My latest stupidity

[Mike Andrew]

Drove to the gym yesterday and heard an odd noise when rolling which increased with speed. Thought maybe my e brake adjustment was too snug and a shoe or rotor had a high spot. Discussed with WERK I during another conversation and had some ideas. None were the culprit and I planned to investigate a bit today.
WELL, I had an AHA!!! moment last night. Seems I loosened all the lug nuts when I put the car on stands for the winter. Since the rear wheels were off to adjust the e brake, they were properly torqued after the car was back on the ground. The fronts were not as I failed to remember that they were also loosened last fall in anticipation of removing the front wheels which I did not do.
Disaster averted and nuts are torqued to spec this morning. No cost except to my pride. Considering a possible tire belt issue with SO2's at $200 each, a relief.
I am such an idiot sometimes. But, I aspire to become a moron some day

[sugarwood]

For stuff like this, I sometimes put an object in the driver's seat to remind me.
In this example, your torque wrench

I've always wondered how far someone could drive with no lug nuts at all.

[Gordo2]

Don't feel alone... there are 26 pages of madness (and I have a few contributions of my own...).

admit to your stupidity

Glad you figured it out before it let loose

Gordo

[Mike Andrew]

WERK I made a good suggestion today. White Board.
I always leave a note reminding me that I need to add oil in the spring after warm. Right on the seat. At this rate, I may have a cabin full of reminders😁

[AG81]

Mike.....glad you avoided a catastrophe. I have my own story regarding a trailer I had (supposedly)
secured to my truck years ago. It was an interesting sensation seeing it pass me at a stop sign.

[atcjorg]

I actually tie a red tag(do not operate) to the steering wheel with the reason on it, old habit more efficient than my memory

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

For stuff like this, I sometimes put an object in the driver's seat to remind me.
In this example, your torque wrench

I've always wondered how far someone could drive with no lug nuts at all.

This is what I do if the lug nuts are removed. The torque wrench goes in the driver's seat. If I need the torque wrench for some other task before getting to the lugs, I just leave the plastic case for the wrench in the seat.

[Catorce]

Blue tape bro. I put it on anything I need to look at , if necessary I write a note on it.

[RSTarga]

An old racer mechanic told me to never ever leave a fastner loose thinking you would get back to it. Either leave it off or torque it down.

[rokemester]

Thanks for your admission and the constructive suggestions that followed! Great forum.

[sky1jord]

Just today I found the car's oil dipstick on a table where I had put it after removing it to put in a quart of oil 3 months ago.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by RSTarga

An old racer mechanic told me to never ever leave a fastner loose thinking you would get back to it. Either leave it off or torque it down.

That is 100% followed for oil drain plugs and spark plugs. If I put a drain plug back on, it gets tightened right them.

[Mark Salvetti]

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve discovered loose lug nuts while driving. I’ve done it with the 911, my RAV4, a CRV, a Crosstrek.....

Geesh, it’s even worse than I thought.

Mark

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

If I put a drain plug back on, it gets tightened right them.

I have started doing this as well.

[Otter74]

I'm usually really good about making sure I finish all the little things before I leave the garage, but recently I gave my Accord an oil change and also replaced a headlamp bulb, which required me to remove the left front wheel. In the middle of the night I awoke to the sudden realization that I had forgotten to torque the wheel nuts, so I hopped out of bed, wrote MUST TORQUE WHEEL NUTS on a sticky note and put it on the steering wheel to make sure I did it before i left for work. Oops!!

[ed317]

My son started using blue tape with a note such as
" no brakes" " need to torque" etc.....we originally started doing it with race cars but we now do it on all the cars we are working on.
we put it on the drivers door.

[ed317]

I put oil in my race car twice
Got to the track and blew oil out everywhere

[sugarwood]

Awesome thread.
Where did the oil come out of ?

[sugarwood]

Was doing a project with a friend of mine this weekend.
Told him to go screw the last part back in with last 2 nuts, while I cleaned up.
He grabs both nuts, he tightened the first nut, and then couldn't find the 2nd nut.
We looked for 10 minutes. Nowhere.
I removed the spare tire and it had fallen down in there.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Was doing a project with a friend of mine this weekend.
Told him to go screw the last part back in with last 2 nuts, while I cleaned up.
He grabs both nuts, he tightened the first nut, and then couldn't find the 2nd nut.
We looked for 10 minutes. Nowhere.
I removed the spare tire and it had fallen down in there.

I've spent 20 minutes looking for a nut which was inside the socket used to remove it, I've spent 20 minutes searching for sunglasses only to find them on top of my head.