Dangerous Wheel Changes

[2soops]

Hi All,[sHOCK][/sHOCK]

 

Ive just finished changing a snapped handbrake cable on a friends Fiat Punto and couldn't get the wheel studs to tighten up properly. Everytime they felt tight they would turn just a little more. Similar feeling to when a bolts about to snap. As all 4 felt the same i took the wheel back off to find out what was wrong, and swarf came out of the wheel nut holes.

The previous owner had put alloys wheels on the car, then reused the wheel studs from the old steel wheels. As a result of being to small, they are tightening there way through the wheel, with the hexagon head acting as cutting teeth.

 

I dont know how long its been like this but i know my friends been driving the car for at least 6 months, with her young daughter in the car.

 

Im glad its been caught before any of the wheels fell of the car, as it scares me to think what might have hapened if she'd curbed it etc. I don't suppose the previous owner did it on purpose, but i wonder if they even realise how dangerous it was. Just goes to prove again how a lack of mechanical knowledge can be dangerous.

 

Anyone else ever found any other potentially life threatening mechanical faults

[Chris Wilson]

Creaking noise on the front of a Triumph Stag that had been going on for some months, according to the owner, became a major issue when my then business partner took it on road test and the bottom front forged suspension arm broke in two and the wheel was ripped off and went under the car. 5 minutes before he'd been on the motorway doing a healthy speed.... Luckily it broke at about 15 MPH. Had obviously been fractured for a very long time from the look of it. The owner insisted we weld it up !

[merckx]

 

DIY stuff in the home too.

[gaz1]

losing my brakes due to the brake pipes put on wrong just before i was about to do a 170+mph run on marham track. if they had gone 3 mins later:blink:

[Nic]

Back in the early 90's I borrowed one of my Dad's company Astras to use for the weekend. The car has been in an accident a few weeks before (nothing to do with me) it was now fixed so I collected it from the Vauxhall main dealers, that evening me and a car full of friends drove from North Yorkshire over to the Lake District.

 

Following morning I parked up in Ambleside whilst we got some grub. Returning to the car I needed full lock to get out of the tight parking space, I was just maneuvering out when I hear a clunk and suddenly the steering wheel spins freely, ie. completely disconnected from the wheels. The car had to be towed back to the Darlington main dealers and when inspected they found that a bolt holding the steering column onto the rack hadn't been tightened.

 

We were very lucky, if the steering had gone whilst driving over the previous evening we wouldn't have stood a chance.

[ShamelessTT]

Rear brake pad dropping out due to no retainers on the motorway.....@70,

[Josh]

I changed all discs and pads on my Golf earlier this year. After it was done I went for a drive and heard a clunking noise which got faster the quicker I went. I pulled over as it was getting worse. I checked the see what the problem was and on my rear left wheel the bolts were only finger-tight. Oops. Luckily no damage done.

 

Must have missed that wheel but I won't do it again!

[Swampy442]

Friend and I were on the motorway in his MG Metro (back in the day) when the passengers side front wheel departed the car after the studs sheared and the car careered across the motorway to the hard shoulder. Very lucky that day

[Hobgoblin]

I wonder if the alloy wheels are the correct fit. Have a look at the numbers inside. Fiats are 98mm pcd, which is an unusual size. People often put 100pcd wheels on them, which is a very common fitment.

 

This would lead to tightness, and wear of threads as you described above.

[2soops]

Scary stories, the wheels are definately standard Punto Alloys, just have the wrong nuts. Dont suppose anyone on here has got a set so i can get it shifted

[dude]

Brake pipe cut and joined with fuel hose and jubilee clips!!!!

[Andy-No-Knee]

On the way to Gamers house to drive him to CJ's place to pick up the orange beast when I went over the QEII Bridge at Dartford. Started to hear an occasional clunk.

 

It steadly got worse, so I slowed down from warp factor 90 and pulled in to the hard sholder and stopped. Got our of the car to see the rear wheel on the drivers side angled funnily and only 1 locking wheel nut left on the wheel but the stud it was attached to sheered off. (The nut was just sitting there in the wheel). All the others had gone ....

 

Checked all the others and guess what??

 

Some little thieving scumbag had tried to steal the wheels, found the nuts so undid ALL of the nuts and only left the lockers on each wheel!!!

[Animal]

When I had my Husqvarna Supermotard (a 510cc single-cylinder thumper) I was filling up at a petrol station and just happened to glance at my rear sprocket. One nut had buggered off and the other 4 were loose - vibrated free, even with threadlock. Luckily I was near a mate's house, so got 'em tightened and carried on. I checked them every day after that (and every other nut ant bolt as well.