Wheel Almost Fell Off

[Aikouka]

I don't know how it happened, but after driving about 2 miles today (never breaking 30mph) to run and errand, my mom and I heard a pop noise and the steering wheel was really jumbly when going over the road (it's a dirt road.) My mom asked "what's that noise ... is it the engine?" and I said "No, it's coming from the wheel" ... thinking it was just a rocks, I kept going until I reached home. My mom said "maybe the tire's flat." So I went out to look at the tire, and lo-and-behold the tire looked flat. Then when I looked at the face of the rim, I saw there were no lugnuts!

I don't know HOW they came off, because I tightened them myself and even when driving the car yesterday there was no problem. Does anyone know what could have caused the lugnuts to come off? And all I can say is, I'm LUCKY I have the aluminum rims or else the threads on the wheel hub would have been ruined, but it looks like they just dug into the rim a bit. Does anyone have a hypothesis on how this could have happened, and if I need to replace anything? I'll go snap a picture to help visualize the results.

The first one is the wheel hub and I tried to crop it to just show the studs. You can see the dug aluminum into it and after a small look, I noticed that one stud might have ruined a part of a thread, so it might have to be replaced. Any remark (even funny to help lighten to mood ) is appreciated.

 

[leakyfaucet]

Someone pulled a damn dirty trick on you!
You didn't take it to any shops recently did you? They may have messed with your wheels and forgot to put the lug nuts back on.

The wheel can stay on without lug nuts. Often times, the corrosion on the wheel to rotor surface will hold the wheel on, which looks like your case.

 

[Aikouka]

Someone pulled a damn dirty trick on you!
You didn't take it to any shops recently did you? They may have messed with your wheels and forgot to put the lug nuts back on.

Nope, I put the lugnuts back on last, and we had to go find them since they popped off while on the road. They were tight enough, because I tightened them while the car was on the ground (after already tightening in the air.) I've never had this happen to me, even after putting multiple tires back on after getting a flat tire, working on shocks, etc.

My passenger's side wheel looks fine, though. Well, I was also using a steel lugnut (the steel ones are bigger in size and they stick out), but that shouldn't be a problem since the other 4 are meant for the rim. None of the lugnuts were overtightened, I'm just glad the wheel didn't pop off or I might have had to replace the brand new rotors I put on the front . Maybe I'll just use my dad's impact wrench to put the lugnuts on this time.

EDIT: As a small update, some of the aluminum is stuck into the threads, so I had to go at them with a small triangular file, and it seems to be working great. One stud might not be salvagable, though. I'll have to see how that goes.

 

[ozzeran]

Nope, I put the lugnuts back on last, and we had to go find them since they popped off while on the road. They were tight enough, because I tightened them while the car was on the ground (after already tightening in the air.) I've never had this happen to me, even after putting multiple tires back on after getting a flat tire, working on shocks, etc.

My passenger's side wheel looks fine, though. Well, I was also using a steel lugnut (the steel ones are bigger in size and they stick out), but that shouldn't be a problem since the other 4 are meant for the rim. None of the lugnuts were overtightened, I'm just glad the wheel didn't pop off or I might have had to replace the brand new rotors I put on the front . Maybe I'll just use my dad's impact wrench to put the lugnuts on this time.

EDIT: As a small update, some of the aluminum is stuck into the threads, so I had to go at them with a small triangular file, and it seems to be working great. One stud might not be salvagable, though. I'll have to see how that goes.

I wouldn't advise you to use a impact wrench to put those nuts on with.

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

I had that same thing almost happen. I was driving and one of the lug studs broke and lossened the rest of the lug nuts and they almost came off.

Very scary.

 

[Aikouka]

I wouldn't advise you to use a impact wrench to put those nuts on with.

I talked to my dad and he told me to torque the bolts down to 90 ft*lbs. So I did that after repairing each thread with a small file. Unfortunately, one of my lugnuts might be unusable, since I don't think I have a tap to fit in so clear up the threads.

L2, I was lucky it was at low speeds so it wasn't really scary, but the car was really jumpy at low speeds. But when I noticed it, I can tell you I wasn't too happy .

 

[BUCK]

Buy new Lug Nuts, Chase the Stud Threads with a Die Nut or replace them, Use Anti-Seize on all your Lugs from now on.

