This is why I maintain/repair my own car

If the wheels have been removed, most shops will mention re-torquing the lug nuts within 100 miles. My chevy dealer doesn't do this, but everywhere else I've been has(probably to cover their butt).

Once when I was in high school I put a new set of tires on and went for a drive. About 90 miles in I was 1/4 mile from my driveway when a horrible shaking started(going about 60mph), I pulled into the driveway and only had 2 lug nuts and studs left on the car(one wheel). Before that point there was no indication of an issue.

Did a front brake job on a different car and drove it 10,000 miles without issue. I was driving and without warning(no shaking or anything) all 5 lugs snapped off, of course in the middle of nowhere on the 4th of July. Needless to say I always check my lug nuts with a torque wrench now(I carry it in the car when I have any wheels off). I don't mind if it offends the shop I'm at, I will check before I ever drive off now.

Butt_Dragger0903 said:

I walked about 300 meters trying to find the tire. It was nowhere to be found.

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Which direction? Lost tires tend to race ahead. But I wouldn't be surprised but what it was able to bounce up and over a wall/guard rail.

ChevyGuy said:

Which direction? Lost tires tend to race ahead.

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This. When I lost my tire besides the cars front end dropping on one side I watched the tire shoot out of the wheel well and pass me..... ended up about 100ft out in a field beyond where the car came to rest.

Although a shop 'may' be responsible, I'm more caught up in wondering what kind of impact would make all five studs shear off.

There is more to this story I suspect.

Rob

Looks like the insurance company and repair shop is going to have bigger bill to pay now. Makes you wonder if shops should always have a second person inspect the job before giving it back to customer.

Robby said:

Although a shop 'may' be responsible, I'm more caught up in wondering what kind of impact would make all five studs shear off.

There is more to this story I suspect.

Rob

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I absolutely agree. Not to mention - the re-torquing after 100 miles, while a good safeguard, really only applies to aftermarket wheels. Factory wheels have the proper lug seats, hub size, etc, so they don't shift around and cause the lugs to back off a little.

5-studs shearing off, all at once, is an indication of something much more major.

Wow. That is quite some damage. Good thing she was able to control the car when that wheel fell off, I bet she had her hands full.

First thing that comes to my mind is that the lug nuts were way over-torqued with an impact. If one were to go it could start a domino effect due to the increased stress placed on the remaining studs.

cyclewild said:

First thing that comes to my mind is that the lug nuts were way over-torqued with an impact. If one were to go it could start a domino effect due to the increased stress placed on the remaining studs.

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This ^^^.

spacedout said:

This. When I lost my tire besides the cars front end dropping on one side I watched the tire shoot out of the wheel well and pass me..... ended up about 100ft out in a field beyond where the car came to rest.

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That reminds me when I was a Private sitting in the passenger side of a Deuce and a half (2-1/2 ton) :tank: minding my own business, daydream of going back home (we were heading to Ft McCoy) and suddenly realize that a tire just passed us up. I pointed it out to the driver and we had a quick laugh and then it hit us - we just had the thing serviced hours before we left - that was our wheel with an axle attached to it going faster than the 55-60 MPH we were doing on I-94:banghead:

Luckily no one was hurt.

Based on her location, and the location of the shop, she hadn't driven 100 miles yet.

However, I feel that loose lug nuts would've given fair warning before the tire is jettisoned. I asked her "Was the tire making a noise before this happened?" She replied "Yeah, for a long time." She was too young to really care about pulling over to check the noise.

I also asked her "How far away did the tire come off before you came to a compete stop?" She replied "Uhhhh about 3 miles." ?? The police and i just looked at eachother, holding back laughter.

So I imagine the tire was breaking free for a pretty long time, since she ignored the sound.

Butt_Dragger0903 said:

Based on her location, and the location of the shop, she hadn't driven 100 miles yet.

However, I feel that loose lug nuts would've given fair warning before the tire is jettisoned. I asked her "Was the tire making a noise before this happened?" She replied "Yeah, for a long time." She was too young to really care about pulling over to check the noise.

I also asked her "How far away did the tire come off before you came to a compete stop?" She replied "Uhhhh about 3 miles." ?? The police and i just looked at eachother, holding back laughter.

So I imagine the tire was breaking free for a pretty long time, since she ignored the sound.

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Sounds to me like she shouldn't be allowed out on her own.

Butt_Dragger0903 said:

Based on her location, and the location of the shop, she hadn't driven 100 miles yet.

However, I feel that loose lug nuts would've given fair warning before the tire is jettisoned. I asked her "Was the tire making a noise before this happened?" She replied "Yeah, for a long time." She was too young to really care about pulling over to check the noise.

I also asked her "How far away did the tire come off before you came to a compete stop?" She replied "Uhhhh about 3 miles." ?? The police and i just looked at eachother, holding back laughter.

So I imagine the tire was breaking free for a pretty long time, since she ignored the sound.

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LOL! "If the car is still going there's not a problem"

Butt_Dragger0903 said:

Based on her location, and the location of the shop, she hadn't driven 100 miles yet.

However, I feel that loose lug nuts would've given fair warning before the tire is jettisoned. I asked her "Was the tire making a noise before this happened?" She replied "Yeah, for a long time." She was too young to really care about pulling over to check the noise.

I also asked her "How far away did the tire come off before you came to a compete stop?" She replied "Uhhhh about 3 miles." ?? The police and i just looked at eachother, holding back laughter.

So I imagine the tire was breaking free for a pretty long time, since she ignored the sound.

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I wondered about this, prior to wheel coming off I would guess there was noise and or a severe vibration. I guess there isn't a law about being a dumb a$$. I would guess someone else will pay for this and the dumb a$$ wont pay directly. Perhaps she was texting or on her cell phone and wasn't a convienant time to pull over. lol Now I am know why I am divorced.

MP81 said:

The sad part is, that seems to be common with a lot of drivers out there.

The infamous brake rotor picture, required:

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What happened there???

diesel said:

What happened there???

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I would assume a good amount of time spent with metal on metal in the brakes.

I'm not even sure how. The second the Cav's outer brake pad went down to metal, the brakes were borderline unusable (instant nosedive). My now-wife had to drive the car home using the lightest touch on the pedal, the parking brake and downshifting (auto).

MP81 said:

I would assume a good amount of time spent with metal on metal in the brakes.

I'm not even sure how. The second the Cav's outer brake pad went down to metal, the brakes were borderline unusable (instant nosedive). My now-wife had to drive the car home using the lightest touch on the pedal, the parking brake and downshifting (auto).

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Brother, I hope she's good in bed.

Our Chevy dealer did not torque the lugs properly after a tire rotation. I went to Costco and had them correct the air pressure (since the dealer lowered it to gasser Cruze levels) and the Costco tire guys checked the torque and all lugs were less than 50-lbs-ft!!! I was very happy they checked as we were on our way up to Indiana the next day on a 7-hour road trip to cover an event... I let them have it next time I was in there...