A wheel falls off a customers car.

[fastfredracing]

I have never worked on this car before. They are new customers , Their daughter has been using the shop right up the street. She has had a bunch of problems with them , and her mother ( who is the new customer to me) asked me if I know anything about them. Honestly, I do not. They are only 3 miles up the road, but I have never met the guy, and know nothing about his biz.
So . Their car gets towed in , to my shop on Saturday . Not even one mile , after pulling out of the other shop after an engine replacement, her wheel falls off. They told her to pound salt, not their fault.
The customer asked me to put it into writing why the wheel fell off. There are really only a few possibilities , but I cannot honestly answer that . All five lug nuts are gone, and all five studs snapped off at the rotor. The wheel is toast.
I really don't want to get involved, can you blame me?

[speeder]

Can't blame you. I sympathize with them about the wheel but the reason they are a new customer to you is simply because they need help with their lawsuit. That, and they need a wheel put on their car.

The truth is that they don't need some written declaration from you that their wheel fell off. All they need is a picture of the three-legged dog and maybe a tow receipt + shop receipt for engine job w/ dates, etc.

Any nutlesss monkey can see that the wheel fell off, they don't need a specialist to affirm this.

[Rusty Heap]

"all five wheel studs broke off at the rotor?" I can see the missing/loose lug nuts, but to snap off the studs?


that took some skill.

[Dueller]

Never heard of all five studs just snapping off at once.

[HardDrive]

Massively over tightened. Snapped them off when she hit the first pot hole.

But if it were me, I think I would go with, "I don't know".

[jwgn777]

That's a tough one. To get involve that is. No doubt they did not tighten the wheel nuts. I have seen this before n my 30 year in the occupation. It doesn't take long before they all give way. If you want her for a customer perhaps you can give her a good price on the repair instead of getting involved with the other competitor. Ask the customer if the recent repair involved removal of the wheel. What was the vehicle?[/COLOR]

[Steve Carlton]

Why stick your neck out unless you absolutely know why the wheel fell off. I don't see how you could. If you did, you'll likely make an enemy out of the butcher shop up the street.

What does Yelp or google say about the other shop?

[rusnak]

I would refer them to a dedicated brake shop, like the kind that works on truck air brakes and school buses.

[mikester]

Did this shop do all the previous work or have a history of working on their cars? It could have been over tightened by another shop if they had taken it somewhere else. Or at least this shop could say that.

I'm not sure I would turn the customer away because they are in a bad spot - they need someone now and if you're there for them they could end up being a good customer who is looking for an honest mechanic rather than the cheapest deal. That's the kind of customer you want anyway isn't it?

They are the ones who help you via word of mouth. Honest Mechanics - as with any service are genuinely hard to find.

[911SauCy]

No good deed goes unpunished.

Stay away, spare yourself a lot of time, heartache, and $...

[RWebb]

you could give them your professional opinion with appropriate cautions as to not knowing the exact cause and state that this situation is highly unusual

yes, you will be "involved"

do you want to limit this sort of dangerous treatment of people in the future? what will you do to help stop it?

customer needs a lawyer BTW

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Massively over tightened. Snapped them off when she hit the first pot hole.

But if it were me, I think I would go with, "I don't know".

OK...that makes sense.

[romad]

..........." he was their wheel guy. He went to wheel college"...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8rC6CPCvM

[dad911]

Surprised at the quick answers without any analysis.

Look at the studs, and see if there is corrosion or discoloring, or indication that there was fatigue, etc. Is there damage on the wheel where the nut contacts the wheel?

New motor typically means (multiple) hundreds of thousands of miles, and/or lack of maintenance. Could have been loose lugs at any point in the car's life.

You may find other studs are fatigued, a wheel falls off leaving your shop, and they blame you?

[bell]

You could write it up ” in theory” as to what caused it......
I would write an estimate for repair, maybe talk with their insurance agent....
Most likely over torqued, or not torqued......
A written statement should be all she needs, he insurance company would be her best bet to handle this viaa claim then let them deal with it...

[techweenie]

Very odd. When I was in college, I drove 300 miles across Washington State with two studs holding the rear wheel on my '58 Impala.

Wheel studs/nuts are probably the most over-engineered part of the car. To break five clean off, my uneducated guess is you'd have to torque the nuts to something beyond 300 foot pounds...

[Noah930]

Has anyone ever seen all 5 wheels studs just break off? Particularly through just normal driving and without some sort of unusual event, like jumping a car over a pond Dukes of Hazzard style?

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Massively over tightened. Snapped them off when she hit the first pot hole.

But if it were me, I think I would go with, "I don't know".

Yup, any answer other than that will cause you nothing but grief.

Check out how tight all the other lugs are.

[romad]

I started racing in the stock classes an seen steel wheels break out but never all 5 studs sheared off. The over torque seems the best cause, because all 5 studs would have been subject to the same tool.. Issue is what friggin torque values are we talking about here? very large to say the least. Tobra offers the best next step....regardless, just fix the car and document just what you did, offer no causation.

[cstreit]

You can't know WHY they are broken and the wheel fell off. You can safely say though that you observed all studs were broken and the wheel was off. Anything beyond that unless you are a metalurgist, is speculation and won't help them anyway.