Ok, just to clarify this is a REAL story (Not like that stoners thread).

I was on my way to class this morning and noticed a slight shimmy at around 20mph and then again at 40mph. It didnt always occur, so I wasnt too worried. About half way to my destination the shimmy got really bad, and as I was slowing down I could hear my back right wheel rubbing in some fashion. I immediatly pulled over and took a look. I was shocked to see I only had TWO lugnuts left on the rim! Three, including the luglock(damnit!) fell off, and the last two werent even finger tight. WOW! I was about 1 mile from the entrance ramp to the highway
So I grabbed my lugwrench and proceeded to take 1 nut off of 2 other rims, now leaving me with 5 on one, and 4 on three I then walked around the car and tightened every single lug by jumping on the wrench. The rest werent loose, but some tightened a bit.
I feel very fortunate to have noticed it when I did, seeing as how traffic moves at about 70mph on the highway... imagine one of my back wheels just flying off! I woulda been toast.
I now have to procure another lug lock and two lugnuts, which is no big deal but a PITA. Anyhu, thought Id share my lucky/unlucky event with you all... and remember people, check thoes lugnuts!

 

question...did you tighten up the lug nuts before this incident? you know you have to tighten in a star pattern, right? otherwise, it might happen again...

 

**** anyone off lately?

 

Yes I tightened them recently, and very well. IDK how it happened, but it did.

No, I dont have any beef with anyone I know of, and certainly not enough for them to put my life at risk.

 

does very well mean star pattern? obviously, you didn't tight them up very well. the last person to touch your car was you.

 

You need to get a torquestick, just tightening them by hand can be dangerous. 100lb-ft is the recommended tightness.

 

That happened to me after having the shop rotate my tires. They forgot to tighten one of the front wheels and it ended up shreding up the hub ring.

 

Happened to me once after a rotation and happened once to my GF due to a pissed of BF years ago. I am going to go out and check mine as that BF might still be around, LOL!

 

Damn, you can't count on the garage to rotate tires and tighten lugs? I am not checking my car out enough... that is a scary thought, you were lucky!

 

THis is why we work on our own cars, and check up on it from time to time routinely. That sucks, maybe some random person needed a lug nut, and walked through the parking lot where you parked lastand took a couple of yours. Maybe it was a prank (albiet a very mean life threatening prank) but people as a race suck. As for the lug lock....... I don't know, the thieves had one too? Maybe they were faulty lug nuts. Who knows, but somehting had to of happened. Lug nuts don't just loosen themselves imensely for no reason(well not for multiple nuts)

 

What torque spec have you been using to tighten the lug nuts???

 

Interesting...a truck directly in front of us this weekend lost one of it's rear wheels. The wheel ended up about half a mile down the road and someone in a riced out civic rear ended the vehicle in front of it because everyone slowed down unexpectedly.
Had me thinking maybe I should check my wheels....

Glad it turned out okay for you.

 

Damn... hope no one ever tries to loosen my lug nuts. Maybe i should get 16 more locking lugs :P

 

Last time when I got a flat tire (cheap **** Toyo Proxes 4 dont ever get those garbage cuz their sidewall fuxking sucks), I changed the tire to the spare (my brothers Altima SE-R, its same size so it works). Tighten it with my weight (I step on it, and Im 200+ lbs) ok go ...

3 days later I was LIE going to Williamsburg bridge. I felt very shaky from the steeling wheel. but I choose to ignore it. Later when Im on Williamsburg bridge. a Dude actually nice enough and tell me that

*Dude, Your front tire looks like its about to come out*

So I pull to the side right away ....

One lugnut is gone, and all other 4 very loose. I was like *WTF*, I tighten it. and next day (monday) took it to the shop and fix it.

Anyway, After seeiong this post, it reminds me of my nightmare Im going to check my lugnuts tomorrow morning. Just in case before I zoom zoom.

 

Well I ended up slapping a curb in the snow last year and felt vibrations coming from my right front passenger side of the car....just ignored it because until I hit 60 the car didn't shake to badly...well I decided to take the car up to 120 ((like an idiot)) and the damn thing felt like I was stuck in a tornado.........pulled over and had the car towed...as the guy was trying to tow it with the BACK END ON THE GROUND ....I go hey buddy I want a lift.....he grunted started letting the car back down and the whell popped right off =P

 

Damn, what the hell? I had my tires rotated a month or so back. Had wheel locks. Since I am selling the car, thought I would remove the wheel locks and put the normal lugs back on. While I was doing that I noticed a few of my lugs were a bit loose too. Guess we can't trust the shops anymore. I did mine at Good Year/Gemini...

 

Funny story. When I went to take my wheels off to work on the breaks... I was able to take the lugs off with the strength of my hand. Normally have to step on the bar to make it go loose on my other cars. Then when working on the inside of the engine... again, loose parts... Does Mazda have a gay Tightening System?

 

Can't count on relatives either. My stepdad had changed the oil and rotated the tires (did some other stuff, too, that I don't recall) on my mom's 93 Protege with the assistance of my oldest brother for most of the stuff except, basically, anything to do with the tire rotation. Well, this was on a Sunday night and she had to take me (and my other brother) to school the next morning (private school, no bus or anything). My stepdad got pissed because my mom asked him when/what he wanted dinner (bipolar, happens often for no reason) and he started screaming and yelling a lot. At this point he hadn't quite finished with the rotation. My oldest brother came in to eat a sandwich my mom made him while my stepdad finished up the rotation. Well, on the way to school Monday (which is only 5-1/2 miles from my house) my mom said the car felt really wobbly and didn't feel right. It felt so bad that she pulled over within two miles of our house because she thought something was really wrong and didn't want to drive it through the sharp curves just a little further down the road if there was a problem. She got out and so did my brother. Only one lugnut was tightened on each wheel and the other ones were basically just sitting on there!!! So, theoretically all the wheels could have fallen off her car.

We don't know if he got in a hurry and forgot or if he "forgot" on purpose.

Needless to say, my mom has not let him do anything with her cars anymore except wash them (although one time he decided it would be nice to remove sap with paint remover ) and over Christmas, with the "supervision" of my dad, when it wouldn't start, which turned out to be a dead battery and the EGR was sticking. My dad and his wife were visiting us around the holidays so they stayed over and after my stepdad left to go to work my dad checked and made sure everything was the way it was supposed to be and everything tightended down that needed to be.

 

had this happen to my bug leaving college for the summer once. i actually felt a shimmy or something weird and got out and checked my lugnuts and tightened them all. not 5 miles down the road the wheel cap off ripped my fender 2 feet in the air and went rolling down the street. you can drive a bug on 3 wheels so I just pulled over asked one of my buddies to "go get my wheel" and procedded to put it back on, and to bend my fender back down and rebolt it. 45 mins later you couldn;t tell anything had happened and we were on our way.. but it did make news the next year at school.

 

its very fortunate you noticed it before the wheel ever fell off!

i've heard stories of people going around loosening lugnuts on random cars. people could be dying on the freeways because their wheel fell off. good to know you caught the problem before it became a tragedy.

 

Not lug nuts but... I had to leave my new Renault LeCar (the lady pronounced it LeeeeCar) at a body shop after getting rear ended by a huge Buick. They gave me some old 8cyl car and as I was turning the corner in front of thier shop, the right front wheel came off. Actually the ball joint let loose. I went into the shop and said the loner car's wheel came off. The lady behind the counter asked me where the car was and I just pointed out the window. It was funny. I ended up getting to use a real funky Ford Pinto wagon, brown, orange, and yellow, with bubble windows for the wagon rear windows. It took them 3 months to replace my rear hatch.