WTF? How can a wheel fall off a car?

[HappyMom]

My husband's friend is driving with the Festy, and complained it wasn't handling well. So they bring it to the garage and when they get there, the front left wheel falls off :shock:

What could have caused this, can lug nuts suddenly loosen themsellves 3 months, 3000 miles after a tire change? What can be damaged?

The only good side is I won't be paying for the repairs :?, maybe the repairs will be worth 1/2 an Aspire brake swap.

and don't tell me to stop letting my husband use the Festiva, that a whole other issue :roll:

[FB71]

I've seen this happen. It usually occurs because the wheel was not properly torqued when installed on the hub. Some folks didn't know how tight the nuts were supposed to be, and just never got them tight enough, allowing them to work loose. Who put the wheel on the car, anyway?

[batstiva]

Agree with FB71, sounds like the lug bolts were not tightened to spec when mounted. Good that someone else is footing the bill tho.

You wanna have fun, try having one of your rear wheels snap off at 55MPH :shock:

[HappyMom]

Who put the wheel on the car, anyway?

Walmart, this is the price I pay for $15 tires, they even ask that I go back after 200 kms to get them re-tightenned :roll:

Now my husband has said that my old car is not safe, he does want to see me with the kids in it, blah, blah blah...

It fell off at a low speed on a city side street, any preditions on extent of damage?

[Kitty]

Since your husband won't give you your Festy back, make him buy you a new one. If he won't then don't give him a choice. Go find one, buy it, and firmly inform him he is NOT allowed to drive YOUR car.

[oxbrain]

Ugh, wallmart

I had them change my tires once and they tried to be helpful and check my fluids and such. The guy said I was low on oil and my pcv valve was broken. I told em I'd fix those myself, when I got the car back the pcv valve was snapped from where someone tried to pry it out sideways, and my oil drain plug was loose. Never going back there again.

[FB71]

SprawlMart...

like a damn disease....

[noreneol]

Walmart

If I were you I WOULD go back...to bitch!Once these incompetent mechanics changed my tire and accidentally damaged my brake.At first they had the nerve to deny doing it,but they were the only ones I'd gone to so I told them if they didn't fix it I'd sue them.After that I was cruising with new brakes courtesy of Dumbasses,Inc.
N.Y.

[noreneol]

Who put the wheel on the car, anyway?

Walmart, this is the price I pay for $15 tires, they even ask that I go back after 200 kms to get them re-tightenned :roll:

Now my husband has said that my old car is not safe, he does want to see me with the kids in it, blah, blah blah...

It fell off at a low speed on a city side street, any preditions on extent of damage?

That's YOUR car,not his.He has no right to take it away from you,any more than if YOU did that to him!Are you a child? No! <Maybe you need another driving shaft?>Tell him if he's so worried to either get it fixed or buy you another one.Let us know what happens.

[HappyMom]

<Maybe you need another driving shaft?>

What do YOU recommend?

One that’s longer or one that’s thicker, or maybe a bit of both? Hummmmm…
Or maybe one that just lasts longer?, but not too long!
If extra lubrication is required, what do you recommend?

[noreneol]

Driving shaft

Basically,get one that's better than the one you have now.Take it to the mechanic and see what they say.If it's too expensive,get another Festy.And don't let ANYONE drive it.I don't!
Good luck,
N.Y.

[kidcurry73]

LOL Happy mom...


I think he was refeering to the "half shaft" maybe it got damaged.


...but that funny right there!



Im not sure if the brake disk or lower ball joint hangs lower but what ever hit the ground and maybe got dragged could have been damaged.

[oxbrain]

Nothing worse than a torqued drive shaft. :shock:

The rotor could have hit the ground and chipped (unlikely)
Check that the thin metal cover thing behind the rotor didn't get bent to where it interferes with anything.
Check the lower control arm where it hooks to the frame to make sure that mount isn't smashed. (unlikely)

Other than that I can't think of anything that would be damaged by a low speed touchdown.

I've never had a wheel come off like that before. I'm amazed that all four lugs came out before they realised anything was wrong. A wheel with only two lugs in will jiggle worse than richard simmons backup dancers. Check to make sure none of the lugs had a sudden failure and stripped or bent the hub.

[Tim]

A front wheel fell off my buddy's truck. Seems the shop who did some work on it forgot to tighten the bolts.... :roll:

They ended up paying for the damage done to the truck when the wheel detached at 40 mph...

This is why I do my own work on the Festiva....



Regards,

Tim

[mechanicaldj]

HERE IS A GOOD ONE FOR YA:

I was working for a Midas in Bethesda, MD. One day I was finishing up a brake job on a Buick LEwhatever, when the assh*le boss decided that I should start on a rush job instead! I tried to explain, but he didn't want to hear it, hey the wheels were on so WTF! So I went to the Volvo rush job, did the job all the while paying close attention to watching the boss pull the Buick outside to the service lane for waiting customer. when I saw the customer approach the car , I calmly picked up my torque wrench , went to the car, without saying a word proceeded to tighten my finger tight lug bolts. after I was done, I shot my boss a wicked look, walked to my festy and drove into the shop , loaded my tools, and left. the next day I showed up, less tools, my boss tried to convince me to come back, i told them shove their paycheck and left. A few weeks later I got the paycheck anyway by mail.