MY wheel fell off.

[JamesJimJam]

So I was driving down the road and my front left tire started making a weird "bumping noise." It went away so I figured it was fine. After I pulled off a stop light, it started again, but this time more violent. It started to pull to the left so I decided to pull over. Right as I stepped on my brakes there was a loud crash and I saw my wheel fly off and roll about 300 feet down the road. Meanwhile, my car is sliding on the rotor and the brakes don't work.

I managed to get halfway to the side of the road, and got out of the car. The entire studs ripped off and I found them in the street with my center wheel cap. The fender has a dent in it now, too. I had my tires rotated at Walmart a month or so ago (I don't do work myself yet.) I'm going to talk to them tomorrow. I'm just happy I wasn't on the highway anymore.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2dmcccl.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/1z16a2b.jpg

[Dr_Snooz]

They didn't tighten the lug nuts. :(

[ghettogeddy]

i smell law suit
specially if you an prove they forgot

[dacantu]

Wow. Definite law suit! You need to find out the actions you can take, dont settle for letting them fix your brakes and replacing your rotors etc etc... Find yourself a lawyer before you settle for anything with them yourself..

Walmart is a BIG company, they can afford to cover for their technicians fuck ups.

[Tdurr]

did the lugs break or just not bolted on?

I've seen studs tighten down but have been stripped and 5 miles down the road back themselves off.

but yea deff glad u werent on the hwy. GL with everything man!

[anubis_4_99]

that definitely sucks, i've had a few come off, and one was on the freeway

my 94 integra lost a wheel going over a freeway bridge, luckily i came down ontop of it and rode the wheel with my rotor to the side of the road. had to replace all my wheelstuds on the freeway bridge in rush hour traffic, not something i wanna do again!

definitely get on walmarts ass about this, even if it isnt somehow there fault, they have such a shitty track record that i bet you can at least get them to reimburse for the tow and any repairs with minimal bitching

[PALIN_OMSIN]

Oh!

[forrest89sei]

Wow that sucks man!

Be Prepared for a fight, I work for walmart the procedures when your Torquing down lugs are as Follows They hand tighten your lugs, drop the car down, Tighten them, A Associate in the car backs it out and does a loop around the back parking lot, then another associate torques down the lugs with a Clicking style torque wrench preset to the Torque specs for your car.

Good Luck!!

Forrest

[stat1K]

if they did it a month ago there is absolutely no proof that they fucked up.

lesson learned from all this, check behind anyone that does work on the vehicle.

[anubis_4_99]

Wow that sucks man!

Be Prepared for a fight, I work for walmart the procedures when your Torquing down lugs are as Follows They hand tighten your lugs, drop the car down, Tighten them, A Associate in the car backs it out and does a loop around the back parking lot, then another associate torques down the lugs with a Clicking style torque wrench preset to the Torque specs for your car.

Good Luck!!

Forrest

i have never, ever, seen a torque wrench in the hands of a walmart mechanic, nor have i ever seen them drive the vehicle afterwards.

i've seen an impact gun and parkin it straight in the lot outside the doors, at several different locations

[anubis_4_99]

if they did it a month ago there is absolutely no proof that they fucked up.

lesson learned from all this, check behind anyone that does work on the vehicle.

if walmart was the last person(s) to service the vehicle, to me that points a finger. no?

[w261w261]

I always check after someone has had their hands on my lug nuts. Only once that I can recall have they ever been undertightened, but (too) many times they've been honked down over the specs. That's not good either.

Having strangers with wrenches turn things on my car like wheel nuts, spark plugs, oil drain plugs, even my radiator drain plug....I avoid it if I possibly can. The effects of a fuckup are too far-reaching.

[frantik]

:jaw: damn bro glad you're alright

[lostforawhile]

Wow that sucks man!

Be Prepared for a fight, I work for walmart the procedures when your Torquing down lugs are as Follows They hand tighten your lugs, drop the car down, Tighten them, A Associate in the car backs it out and does a loop around the back parking lot, then another associate torques down the lugs with a Clicking style torque wrench preset to the Torque specs for your car.

Good Luck!!

