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Wheel flew off at 100 km/h

4.5K views 32 replies 23 participants last post by  04colyZQ8  
#1 ·
had a shop do an allignment of friday, they didn't do it because i fogot to give them the key to my lock nuts, and they said they needed to get the wheel off due to seized adjuster bolts.

drove truck home fri night, 3 minute drive, maybe 50 km/h tops.

did not drive truck on saturday.

sunday, 15 minutes out of town, at the first fast section of the highway (100 km/h), i hear a faint whumping noise, see a pull out a few hundred meters ahead.

all of a sudden violent shaking for a second, then screaching sound, then see my wheel and tire pass me!

mash brakes, skid 100 meters or so to a halt on the pullout. very lucky timing/location.

so, one theory is the shop loosened some of the lugs, got to the lock nut, realized he didn't have the key, and fogot to retighten the other lugs.

of course they deny this.

here are some pics, any help at all is appreciated.

btw, have had the rims/tires for approx 50k km, no issues ever.

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#2 ·
also, 2 studs were sheared off, the remaining 4 were in good shape, ie no malformed threads etc, just some aluminum shavings from the rim.

i've always used a torque wrench at 100 to tighten the lugs, and always carefully seating the rim, cross pattern etc.

did not have the wheels off for at least a few thousand km, maybe more.
 
#5 ·
I had this same thing happen to me on a VW Jetta. I was staying at this chicks house, and when I left everything was ok. I heard the same thing, I turned into a parking lot and my rear left wheel came rolling passed me. When I got out and looked at it, it sheared off all of the lug nuts. I looked at the rest of the wheels and noticed lug nuts missing on every wheel. What happened was someone tried to steal my wheels and couldn't get the locking lug nut off, so instead of putting the lug nuts back on, they threw them threw some other car windows (Found that out after the fact, when people found my lug nuts in there car.) So my guess is they couldn't get the locking lug nuts off of your vehicle because they didn't have the key and they forgot to put the others back on. It should of sheared all the studs off that had lug nuts on.
 
#7 ·
pretty freaky, but i felt quite calm afterwards. that night/next day i've felt more and more anxious about just how bad it could have been. the highway i was on is a 2 lane twister that follows a lake and river, sometimes carved into the side of a mountain. i could easily be dead, let alone other motorists etc.
 
#10 ·
insurance spoke to the shop today, they say they never touched the lugs. the truck is getting towed to the insurance place today, and they will have an inspector look at it.

don't want to get lawyers involved, but obviously will do what i have to.

so glad that no one was hurt, but get pretty upset every time i think about what could have happened...
 
#13 ·
oh yeah, the inside of the rim is scored to shit, it must of rotated around the rotor a few times before flinging off. will need a new one of those, and i want every part inspected and replaced that could even possibly have been compromised. it was a pretty violent accident, sparks flying, horrible screeching etc.

first accident in 7.5 years/155k km of owning my truck from new.
 
#14 ·
Yeah I would for sure be making the shop pay for that and if youhave the insurance involved and they are any good they will use the threat of lawyers to get the shop to pay

Sucks that it happened but good thing is your ok and lucky that it did not end worse
 
#21 ·
Too bad that it's the only shop in town. It'll be awkward if you should ever need their services in the future --- awkward for both you and the shop. Hopefully they just take care of the issue and don't try to fight the obvious.

Good luck!!
 
#23 ·
did you ever have the wheel off previous to going to the shop for an alignment? it sounds like they may have loosened it off like you suspect. if your tires were torqued properly to 100 ft lbs last time they were off then therre is no reason for them to come off now. I suspect the shop. you will need a new wheel and six new wheel studs. dont re use the 4 that didnt break because they will. Its in ICBC's hands unfourtunalty its he said she said with the shop.
 
#25 ·
:eek:

Glad to hear you're ok :thumbup:

I dunno about any sort of Lawsuit though. :shrug:

Nobody was hurt, so really just collateral damage. That's why we have Insurance....

to cover DumbAsses like the Shop that obviously fucked up and didn't torque your shit down!!

Great Pics though!!

Especially the "action" shot with the Rotor digging the Rut.

Looks like Evidence to me.
 
#26 ·
Bought new tires from a Costco (I know) back in the mid 90's because of the cost. Driving to work at 3 am the next day the front driver side wheel starts coming off, I got it under control. After some arguments, they paid to replace all 5 studs.

Glad your fine.

Good luck.