Check yer lugnuts!

notfarnow · 11-23-2008, 07:06 AM

Was excited to get out to the garage on Friday night. Got a great big box of New Shineys from PelicanParts, and was just getting ready to tear into the e300d, new shocks, tie rods, sway bar links, engine mounts... very excited.

Step 1) loosen lug nuts before raising car. FAIL.

Right away, I knew I was in trouble... Usually they "crack" nicely as soon as I put some pressure on the breaker bar. On these guys, I had to put a 4' pipe on the end and STILL really haul on it. The car was in the shop 2 weeks ago to check out the front end; they must have used an impact gun to put the wheels back on.

Several are bent, and worse still, one broke off.

I spend 6 hours fighting it. Weld a nut to the broken bolt, but it just broke again further down. In the end I had to drill it out.

Took more time to get that wheel off than it did to change outer tie rods, sway bar links, front shocks and both engine mounts.

So there's your handy reminder for the season. If the car goes into the shop, check the $#%ing lugnuts afterwards... there's a good chance they're on too loose, or too tight. Too loose and you have wheels falling off, and you end up on the side of the highway crying into your cellphone. Too tight and you end up NOT being able to get your wheels off when you get a flat tire, and you end up on the side of the highway crying into your cellphone.

TGTIW · 11-23-2008, 07:18 AM

Ah yes, the joys of having work done at a shop. Nothing like having the lowest common denominator working on your car, let's you put a lot of faith in the other work they may have done. I would at the least, call the shop and let them know what happened. They should all have torque sticks, they just rarely use them.

notfarnow · 11-23-2008, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGTIW

Ah yes, the joys of having work done at a shop. Nothing like having the lowest common denominator working on your car, let's you put a lot of faith in the other work they may have done. I would at the least, call the shop and let them know what happened. They should all have torque sticks, they just rarely use them.

Yeah I am pretty disapointed, these guys are usually great. They'll be getting a call on Monday, because I have to buy a full set of 20 wheel studs now... you can't get these long ones anymore.

oldE · 11-23-2008, 10:14 AM

Jake,

Ouch!

I just had new rubber put on the truck last week (just in time for the snow) and read a handwritten notice on the bottom of the work order that wheel nuts MUST be checked after 80 km. They want their customers to pull back in for 5 minutes so they can do it.

I rather like that, though I told the garage owner I would check them myself. ( He and I used to work together years ago in different careers. ) You gotta love that attention to detail.

Les

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Not uncommon with Porsches too. These were on with the correct torque but they 'locked' due to the dissimilar metals(?). A stick of anti-seize solves the issue.

Ian

pwd72s · 11-23-2008, 10:24 AM

Once fixed, use a light amount of never seeze and torque properly...just maybe if you give a shop such instructions, they'll follow them.

legion · 11-23-2008, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Once fixed, use a light amount of never seeze and torque properly...just maybe if you give a shop such instructions, they'll follow them.

Had that happen when I was working on my car at Nick's shop two summers ago. The locking nut split in half.

I ended up hammering an impact socket onto the remaining nut. He gave me a nut from his 944 so that I could drive home...

peppy · 11-23-2008, 10:36 AM

I too have been victim of the over tight and loose lug nuts.

I once had to drive several hours to find out what was wrong with my mothers volvo. The left front wheel was about to fall off.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Idiots and air tools shouldn't mix.

I recently had a local shop replace the ailing rear struts on my wife's Toyota (I'd diagnosed the problem myself and purchased the replacement struts many months ago intending to do it myself, then never had the time). After the first "fix", the still-brand-new struts failed LITERALLY on the drive home from the shop. Every time the car went over a bump, it felt just like the back end of the car was going to rattle loose (just as bad if not worse than before the repair). It immediately went back to the shop where I asked them to kindly double-check their workmanship. Two days later they called and said it's ready for pickup. I got it with their assurance that all bolts were torque-spec checked and correct. Same problem. It went back AGAIN (third time now) next day. I specifically got the manager and insisted that he drive around the block right then and there while I stood there. He did. He came back and apologized and said "we'll fix that for you right now", which to his credit, they did.

