Thank god that last bolt held, my wheel almost fell off... Options

[6gsillyca]

I was driving down the highway with my mom and girl doing about 110 (kph) when my car started to get REALLY shaky. It felt like loose lugs, only way worse. Both my mom and gf tell me to stop, pull over, and check the car out. When I get out, I went around the car and just hand checked all the nuts. They were all fine until I got up to the front pass wheel.

It turns out I only had ONE nut left in there. The other 4 bolts sheared off the hub. 3 of them were stilll in the rim socket and im guessing the 4th flew out while I was stopping. I fell so lucky that last bolt didnt give out, because I was in the far left lane of traffic, and if my front pass wheel came off I would have went across all 3 lanes during rush hour, doing 110, and probably wouldnt be here typing this.

What could have caused this? Is it because the lugs were SUPER over torqued?









EDIT:

Yes, those are 3 of my lugs and the bolts from the hub they attach to. There were 4 that sheared off.

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Nov 21, 2006 - 12:57 AM

[amysmojo]

had you removed your wheels recently? if so then maybe they werent tightened back on very well or something. that happened to a celica guy on here (blakout). He drove for an hour & was only a mile from my place when he pulled over to see what was wrong & found that he only had 1 bolt left on the wheel...yeah he wasnt too happy with his dad after that!! (dad forgot to tighten the bolts)

[hitcachi]

I would have went across all 3 lanes during rush hour, doing 110, and probably wouldnt be here typing this.

?

[6gsillyca]

I had the car in the shop on the 26th, but hadnt driven it again until today. I did get a work order from the shop and they did record my mileage, and ive only put on ~15 miles, so I was going to see if they are going to do anything because my guess is they overtightened the nuts.

had you removed your wheels recently? if so then maybe they werent tightened back on very well or something. that happened to a celica guy on here (blakout). He drove for an hour & was only a mile from my place when he pulled over to see what was wrong & found that he only had 1 bolt left on the wheel...yeah he wasnt too happy with his dad after that!! (dad forgot to tighten the bolts)

Yes I did, they were off a few weeks ago, and the car hadnt been driven since. the nuts were still attached, and tight, and it wouldnt have been as bad if they were just loose. Read my first post carefully. The bolts that the nuts attach to (5 bolts attached to the axle that hold the wheel on the car) BROKE off

?

about 110 (kph)

Re-read the first post, kph is kilometers per hour. That is about 68.35 miles per hour. The road I was on had a speed limit of 100 kph. So I was doing about 10 km/h (6 mph) over the limit. Okay so I was speeding, but 10 km/h isnt that fast over the limit.

[raz128]

Thats stupidly scary. Wheel bolts shouldnt break off like that due to their design; the lip on the base of the bolt should stop it from coming out of the hub.
I woulda thought that the wheel nuts would have broken way before the wheel nuts woulda done.

I suggest you do two things:
- Have a word with the garage querying if they went anywhere near the hub/wheel.
- Purchase a torque wrench and checking the remaining wheel nuts before you go any further in your Celi.

[amysmojo]

i beleive blakout's broke off as well and it was because they were not tightened on ... thats what made me think you might have had the same problem

[6gsillyca]

I'm beginning to think theat they all snapped off because they weren't tightened down enough. The uneven tensile load on them made them snap.

The shop did have all the wheels off to check the brakes last time it was in. I will be going there in a bit to try and find a solution with them.

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Nov 21, 2006 - 11:22 AM

[hitcachi]

friggin metric system and U.S. for not switching to it yet. My bad on the misread. But it would be my guess that yes they were not tighened down enough. Also, on aluminum wheels like I believe you have from your profile pics, you have to tighen them down, drive a a couple hundred miles then retighen them. But in this case, it sounds like you didnt go very far before this happened. I would contact them.

[jgreening]

Man, you are having bad luck with my car.

It sounds as though the lugs were either over-tightened or undertightened. I would DEFINITELY get a torque wrench to find out what the other lugs are at. If they are out of spec, I would ask them to pay for new lugs. Remember that you will have to get extended lugs because those came with the H & R spacers - stock lugs WILL NOT work.

[tomazws]

that's freakin' scary... Good thing you stopped to check!

[OntarioCeli]

Ive always heard that if the lugs are loose it will vibrate/ wobble like an unbalanced wheel first and gradually get worse as the lugs chew away at the rim and eventualy come rigt off or break but if the lugs are over torqued it can stress the bolts causing them to shear off due to the excessive pressure.

[6gsillyca]

I'm going to guess that the lugs were under torqued, simply becuase I was able to drive a fair distance before anything major happened. If they were overtorqued, they would have snapped at the shop, as they were tightening them, and they would have stopped after the first one snapped.

I do not have a torque wrench and it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyways:

1) because it has been 3 weeks since it was last in the shop, and they could say I took the wheels off myself, and it was my that didn't re-tighten them

and

2) I had the car towed to the shop last night, after the studs snapped, and they had the wheels off by this morning to take a look.


BTW, I do not think this is a shady shop and am very satisfied with the service they have given me thus far. Shop is owned/run by an old filipino guy and his two sons, who was supposedly a master tech with toyota for 25+ years. I have taken my other 6gc to them for the last 2 years without any problems



EDIT: Hitcachi, they aren't the same wheels that are in my profile. That is my old car, the car I'm talking about is jay's old car, and currently has Rota Grids installed.

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Nov 22, 2006 - 2:31 AM

[hitcachi]

oh ya, thats right, I forgot it was you that bought it. I remember now. Good luck with it. Hope you dont have any more problems like that with it.