i hear this shudder noise and then hear a boom and I am thinking oh shi*t. I notice my car is not level and I look out my window and I see my front left wheel roll down the highway.

My freakin wheel just flew off my car, and my car is sliding on the front rotor. I fortunately dont get hurt and traffic was very lite.

Well a tire place that installed my new wheels 10 days ago I think is responsible and I have been talking to them. I will spare their name for right now, because as of right now they look like they are going to pay for everything. They have even setup a loaner for me and this incident only happened 3 hours ago and are in the process of confirming the estimate of the body shop I took it to. The company sells alot of tires i will tell you that.. And i have RJ's on my car, and I am so lucky the wheel didnt get mashed up by flying down the road.

man, its very scary to loose a wheel while driving

The damage... damaged rotor, front left panel bowed up above the wheel well when the tire popped out, alignment, possible suspension work, control arm, knuckle, etc...

 

ouch.. any pictures???

how did it just fly off??

studs broke??? or.. etc etc.. im so curious..

 

shit..sorry to hear that, i had a tire shop crack my rim and they didnt pay for it..good to know there are still honest shops around..hope your car gets fixed soon

 

Wow definitely sucks. What I always do after I leave those tire shops is to loose the bolts and torque them all to 80. Sometimes those guys are in a hurry and forget. But at least your ok!

 

if they dotn tighten them right or enough they can unbolt and fall off. never happened to me but I saw it happen. Thats why I always check myself if they did it right

 

The Tire place didn't torque the wheel right, too tight or loose I guess. One stud was broken, but the rest were still there. The lugs completely stripped off the studs and probably flew like bullets..

I got a cell phone pic, let me upload it. I dont know how good the picture is though..

 

!@#$%^&*()

That some crazy shit. Do you know exactly what caused it to fall off? If the rotor was still on the car that means the lugs were'nt tightened, and even if they were loose the ride would have been uncomfortable and it wouldnt have taken 10 days for the wheel to finally buck.

Dam. thats a brain teaser. Glad you're ok though and i hope everything works out.

 

ouch, sorry to hear that, that is like my worst fear. Everytime someone else touches my wheels I HAVE to check to make sure they are tight. I saw this happen to someone once and it was BAD! I hope you have gook luck getting the wheel shop to cover everything and thank god you were not hurt! This could have been a lot worse...
Let us know what happens and pics please

 

HOLY FUCK!! THATS SOME SCARY SHIT BRO!! Glad your safe man cause it could've been a lot worse. They prolly hoping they can just pay for the damages and avoid a huge lawsuit.

 

I have know idea what exactly caused it to happen. I just know I had all new tires put on my RJ's ten days ago. I didnt drive the car all week either since I was out of town. The car just started to shudder and the steering wheel shook back and forth violently and then boom!

 

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...5f511b7402.jpg

That whole panel above the wheel well is bowed out too. I will have more pictures, the body shop is taking some. Its going to be a few days though.

 

Its a good practice to check tire pressure and lugs every week. I check my tire pressure everymoring at the gas station by my Condo, I normally check lugs with my torque wrench at the same time. Saves on headaches like this.

 

holy shz...I am glad no one got hurt...and you are good.

 

That picture u cant really see much, but you can see that one of the studs is gone

 

maybe you can upgrade to crossdrilled/slotted rotors now??

 

Yes, that would be nice to get cross drilled rotors on someone else's dime.

 

PB.. that's insane.. that happened to my friends while traveling in Bolivia.. unbelievable.. at least you're okay.

With your past clutch issue this is just another pita! .. I can't believe you didn't blow your stack on these nimrods.

 

Looks like you're driving a 6MT from the brembo rotors. I'd make sure your LSD wasn't screwed up.

 

Shit man, at least your alright and didn't have hit anyone else! I can't imagine what the fuck went through your head when that wheel came off

 

Whats a LSD? I know majofo, I have had a couple of bad months with my car. The clutch and now this, if everything works out ok though it will all be paid for by someone else..

 

I thought I was seeing shit when my wheel went bouncin down the road, now that we are on the topic of LSD... =)

 

But no seriously, whats a LSD? Is that really a car part?

 

Limited Slip Diff

 

Thanks majofo

 

thats crazy, at least no one was hurt. Good luck with the repairs.

 

Have them compensate you! I would try to milk the BBK Rotora. That's the least they can do to compensate for putting you and your family's life in danger! Fixing your car is not compensation, because they HAVE TO do that, since they fucked up! If they won't do that, tell them to give it to you at their cost and free install. I swear if that happened to me, I would turn their shop upside down! Simply unacceptable!

