Wheel flew off today!

FearDark

Had a lucky escape today, my front hand left alloy wheel flew off in front of me as I was driving along a back road in Galway, the hub dropped onto the ground and I skidded along on it for about 30 feet before nicely resting in a ditch, my wheel landed a bit further up the road than that! Luckily I was only doing about 25mph at the time because of the condition of the roads (seriously flooded in parts).

After inspection of my wheel hub there was obviously no nuts left on it anymore and 2 were damaged possibly from wheel flying off. Beside where the car was in the ditch I found a ring, this ring fitted into the back of the alloy wheel perfectly so Id assume it was in behind it when the wheel came off. There was shards of metal on the alloy from where the nuts/threads were worn down.

I bought these alloys second hand and I fitted them myself, after a few days driving around with them I decided to get new tyres all around and I dropped them into my local tyre center who changed the rubber and re-fitted the wheels.

Ive asked my uncle and he says that this ring possibly shouldnt be in behind the alloy, its definately off the alloy too, its the same colour as the alloy.

Whats everyones take on this? Im not looking to blame anyone really, I just want to know how this could happen. I drove 200 miles yesterday, a lot of it was on dual carrigeways and motorways so you are looking at 100kmh and 120kmh there, I mean if the wheel flew off yesterday Im sure thing wouldnt have ended up much worse.

galwaytt

....mmmm, could be anything, really.

Loose nuts ?
Wrong nuts - most alloys require special nuts, you can't assume the ones of your old wheel will work........?
Dodgy, fault wheel ?

unkel

A wheel came off? :eek:

*shudders*

argosy2006

sounds like wrong nuts if you used the ones that were already on car,,did u say u got new tyres, who fitted them,,, did he leave nuts loose by mistake,,,, if only wheel came off and no hub then its was the nuts that were loose of wrong,,,, if hub came off with wheel then wheel bearing failed,, but you said only wheel came off right?

you dropped the wheels into get tyres fitted,not the whole car? then you could have left nuts loose? who turn wheels off and put them back on

JHMEG

Is it a spacer, to push the alloy out slightly off the hub? Is there one on any of the other wheels?

carchaeologist

If the nuts came loose on a front you should have noticed it in the steering wheel first?
Im guessing you possibly used the wrong nuts on the alloys,and they worked loose?It has been known to happen.

FearDark

galwaytt wrote: »

....mmmm, could be anything, really.

Loose nuts ?
Wrong nuts - most alloys require special nuts, you can't assume the ones of your old wheel will work........?
Dodgy, fault wheel ?

argosy2006 wrote: »

sounds like wrong nuts if you used the ones that were already on car,,did u say u got new tyres, who fitted them,,, did he leave nuts loose by mistake,,,, if only wheel came off and no hub then its was the nuts that were loose of wrong,,,, if hub came off with wheel then wheel bearing failed,, but you said only wheel came off right?

you dropped the wheels into get tyres fitted,not the whole car? then you could have left nuts loose? who turn wheels off and put them back on

I used the same nuts that were with the origional alloys on the car yes. Brand new tyres, theyre on it a few weeks now, could the wheel nuts have been tightened properly? The last person to touch the wheels on the car was the guy at the wheel center. No, the guys in the wheel center had my car for a few hours, i assumed they would look after everything for me in there, I didnt check anything when I drove out of there.

JHMEG wrote: »

Is it a spacer, to push the alloy out slightly off the hub? Is there one on any of the other wheels?

Ah a spacer, thats what my uncle said, I dont know if they are on the rest of the alloys as it was pitch dark by the time I got home and I was destroyed in mud so I left it.

FearDark

carchaeologist wrote: »

If the nuts came loose on a front you should have noticed it in the steering wheel first?
Im guessing you possibly used the wrong nuts on the alloys,and they worked loose?It has been known to happen.

I noticed a shudder right before it came off, I had just gone through a flood and I assumed it was the brakes (pumped them a few times) and drove on for about half a mile before the wheel came off.