 

[ozzeran]

I talked to my dad and he told me to torque the bolts down to 90 ft*lbs. So I did that after repairing each thread with a small file. Unfortunately, one of my lugnuts might be unusable, since I don't think I have a tap to fit in so clear up the threads.

L2, I was lucky it was at low speeds so it wasn't really scary, but the car was really jumpy at low speeds. But when I noticed it, I can tell you I wasn't too happy .

yeah that will be fine. when i took my wheels up to discount tire to be balanced the specs said 100lbs which i think is a lot, but 90 i think is perfect, i used to put that much on my mustang.

 

[ben90tsi]

Exact same thing happend to me coming home from my work (after taking the wheels off)I swore i tighted down the front left wheel...i guess not? Well i got about half a mile before my car started shaking bad and i didnt know what was going on. Pulled over and there was my wheel barely holding on with no lugs . yeah make sure to tighten those good...and double check

 

[ditchmagnet]

I had that same thing almost happen. I was driving and one of the lug studs broke and lossened the rest of the lug nuts and they almost came off.

Very scary.

ive been driving around with a mising stud on my right front for months....i broke it when i was puting a nut back on....made me SOOOOOOOOO mad...and the spindle's just to hard to get off to have it replaced...but i havent had a problem yet.....hehehe...YET..

 

[Aikouka]

yeah that will be fine. when i took my wheels up to discount tire to be balanced the specs said 100lbs which i think is a lot, but 90 i think is perfect, i used to put that much on my mustang.

The owner's manual says to torque them from 85 to 100 ft*lbs.

Buck, the lug nuts are fine except for one. So I'm going to order a new one from the dealer. Only $5 for a lug nut, not too bad.

 

[psychlow]

Buck, the lug nuts are fine except for one. So I'm going to order a new one from the dealer. Only $5 for a lug nut, not too bad.

Until you have to replace all 20 for some reason.

 

[Aikouka]

Until you have to replace all 20 for some reason.

Good point .

But now there's another question. I went to drive the car to put some gas in it, and learn how to drive it better (it's just that starting and stopping that's problematic right now ) But, when driving I heard a sharp screeching sound that would start and random times only when driving. I pulled over and opened the hood to check underneath, but I swore that I heard the noise coming from the tire. After talking to some friends, their hypothesis was that the wheel bearings are bad and causing the screeching noise.

Do you think the wheel almost falling off would have ruined the wheel bearings or wore them down? The car did not make this noise before the wheel almost came off, but like I mentioned, the noise doesn't come on just during braking, or just during acceleration. It's fairly random, and it really gets people's attention when going by .

 

[dsm4life]

20lbs ? I just jump on the tire iron
i had this happen to me also. I heard the tire bobblin from side to side , i didnt know what the sound was from inside car. I let it go for another days job. Later that day , thank god, i cleaned the car and i noticed when i went to dry it that there was rusty water coming from each lug nut where the sound was coming from , BINGO i got lucky

 

[psychlow]

Oh yeah, I forgot to type the actual tech portion of my previous post.

I don't think the lugs falling off trashed your wheel bearing (it may have lead to it making noise) but I bet the bearing failure was the reason your lugs backed off in the first place.

My old Olds Achieva (don't laugh, it was 150hp) broke and bent my wheel studs when the wheel bearings failed. The wheel almost snapped right off. Of course, I had no idea what to look for, so I figured the grinding noise was normal.

 

[Aikouka]

Actually, the problem wasn't the wheel bearings, but it was one of my lug studs. This was my initial guess when I got out of the car to look at the wheel. When I got my car, the front driver's side was missing a lug stud, so I put a lug stud in it. It was never welded or applied with some sticky compound. And when my wheel almost fell off, one of my lug nuts had some bad threads. So I wasn't able to use one of my studs, and I was dumb and chose the one that I put in. So, the stud moved back and began to scrape against the wheel hub assembly. I guess I should've gone with my intuition on what was causing the problem. Oh well, it's fixed now and one of the original studs is now without a lug nut.

Thanks for your help, anyway, psychlow. You've been a great help in my threads . And don't worry, my brother owns an Olds Eighty Eight (165HP 210 ft*lbs of torque), so I know what it's like to have/drive an Olds.

 

[psychlow]

Hey, no problem, and ditto on that electrical piece you helped me with.