 

yes, check LSD, check your suspension, check ALL your bearings, axles, cv joints, brembo rotors, dust shield, knuckles... you name it, id demand it was checked... dont let them through some new studs on and call it a day.... the wheels are the most improtant part of the car, any damage near them can lead to danger down the road

if they refuse to repair/replace or check the other stuff out, let them know that $2000 in parts now, is better than a $5 million dollar lawsuit when it happens again... and somebody gets hurt

 

I saw some lady on the side of the interstate once that had this happen to her. From what I could tell, she did a pretty good job of getting to the shoulder. I remember thinking how much it had to suck. Glad you're ok, and good luck with getting it fixed.

 

Wow! Nasty. Good thing you're OK.

Tire shops typically do one of two things - forget to tighten the lugs or WAY over-tighten them. Neither is good for you.

Better to double check them.

 

It happened on the highway. It was a small six lane highway with 3 lanes for each way. Losing my drivers side front wheel caused my car to go to the right I think or maybe I turned the wheel a bit, i dont remember. My car sat in the far right lane and I put on my hazards, there was no shoulder so I backed up plenty of traffic for a hour.

 

Ok...playing devils advocate here....cause it sounds like they are taking care of you and you are likely lucky they are.

You stated NEW WHEELS INSTALLED 10 DAYS AGO. Did you take them back into the tire shop to have the lugs rechecked after 100 miles like most shops note on the receipt? They say that this sometimes/often happens on new rims when first installed. I think it has something to do with the finish on the wheels or something when they are new before they get scuffed from lug use right at the lug nut contact area. I have noticed this notation on receipts several times after picking up my car from tire shops after new rim installs....almost sounds like they didnt note it on your receipt so they screwed up and left themselves open.

 

I just looked at the receipt and it doesnt state anything about taking the car back to them for the tires to be checked.

 

Here is an interesting theory.....kind of goes along with my theory above...

Powder coating and nuts......

http://www.type2.com/archive/type2/099161.html

http://www.type2.com/archive/type2/098298.html

http://www.type2.com/archive/type2/152342.html

 

WTF.. Backed up traffic in HOUSTON! lol... You must have pissed off a lot of people. Good thing you didn't hit anyone or smash into the wall.

I can just imagine some good ole' boy driving his POS Chevy with vintage tires laughing at you and your rice burner.. that happened to me once while filling up my Aunt's BMW. I opened the Gas Lid and the effin thing fell off. Two good 'ole boys filling up in their Chevy truck laughed their asses off.. The damn lid was attached by a plastic hinge that cost $100.. right there and then I swore to never buy BMW (bust my wallet).

 

Probably why they are bending over backwards right now. You stated it was a LARGE tire place (assuming national)...and they know when their fly is hanging open usually.

 

More info on the same...

http://www.evansauto.procarcare.com/...dia_wheels.asp

When installing new wheels you should re-torque the wheel lugs after driving for 50 miles or so, in case the clamping load has changed. This occurs because of metal compression/elongation and heat stress. You will also verify the accuracy of the original installation. Be sure to wait for the wheels to cool down to ambient temperature before rechecking the torque value (Do NOT torque the lugs while the wheels are hot). Loosen and retighten to value, in sequence - simply repeat the same torque procedures as described here.

 

Did it strip the threads off the remaing studs?

One of the reasons for the retorque after a week or 50 miles is that the alloy wheels can expand/contract with initial temperature changes and settle in around the hub and nuts and occasionally create a loose condition.


but usually this happens slowly and you will feel vibration long before it comes off..


If the threads are stripped its more likely they were drastically over torqued and resulted in stress failure of one stud first then the threads on the remainder.

JMHO

 

Backed up traffic in hickville, I was in tomball on 249 where they ride around in their trucks with a shotgun rack.

That was an interesting read Michael Benz.

The tire shop just put on RJ's Inspyres liquid graphite. Man i am so lucky that wheel is not messed up, there was not a scratch on it and it literally bounced and rolled about a quarter of a mile.

 

Yes...it sounds to me like the failed to inform you that you needed to get them rechecked! WOW...glad nobody was hurt and they are taking care of you at the same time! Good lesson to us all....get those lugs checked after new rim installs!!! Especially on non-steel wheels. The old school steelies didnt have this problem so much...but newer alloy/alum rims seem to way more. Especially a powder coated rim that has been coated at the lug contact space.

 

I will be getting my lugs checked frequently from now on. I was very lucky, because the freeway was about to open up to six lanes going each way and i would of stepped on it to 85 mph with ease, that would of been nasty if this would of happened at 85.