Dero

I had a similar experience years ago. Not as bad because the wheel didn't actually come off. It was a standard steel wheel as supplied on the car. I had new tyres fitted and never checked the nuts after. A few days after I noticed a shudder/noise developing.

When this got bad enough, I went investigating, only to find all of the wheel nuts on the front near-side wheel were hanging on by a couple of threads. The vibration/shudder had worn the nut holes in the wheel larger.

Needless to say, I have (as I should have all along) checked wheel nuts carefully after every tyre change since!

kona

Pretty sure you would have been told to re-check the wheel nuts after X amount of miles by the wheel centre.

Also If those wheels had spacers too big, you would need to fit new studs. If you didnt it could mean that youd never get the correct torque on it.

daveharnett

FearDark wrote: »

The last person to touch the wheels on the car was the guy at the wheel center.

Sounds like he tightened the nuts with the air ratchet, and didn't bother to torque them properly afterwards.
I'd say he owes you a new alloy, brake disk and probably a hub tbh.

FearDark

daveharnett wrote: »

Sounds like he tightened the nuts with the air ratchet, and didn't bother to torque them properly afterwards.
I'd say he owes you a new alloy, brake disk and probably a hub tbh.

And bumper and bonnet on a car that parts are literally impossible to replace.

kona

FearDark wrote: »

And bumper and bonnet on a car that parts are literally impossible to replace.

What car is it?

Bonito

sounds like nuts weren't tightened after they tyres where changed,i always check mine after gettin a tyre changed,you'd be surprised how many times one or two nuts arent tightened properly or even at all!

FearDark

kona wrote: »

What car is it?

200sx b14 basicly an Almera Coupe with a 2litre engine, theres one other one I know of but its not for sale, parts online are a nightmare, 3 months of looking, doing deals, people not willing to ship glass etc etc, now it needs a bumper and a bonnet too its a write off.

Midnight_EG

With a car that rare, I'd part it out if you can, most places wont give fook all for it damaged =[

Voodoomelon

Sounds like spacers were installed, and the bolts were never changed to longer ones at the same time. You could torque the screws all day when in fact the bolts aren't long enough in the first place. I've heard this happen before.

kona

FearDark wrote: »

200sx b14 basicly an Almera Coupe with a 2litre engine, theres one other one I know of but its not for sale, parts online are a nightmare, 3 months of looking, doing deals, people not willing to ship glass etc etc, now it needs a bumper and a bonnet too its a write off.

**** that sucks, those cars are really nice. If you are going to try blame the garage. Dont tell them its rarity or cost of repair until you get them to admit(very difficult)

Senna

What did the ring look like;
Spacer is the large round metal thing in middle, spigot rings are the small circular colour rings on the right.



It could have been a spigot ring that wasn't the correct bore for your hubs, meaning that the tyre fitter could have tighten the nuts fully, but the alloy would not have been 100% square on the hub.

JHMEG

Spacer could have prevented the nuts being tightened sufficiently to keep the wheel on. You really should check the other wheels.

cascade35

Make a big fuss of this, go to the garage and get it sorted, there has been a lot of people killed on our roads this week, you could of been next(thank god you are ok),
If someone at the garage is at fault he could do it again and the next person might not be so lucky.
It needs to be brought to the managers attention so steps can be taken to prevent it happening again.

Drummerboy08

FearDark wrote: »

I used the same nuts that were with the origional alloys on the car yes. Brand new tyres, theyre on it a few weeks now, could the wheel nuts have been tightened properly? The last person to touch the wheels on the car was the guy at the wheel center. No, the guys in the wheel center had my car for a few hours, i assumed they would look after everything for me in there, I didnt check anything when I drove out of there.

daveharnett wrote: »

Sounds like he tightened the nuts with the air ratchet, and didn't bother to torque them properly afterwards.
I'd say he owes you a new alloy, brake disk and probably a hub tbh.

cascade35 wrote: »

Make a big fuss of this, go to the garage and get it sorted, there has been a lot of people killed on our roads this week, you could of been next(thank god you are ok),
If someone at the garage is at fault he could do it again and the next person might not be so lucky.
It needs to be brought to the managers attention so steps can be taken to prevent it happening again.

