F-ing close call

[Silverbullet]

Had a proper scare today, was literally seconds away from disaster

Was heading into the city after work today, was less than 1km from my destination when I hear a clunk clunk clunk coming from the rear left wheel of the Brumby...Great! I thought, what the hell could that be. It was quite loud, reminded me of the time the axle nut (on the same wheel!) came loose and killed the bearing. I thought sure enough it must be the axle nut has come loose again and stuffed my wheel bearing. I didn't have an easy place to stop, having to turn right into the CBD so I persevered for a little longer, surely it could hold on the 500m to my destination where there was a safe car park.

Not on your life, shortly after I thought this the clunk got very much louder, then grrrrr grinding noises from the rear left and vibrations, people were looking my way now with worried looks on their faces. Many expletives were shouted as I ditched it to the left, amazingly found a little side street so I could get off the road. It was covered in "NO STOPPING" signs, double yellow lines of course but this was an emergency. When I stopped before I could get round that side there was a guy staring at my wheel incredulously.

"Mate! all your wheel nuts are gone!"

What. The. F$&# :evil::evil:

Just seconds away I was, from losing a wheel. If I hadn't swerved to the left to push it back into the hub it would have fallen off completely. So close in fact, the wheel wasn't even on the lugs anymore but the disc resting on the inside of the rim was all that was holding the car up. Jacked it up and the wheel fell straight over.

What. The. F$&# :evil::evil:


Never in my life have I ever seen or heard of this happening, and it just happens to me at the worst time. Last time I had the wheels off was weeks and weeks ago when I did the rear brake pads. SO why has it waited all this time? I sure as heck didn't do them up any less tight than I always have, all other wheel nuts were tight still.

Counting myself lucky I got away with it, nicked one nut off every other wheel to limp home. That wheel is junk now. Also thinking the Brumby is on its last life if it keeps pulling random shit like this.

New studs and nuts are on order.

[Proton mouse]

WOW sounds like you were just Nano seconds away from carnage!! I'd hate to imagine the consequences if a wheel was to cut loose into pedestrians walking the CBD!! You're very lucky!!
What wheels tyres does the Brumby have? Would someone have been trying to steal one?

[El_Freddo]

Sounds to me like someone is playing funny buggers with you mate.

Unless Adelaide roads are much worse than I remember, you'd hear a wheel with loose nuts. To lose all four is "impressive" - but we're all of them there in the first place (if there was foul play)?

You can certainly count your lucky stars. Don't give up on the brumby!

Also after an initial drive it's a good idea to check wheel nuts etc again

Torque setting on the major bolts of the suspension are meant to be checked regularly too (100k km from memory). I bet there are MANY vehicles out there where this check is not carried out!

Cheers

Bennie

[steptoe]

Nuts don't just drop off. I've had loose nuts that amplified when I had load of bricks on board and made bad noise that forced me to investigate. Same position for me too. Maybe Chrysler were smart in doing left hand threads on the left ?


Your rear left wheel where it was parked at work - would it have been the most shielded from view for some1 to 4 letters start to nick your wheel or just play funny buggers? Any security cameras by work or neighbouring businesses ? An ATM ? They have some great cameras in them. Anyone get your job at work if you stopped coming in , or worse your bedroom at home ??

Good save by Sam. Bet you never even knew that street existed ! Oh, and double yellow lines still in SA ?? That'll knock the budget around adding yellow pigment !

Wondering if when you get to check where you were parked may find your nuts with fingerprints - gloves and evidence bag Sam

[TOONGA]

It is very unusual for all 4 wheel nuts to come loose, but it can happen especially if 2 come loose on the same side. Did you use an impact tool or the armstrong method as impact tools can actually be unreliable, read fine print on tyre shop receipts, check wheels nuts after 1000kms.

I would call shenanigans as well. Not sure how many people in your area would have need for Subaru 4 stud rims though. It would be more about the resale value.

I would be checking your rims more often now SB.

TOONGA

[AndrewT]

Yeah I'd suspect some bastard doing that to either try and steal your wheel (although maybe unlikely if you didn't find your car on bricks in the morning). Maybe attempted murder or just kids playing a joke.
I had the same thing happen once. I'd had an old RX-7 wreck (no motor) sitting out the front of my rental house for months. Moving back home and my Dad was towing it with me "driving" it. With almost no warning I suddenly completely lost one rear wheel. It went under the rear of the car and flicked up, launching the rear of the car into the air and my head straight into the roof. Luckily we were going pretty slow, maybe only about 30km/h having just come out of a roundabout and going up a hill. We found all 4 of the nuts spread out by about 20 metres each down the road. Stuck the wheel back on and went on our merry way. All 3 of the other wheels had the nuts just finger tight so some bugger had probably done it at some point over the previous months.
Glad you and the car are okay!

[Silverbullet]

I did think later what could have happened if it did come off completely, then coming to the conclusion I really didn't want to think about what could have happened, the footpath was quite busy at that time. Someone else fiddling with my car is the only thing I can think of as to why this happened. Sadly there are no cameras around where I work, car is parked on the street a fair way away from where I am during the day. There is also a very dodgy area/neighborhood within short walking distance. But it is a busy street too with lots of traffic. Maybe someone got half way through loosening the nuts on the off side of the car and got scared off. The wheels are Desert rats, pretty freshly powdercoated gloss black. Good thing I got 5 done at the time.

I do my wheel nuts up with a breaker bar, don't trust the impact driver. Now I don't trust the breaker bar either so I will be checking more often.

[Cliff R]

Very lucky, does sound like someone was trying to get your wheel off.
Any of the other wheel nuts loose too ?

[phantomD]

Foul play.

[pitrack_1]

Few things:
1) Use lock nuts.
2) If you're using alloy/aluminium nuts from Ebay, etc. ditch them. They're not up to the job. Back to steel.
3) If not (2), report it to the police. It just may be you're not the only one.

[steptoe]

brings to mind the ad for a car from France that was demonstrated as being so well balanced I suppose, that they ran it on three wheels (just no right turns )

[vernonbain]

Wheels getting off of your car while driving (specially on a highway) are really one of the worst nightmares, glad you escaped the disaster mate! I'd recommend to do car checks atleast once a week to look for any loose nuts or to see if your vehicle is doing anything fishy. Keep safe all the time mate, cheers!