But it still took three trips and over a week of downtime to replace two struts properly. This is the quality of shop work out there with a "get 'em in, get 'em out" mentality these days.

JeremyD · JeremyD's Garage

This and under the car oil lines are two of the reasons I take my wheels off before taking to the tire shop

pwd72s · 11-23-2008, 11:35 AM

More tips on mounting/dismounting wheels...use the never seeze on the rounded face of your lug nuts as well as the threads. Use VERY sparingly..a little goes a long way. When torquing them on, do so in a staggered pattern...every other nut until all 5 have been torqued...

fastfredracing · 11-23-2008, 01:49 PM

Hey, thats not fair, I have to drill, chisel, burn, break, these things off on a regular basis, and I dont get to blame anybody.But seriously, My best trick for removing a stripped, broken or galled lug nut in a situation like your Benz, or on any aluminum wheel with recessed holes, is as follows, this will only work when you have only one nut out of the four or five left to remove. Do whatever you can to weaken the remaining stud. I prefer to drill as deep as I can , without touching the lug nut seat of the wheel. If you can use a smaller diameter bit than the stud is, you can go past the seat. Then use a large prybar, anchor it somewhere around the rotor, or suspension point, and pry outwards on the bottom of the wheel. It is best to have the lug your trying to remove at the top. You use the leverage of the wheel to snap the remains of the stud. Use common sense, and dont be macho man if it doesn't move , too much force and you could bend a wheel/ or rotor. I use this method 90% of the time, and usually takes me less than 30 minutes. Sharp drill bits, make this go much faster. Still a real pia. All other methods run the risk of ruining the wheel. You can burn the top off of the lug and stud if you want, but your clearcoat peels, and turns black,and is ugly forever. Of course , if this is on a rusty old pickup, or cavalier with steel wheels, I just burn them off.

johnco · 11-23-2008, 03:49 PM

lost a rear tire at 70mph coming home one morning after a rough night in N.O.. seems the highschool age part time tire monkeys that installed my new rims the day before figured that since 15 studs went in easy on the other three wheels, just because these 5 were SAE and not metric like the others doesn't mean you can't get them in. all you need is a large air impact. stripped threads almost completely out but left just enough to make the drive to N.O. and halfway back before falling out. thought I saw something go past my window,barely miss an oncoming car, cross the road, jump the canal and disappear into the trees. couldn't imagine what it could have been until my car drops in the back and fireworks are coming from my rotor digging into the blacktop. 2-3am, moonless night, 2 lane blacktop in Chacahoula Louisiana. for those wondering.. go 20 miles south of Bum****, turn right and it's maybe 20 more miles past Nowhere. no tools, no lights. I have to find my wheel in the woods by the light of passing cars. robbed a nut/stud from another wheel and screwed it into the only hole that had a few threads I could catch. anything more than handtight and it broke loose. stuck an old lugbolt into another hole to keep the wheel from wobbling too much and drove the 35-40 miles left to go pissed off and puckered tight watching and waiting for my wheel to roll by again. Monday morning all I got were denials, then excuses, then blame shifted to me for my stripped out axle. no offers of compensation, no apologies. maybe they all got a little scared with all the yelling and cursing. couldn't speak face to face with the manager owner after he closed and locked his office door and wouldn't come out.. the tire monkeys were about to piss themselves and said nothing. well, my car wasn't wrecked, no one was killed or injured, I'm used to things like happeneing to me all the time so It really wasn't a big deal. kind of funny actually Ijust wanted them to understand how incredibly stupid they were, how someone could easily have been killed by their mistake and maybe make a half ass apology. pretty sure they understand just how unsatisfied I was with their work. as I drove off I could see the flashing lights and hear the sirens of the city's finest coming to access the situation

speeder · speeder's Garage

Easiest way to get a stripped or rounded nut/bolt off is almost always with a hammer and chisel. All you have to do is get a bite on one side of it and then a really sharp impact. Once it moves a hair, it's off.