Im sure if you check your invoice, your recommended to check the nuts after x miles/days to make sure they didnt come loose.

If they were on it a few weeks, did you check the wheels at all? Lots of shouts for the garage to take responsibility here, but imo, its the OP's fault for not checking his wheels.

On top of that, A few weeks is a long time to leave, and then go to the garage saying your wheel came off. If it was one or two days, yes its possible, but I dont think loose wheel nuts would hold a wheel on for that length of time without the OP at least noticing a wobble in the steering.

balcan

If your in Galway you could try the lads down Headford way for parts for your car,They imported Jap cars till that went to sh*t.Now they deal in parts for imports.They had a place beside the Trading post petrol station on the Galway rd out of Headford.Sorry have no number for them but one of the lads is a Murphy who have the tractor garage on the Shrule rd about 1 1/2 from Headford,I think they are working out of there now.

mickdw

Tbh, no garage are going to take responsibility for this.
Firstly, you replaced the alloys (yourself it seems) yet you have no idea whether the car has spacers fitted etc so you basically have no idea if the bolts were long enough. Secondly, you used the bolts from the original wheels which most likely are not suitable for the alloys due to the shape of the taper at the head of the bolt.

If you had a car with manufacturer spec wheels and the wheel came off half a day after having the tyres done, well yes, you would have a case but not here.

JHMEG

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

its the OP's fault

mickdw wrote:

no garage are going to take responsibility for this.

->

FearDark wrote:

Im not looking to blame anyone

Muckie

Jesus, frighten stuff, something similar happened to me a few years
ago, back wheel came loose, car woppled and lost control, luckly skidded
into an embankment(5.30 in the morning), turned out the nuts werent
tightened enough. Happens folks!, always double check your wheels
when changing tyres. Then pull in a few miles down the road, recheck.
Finally check when you get to your destination.

dollydishmop

Had something similar on a journey with my ex- once...

Having just done 40+ miles of motorway at 70+mph, turned off the motorway, up the sliproad, just slowing down for the roundabout, and *bang* *bang*, one rear wheel came off, swiftly followed by the other. Both came flying past us, one on each side and the back end of the jeep (Diahatsu Fourtak) dropped to the ground. Still skidded a fair distance before we stopped completely, even thought we were slowing down at the time it happened.
One wheel had enough momentum to cross the roundabout and land well off over the other side, and the other wheel veered sideways, bust through a post & rail fence and into a field.

Checked the front wheels and both were barely held on by two locking wheel
nuts, no conventional wheel nuts left at all.:eek:


Asked around himself's neighbours a few days later and some revealing info transpired.
Chavvy neighbours were seen messing with the alloy wheels and had been chased off by another neighbour, who forgot to mention itb to us...so we are assuming they'd tried to steal his alloys, and had been stumped by the locking wheel nuts...so, its quite possible we drove from East Sussex to Hampshire with only two semi-tight wheel nuts on each wheel...(as you shouldn't over-tighten locking wheel nuts)...could have been a whole lot worse! But scary sh*t nonetheless!

JHMEG

JHMEG wrote: »

Is it a spacer, to push the alloy out slightly off the hub? Is there one on any of the other wheels?

^^^

If they are spacers then you need longer bolts not the standard ones!!!!

rebel.ranter

unkel wrote: »

A wheel came off? :eek:

*shudders*

This happened to a colleague of mine a few years back, he was driving a Land Rover Discovery on the N7 at the time, one of the other lads was asleep in the passenger seat at the time. Apparently the wheel hopped the central reservation & traveled 1/4 mile narrowly missing a truck!!