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Whered my Lug Nuts go?

2K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  Tim B 
#1 ·
I decided that today would be the day that I would take my 67 xr7 to the body shop so I can take the vinyl top off and get it painted the color of the car. So, I got in my cat, and I was on my way the body shop. The cougar started to shake a little more then usual (My car tends to shake a bit when it gets past 60mph due to the crappy front suspension.), so I thought nothing of it. As I was going the sound started to get more loud and violent. That was when my front left tire just flew out right underneath the car and rolled down 1/2 a block on the busy street. I luckily pulled my car to the curb and didnt get in anyones way. The rotor hit the ground first and saved my suspension, and the car but ended taking the damage. Its okay though, I was going to get new suspension, and new rotors anyway.

As I was calling a friend to come out and help me, I thought to myself who the F*** would take my lugs off my front left tire in my neighborhood.:angryfi: Its one of those decent neighborhoods where it would seem nothing bad would happen. I guess its partly my fault for parking a car like that outside, but I have 5 cars including the cougar in the family. So, unfortunately it has to stay outside.

If I ever find out who that son of a mother f***ing ****** is, hes got a world of hurt coming to his car, and trust me it will be no holds bar. :angryfi: :badass: :finger: :aug2: :devil: :realmad: :flipa: :chain:

Correct me if Im wrong, but the tire would come off unless someone took the lug nuts off...right? Does any one have any suggestions for keep these things from happening? The only idea I have is to replace all my regular lugs with the ones you need a key to unlock. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this too.
 
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#2 ·
so just the tire? nothing more?

I've heard wheel bearings causing tires to come off, but usually its the whole tire/wheelbearing assembly thing.. I think.. Not positive.


if it wsa a wheel bearing, that could explain the shake @ 60mph..
 
#3 ·
Have you had a flat tire recently? Once when I was a kid I forgot to torque 'em down enough and they worked themselves loose, same result.

Wheel lug nut locks are generally one per wheel. They are to prevent theft. If the other four are loose it could still happen AND shear off the one locking. You could use 5 locks per wheel I suppose. If someone is messing with your car that's serious, call the police. It could harm or kill you or others.
 
#4 ·
My brother had an incident like this. It was his buddy's car and they were going on a long trip. So his friend checked the car out and tightened the lug nuts to what the factory specifications where. After driving for some time they felt a little vibration coming from the front. They thought nothing of it, until they felt the car shake very bad and then watched the left front tire roll away in front of them. This was caused by not tighting the lug nuts. So depending on how long ago you checked to make sure they were tight could pose a problem. As enventually they work themselves loose and you loose a tire.
 
#5 ·
there were no lug nuts to be found..

I looked all around where i usually park the car, and all around my house. There were no lug nuts at all. Im pretty sure it was someone in the neighborhood. The vibration will be taken care of when I get my brand new front suspension in.
 
#9 ·
My son had a very similar thing happen to his 67 Cougar. All the lugnuts came off his left rear wheel. Fortunately he stopped and found the wheel sitting on the studs. This had caused a lot of damage to the bolt holes on his styled steel wheel but nothing else. By stealing a lugnut from each of the other three wheels, he was able to drive a couple of miles home.

We never thought it was vandalism but that it was due to failure to tighten the lugnuts properly.

We replaced the stubs, the wheel and lugnuts with another original styled steel wheel and chrome lugnuts. Never even considered getting locking lugnuts.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Could be like socks in the drier...when they disappear..... They turn into hangers.... check and see if you got any extra hangers.....:beer: :beer: :1poke: :1poke:

Seriously though, An older friend of mine had tires put on his town car at Pep boys.. 5 days later the left rear tire fell off... he had it towed back to pepboys and the service manager had the nerve to say that they were not responsible because he did not bring it back for a lug nut check! well they DID pay for the damage done after I got ahold of him... what a butthead!!:biggrn2:
 
#12 ·
Back in college, I had a shop put new pair of tires on the rear axle of my Cougar, left rear wheel fell off a couple miles later. Rolling over your own tire is an interesting experience. Turns out the shop had a malfunctioning impact wrench. I thought my quarterpanel damage was bad until I saw the Corvette that came in after me. Anyway, I lost the tire at about 15 mph on a quiet one way street. Found the tire, found zero lug nuts. Had to steal lug nuts from the front tires to put the tire back on to get home. Other side was also loose and had thrown a lug nut or two (I forget how many). If your lug nuts were loose, you probably lost them a couple of thousand yards from where the tire came off. If someone had stolen lug nuts from your parked car, you would have known about it at the first corner you turned.
 
#13 ·
Most places around here have a second guy follow up with a torque wrench to make sure the lugs are tightened to spec.
 
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