Well that could have ended bad.

So I'm driving my wife to drop her off at her coworkers house and while on the interstate, every time I decelerate, there is a bad vibration from the rear. So I had to stop at the gas station anyways, so I get out to look to see if there is anything obvious. I look at the passenger rear and this is what I find:

Three sheared off studs, a missing lug nut and the two that were still on were loose.

So I took one of the nuts and put it on the stud across from the other and tightened them down. I checked the other wheels and they all are still on and tight.

I just had two new tires put on the rear two weeks ago by Discount Tire. I feel like this maybe from over torquing the lugs.

I may have to visit them today and see what they can do for me. When if worked there, stuff like this happened every so often and they were usually good about getting it dealt with.

Discount around here reinstall lug nuts by hand and torque them to spec, I'll bet more of the issue is old fatigued wheel studs

I am surprised they touched it with mixed lug nuts though.....and considering Chrysler, the studs probably rusted off.

Discount did put my lugs on with a hand operated Torque wrench but the specs for torque in their computer was really high at 110 ft lbs. I've never gone past 80 when I do my own work. I asked them to stop at 80 and they did. Maybe the higher value in their computer was the issue

Maybe an interrupted/abandoned theft attempt? I've seen that a few times, including first-hand.

That's loose, not tight. Once the wheel started wobbling, it flexed the studs til they broke.

Does it say on your invoice from Discount tire to return in 100 miles for a retorque?

Streetwiseguy wrote: That's loose, not tight. Once the wheel started wobbling, it flexed the studs til they broke. Does it say on your invoice from Discount tire to return in 100 miles for a retorque?

^ this, all of this. Ours say 50 miles.

yamaha wrote: and considering Chrysler, the studs probably rusted off.

So much hate...

I agree with loose not tight. That would explain the missing lug nut also.

had that happen on the PA turnpike in the mountains once. not fun jacking car up on mountain to swap to a wheel that isn't all egged out at the lug holes, and then cranking the 2 remaining nuts back onto their beat up threads hoping to make it the last 3 hours back to ohio.

I had that happen in turn one at Summit Point two years ago. Luckily for me it was the inside front lest hilarity ensue. Sheared of 3 of 5 expensive bull nose hardened wheel studs, berkeleyed up the wheel. Didn't crash... so all win?

Never let anyone who is easily distracted put your race tires on while you take a E36 M3.

moparman76_69 wrote:

yamaha wrote: and considering Chrysler, the studs probably rusted off.

So much hate... I agree with loose not tight. That would explain the missing lug nut also.

Indeed loose would explain it. I would love to know how old those studs were. They aren't a "last forever" item.

yamaha wrote:

moparman76_69 wrote:

yamaha wrote: and considering Chrysler, the studs probably rusted off.

So much hate... I agree with loose not tight. That would explain the missing lug nut also.

Indeed loose would explain it. I would love to know how old those studs were. They aren't a "last forever" item.

Well the truck is an '03, so 12 years old.

Also, the lug nuts are all the same, it looks as if the aluminum jacket came off.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

I'd replace every one of the studs and go with all new nuts.

New studs and nuts time.

The one time I personally witnessed a discount tire put a wheel on, he rammed the lugs on with an impact with a random tq stick, then shrugged when the torque wrench didn't move them any.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: New studs and nuts time. The one time I personally witnessed a discount tire put a wheel on, he rammed the lugs on with an impact with a random tq stick, then shrugged when the torque wrench didn't move them any.

I've heard of them putting the nuts on with the impact gun on a high setting, then looking up the correct torque, putting that setting on a torque wrench and making sure it clicks on all 4 wheels. If it passes, it's not less than the required torque, job well done!

I know the local RiceMart just buzzes them on at over 200 ft-lb even if I specifically ask them not to, so the car's not going back there now that I have all new lug hardware.

That is why I always take loose wheels in to get tires mounted on them. I care more about my car than some random tire monkey cares about my car, go figure.

Well I have an update. Took it back to a different Discount Tire that I used to deal with in the past because I had good experiences there, not the one my dad had me go to (the tires were a christmas gift), because they seem quite sketchy there.

