I'm more than a little embarrassed to admit this....

About 14 years ago when I went to NTB for a new set of summer tires for my car (Ricer back then). The mounted and balanced all 4 wheels, but only did the lugs on 3 of the for and torqued them. The one they didn't, they put two lugs on hand tight and walked away. Got out of the shop and hit the highway. About 20 minutes later some vibration, then Ping One snapped off and I heard it bouncing off the road and the car next to me. I popped my hazards and pulled to the breakdown lane. went to the rim and while standing there, the 1 other lug nut left attached snapped and the wheel dropped off. I called AAA and arranged a tow back to the NTW that did the work.

I walked in the door, to a full waiting room carrying the broken lug, and 3 of the other broken bolts, slammed them down on the counter and bit the counter boy's head off. "WHERE THE F@#$ IS YOUR MANAGER. GET HIM RIGHT F#@$ING NOW!!!!, You F@$#$# Idiots almost KILLED ME, not bothering to even put 3 of the 5 lugnuts on my rim, and only hand tightening the other two..."

Immediately I was shuffled out of the waiting room directly to the manager's office, where I ripped him a new Arse, Ending with Get you District Manager on the phone...

I wound up with a new set of rotors, new rim (single) and an additional set of snows to go with the summer tires with agreements to change tires (rotate, re-balance, and replace worn) for the life of the car. Wish I still had the car, because I would have been sucking new tires for 10 more years if I hadn't 3years later I got married to a woman that couldn't drive stick LOL...


PS> Glad you and the ride are ok though..
 
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ChiliDawg said:
Yeah, I would laugh about the whole ordeal if I weren't so pissed off at myself at the moment for being such a dumbass.

I was just concerned maybe the force of hitting the road could have caused some damage to the bearings or shafts. I think the fender is fine, will probably pop right back in. Got a little scratch from the hi-lift on the side where it rubbed while jacking it up. Touch up paint and a new decal will fix that.


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Click to expand...

You might:

1) listen for weird noises upon braking (bent flange)
2) have someone drive behind you to see if that wheel is wobbling ever so slightly (bent axle shaft)
3) check to make sure that end of axle assembly hasn't shifted to the rear slightly (seriously doubt it as control arms would prevent that with such a relatively soft set down)


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This happened to me too. But They were tightened down but just not enough.

So the tire stayed on for weeks even during 800 miles of driving from CO to AZ.

The front driver tire finally decided to fall off at 55 miles per hour it was definitely an experience.

Lucky I had wheel spacers as it broke the lugs and I was able to take it off and bolt the wheel direct to the hub to drive home.


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