loosened lug nuts

Over Christmas my family was staying at my parents place which is about 600 km away from my home. 2 nights ago my wife and I and a couple of friends went to see a movie. It finished at ~12 midnight. I drove back to my parents place in our 2000 windstar, about 40 km. Yesterday morning we left from there to drive back home. The road seemed noisy and as we got to ~150 km into the trip something sounded "not right". Anyway, we stopped at a Canadian Tire and as the sound seemed to be coming from the back end I checked both tires. Nothing obvious. I decided to pull the hub cap to see if a rock was somehow lodged in the brake drum or something and low and behold, all 5 lug nuts are finger loose :eek: :eek: :eek: You could actually see the shaft of the lug between the bolt and the rim. Now I do all my own work, and I'm really conscious about safety. I know that the lug nuts were torqued when I installed the snow tires 2 months ago. I'm also of the opinion that "if" I didn't torque them that it wouldn't take 2 months for them to work loose. I can almost accept that I could have missed 1 lug nut but not 5. As standard routine when installing lugs I torque them all twice so I just don't buy I missed it. I'm really of the opinion that some MF loosened the lug nuts while we were parked in the theatre.

Scary experience though. I'm pretty happy that I was driving and not my wife with my kids. Very fortunately the service dept at Canadian tire was open and I borrowed a torque wrench and 3/4 socket to torque them back. Today I'm going to pull all 4 tires, install new lug nuts on all tires and triple check the torque.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Piper

Just curious.. Do you have the steel rims or aluminum.. Since you said you popped of the hub cap I assume you have steel.. But i have heard of issues when it gets cold and the brakes heat up can tend to cause lug nuts to come loose.. Once they are loose they can keep working there way off.. Thats just an idea..Aluminum rims are worse though for this to happen.. Other thought is like you said bad kid in your area pulling a bad prank.. But can't say for sure.. One thing to I have done this is just because i was working on all the tires when rotating I assume I had tighten all but forgot and when I rechecked i realized i did not.. If you did get new lug nuts make sure after a few days you recheck. They may come loose.. Virgin metal that has not had time to expand and contract. May loosen up a little..

ya, my rims are steel. I know I torqued them on properly. As I said earlier, that was over 2 months ago. It has been consistently cold here so the warm/cold aspect shouldn't be the cause. I called the local police for the area and made a report. I was told that this "has happened before". Idiots:banghead:

Happy new year!

Piper

I once left wheel lugs just finger tight on my truck ... Thank Heaven, no one was hurt. The condition was caught before the wheel came off. But I knew, as an afterthought, that I had left them loose ... and it luckily was discovered in a few miles.

We've had a good bit of vandalism in theater parking lots in my city ... had my windows broken out and things stolen, along with dozens of other folks on the same night ... now I make sure to park in the most visible areas ... but there is no gaurantee. Many shopping malls have some lot security, but don't think I've ever seen any at theater lots.

Be sure to check your rims to make sure the bolt holes are not enlarged beyond safe use.

Darn.. So in other word they were looking for a crash... "Cold air must really freeze those idiots brains up there".."Speaking about the thugs only". I think I would have preferred my tires slashed over wheel coming off at 50 mph. Good thing no one was hurt.. Hopefully no damage as well... Sorry to hear about that though..

I just removed the Ford dealer sticker indicating what city I'm from. Sad to say that people would do this to "out of towners" but I'm pretty much convinced that's what it was.

I purchased new lug nut studs and lug nuts for the wheel. I do hope that the rim isn't too far gone but certainly will check. The rims were new last year. I guess 1 new rim replaced though is a hell of a lot less financially and personally than the crash that I fear the idiots were hoping for.

I have been wondering how someone would manage to bring a lug nut wrench and use it but a buddy of mine reminded me that battery operated torque wrench guns will easily spin off a lug nut. So, the thugs are now carrying tools I don't even own :banghead: :banghead:

All the best for the new year.

Piper

I bet they followed you for a few miles ... hoping the wheel coming off would give them a chance to be "good Samaritans", and help to relieve you of excess cash ... or worse.

I called the local police for the area and made a report. I was told that this "has happened before". Idiots:banghead:

This is sad! Kids are having kids and are not being taught right from wrong!:2cents:

Dan

About two months ago, the police finally caught two older kids who were going all over the place causing problems. With the declining economy and the increasing valued of precious metals, these clowns were also making the best of their battery powered tools. The cut the catalytic converters off of many vehicles in a four or more county area. I'm pretty sure they were the ones who took the ones from our two church vans. The church folks were really surprised when they started one of them up. These guys trashed new dealer lot cars. They targeted trucks for their clearance to get the cats. They would steal a car and use it to drive to the next car they would steal.

What do you mean there is a right from wrong? Everything is relative today. So what if your wrong is my right? You are intolerable if you say what I like or do is wrong. You're too opinionated. Nothing is absolute anymore, and kids have no respect for authority.