Anyways, I spoke to the manager immediately and he came out and took a look. I told him the truth about what happened and he was extremely apologetic immediately, said that he was glad the wheel hadn't come off and that my wife and I weren't injured. He said that it definitely was from not being tightened enough. He went ahead and put in the claim. They are going to pay for the repair and a new wheel. They also paid for a rental car. I made sure to confirm they were paying for everything and he said yes I was covered, I didn't have to pay a cent, so hopefully I won't get any surprises.

Well Enterprise gave me a Toyota Camry SE with the Sport package. Descent car, numb steering, but its got a nice radio.

It could be worse. In for routine service, I declined a tire rotation at the dealership but they had obviously taken at least the lugnuts off. When they put them back on, they were hardly tightened. I drive away and get a lot of clunking down the road. When I pull over, I find all 16 lugnuts were finger tight. Idiots. I tighten them on the side of the road and torque them properly when I get home. I complain to the dealership and to Honda Corporate and plan to never go back. Together they jointly offer a free oil change for my trouble. I plan to never use it but almost a year later I need an oil change in a hurry for an upcoming trip and reluctantly head back. I tell them to only do an oil change, don't touch anything else. I roll out with no obvious problems. A few months later at an independent shop for a state inspection, the tech there finds all the lugnuts have been tightened as much as humanly possible. Lots of broken studs and stripped nuts were the result. I guess the dealer tech wanted to show me. I replaced all 16 studs and nuts with new Honda parts myself and resisted a strong urge to throw a brick through the dealerships window with the old parts taped onto it.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Glad they are stepping up to the plate and taking care of you. Just shows what kind of business they are.

Holy carp that could have been a bad day! Glad that the tire shop is less of a collection of D-bags than the Honda dealer(s).
My wife's Odyssey came from the dealer with a pre-stripped lug nut/stud. They refused to warranty it because I dared to rotate the tires myself (Gasp) at 5000 miles. Wanted to charge me $220 for about 20 minutes of work to pop a new stud in. The service manager became somewhat torqued off when I told him I'd do it myself for $15 or so.

Stories like these make me feel bad/angry for people who rely on shops to do good work. About 99% of people have no other course of action than to trust what they're being told.

jimbob_racing wrote: It could be worse. In for routine service, I declined a tire rotation at the dealership but they had obviously taken at least the lugnuts off. When they put them back on, they were hardly tightened. I drive away and get a lot of clunking down the road. When I pull over, I find all 16 lugnuts were finger tight. Idiots. I tighten them on the side of the road and torque them properly when I get home. I complain to the dealership and to Honda Corporate and plan to never go back. Together they jointly offer a free oil change for my trouble. I plan to never use it but almost a year later I need an oil change in a hurry for an upcoming trip and reluctantly head back. I tell them to only do an oil change, don't touch anything else. I roll out with no obvious problems. A few months later at an independent shop for a state inspection, the tech there finds all the lugnuts have been tightened as much as humanly possible. Lots of broken studs and stripped nuts were the result. I guess the dealer tech wanted to show me. I replaced all 16 studs and nuts with new Honda parts myself and resisted a strong urge to throw a brick through the dealerships window with the old parts taped onto it.

So what did Honda North America have to say about round two of the incompetent tech follies?

itsarebuild wrote: Discount did put my lugs on with a hand operated Torque wrench but the specs for torque in their computer was really high at 110 ft lbs. I've never gone past 80 when I do my own work. I asked them to stop at 80 and they did. Maybe the higher value in their computer was the issue

Torque spec is 85-115.

We like to joke that this means you can alternate between 85 and 115 on random studs.

My wife and I have both lost front wheels while driving. I lost mine in the boonies in a CRX. Luckily there was no real damage. SWMBO wasn't so lucky, she was driving her newly acquired Yugo when it flew off in rush hour traffic on I-75. I was following behind her, it was terrifying. It also broke a control arm.

Glad you caught yours before things got real bad.

Good catch. Working at a shop I get super paranoid about this stuff. It's why I keep a torque wrench in my back seat at all times lol

I went round and round with my Jeep dealer on my KJ. The first thing I did after them putting the wheels back on was to check. All were over tightened, I had to use a 18" breaker bar and a pipe extension. Just re torqued. The second time the same thing happened, I left things as is. I turned around an drove back, it wasn't far. A mechanic checked them and they were all over torqued. Service manager couldn't understand it. "He used the 85lb torque stick" I bit my tongue and didn't want to get into an argument. Luckily no problems occurred with the studs or nuts, except for these stupid tin covers.