Forrest

what walmart is this? they just torque the heck out of them here, the first and last time I will EVER let walmart do tire work, was in about 93, they put tires on the front of my car, not the 86, but a different car, about a mile down the road the left tire flew off, just like this, all the lug studs were broke, they overtorqued them to the point they were fractured, the difference was I was going about 60. They settled for about 3000 to repair the damage. The walmart here had to replace the engine in my wifes neices car, they changed the oil and didn't tighten the drain plug enough, the engine seized right before the idiot light came on. I know someone who works for the one here, and he has seen employees doing burnouts in customers cars behind the store, management is aware this is going on. You must be in one of the one or two store that has a real automotive service department

[JamesJimJam]

Well the guy at the shop called me today. He hasn't looked at it closely but he said that it might be totaled. I hate to hear that, but it might be best because she's startin to rust real bad... :/
Also, I went and got some stuff out of it today. I didn't notice it last night, but the front left fender is getting in the way of the driver's door opening without them hitting each other about half way through. All the washer fluid leaked out, too, so the bumper is broken.

[Tdurr]

sad day man :(

[forrest89sei]

i have never, ever, seen a torque wrench in the hands of a walmart mechanic, nor have i ever seen them drive the vehicle afterwards.

i've seen an impact gun and parkin it straight in the lot outside the doors, at several different locations

Well there not following Company guidelines then, I've Worked in Automotive and know the techs at my store by name and I know they at least at my store theyu use a impact to tighten them and drive around the lot and then Torque them

[Hauntd ca3]

have a look at the back of the wheel, round the stud holes.
see if the holes are all flogged out, like they look like they've been running with loose wheel nuts. if so, slap a law suit on them.
ask to see the certificate of accuracy on the torque wrench.
they are meant to be checked for calibration every year or so many hundred uses.
if the studs are broken,slap a suit on them.
in my 20years playing with cars, i've only seen broken studs when they have been WAY over tightened
they will have liability insurance

[2oodoor]

I you dont see them using a torque wrench it is because they may be using torque sticks, a long extention made socket that only allows a specified torque. Different color sticks are different torque values.

That is an Sei looking wheel so I am not sure what nuts those use? the normal for regular stud and nuts on these cars is the nuts strip out first. Actually the acorn nuts on these will only have two or three threads left in them after 20 years. Inspect your nuts!

Pulling the studs out in this incident is very unusual, especially on the left side.

I am in no way defending Walmart because I have seen how cooperate operates, nasty company IMO.

[stat1K]

if walmart was the last person(s) to service the vehicle, to me that points a finger. no?

you'd have to prove that, and after a month of driving and no one noticing lug nuts were loose they'd point more to the car was old and you needed to replace a stud or two.

[stat1K]

I you dont see them using a torque wrench it is because they may be using torque sticks, a long extention made socket that only allows a specified torque. Different color sticks are different torque values.

That is an Sei looking wheel so I am not sure what nuts those use? the normal for regular stud and nuts on these cars is the nuts strip out first. Actually the acorn nuts on these will only have two or three threads left in them after 20 years. Inspect your nuts!

Pulling the studs out in this incident is very unusual, especially on the left side.

I am in no way defending Walmart because I have seen how cooperate operates, nasty company IMO.

that's an lx-i alloy. they use the same nuts as the steelies with caps do. and yes, they are usually in pretty poor shape after 20 years. the fact of the matter is this didn't happen on the way home from walmart, this happened after an extended period of time and they will not admit fault.

[Dr_Snooz]

I agree with Stat1k. A lawsuit sounds like a great solution. It rarely is, but you end up spending a lot of time and mental energy in the process.

[anubis_4_99]

I you dont see them using a torque wrench it is because they may be using torque sticks, a long extention made socket that only allows a specified torque. Different color sticks are different torque values.

That is an Sei looking wheel so I am not sure what nuts those use? the normal for regular stud and nuts on these cars is the nuts strip out first. Actually the acorn nuts on these will only have two or three threads left in them after 20 years. Inspect your nuts!

Pulling the studs out in this incident is very unusual, especially on the left side.

I am in no way defending Walmart because I have seen how cooperate operates, nasty company IMO.

never seen them use the torque sticks either, and i personally just dont trust them anyway.

i would rather a torque wrench that i know is accurate

[JamesJimJam]

The nuts and possibly studs were replaced in '99ish when that wheel was stolen off the vehicle. They strippd them while they stole two wheels and a center cap.

[stat1K]

12 years?

[JamesJimJam]

http://i56.tinypic.com/313mvz8.jpg
It depresses me to see her there.
D:

[anubis_4_99]

i may be crazy, but it seems to me as if it is on all four wheels.... why not take it home and replace the small stuff yourself??

dude totally just realized your in nebraska, im in omaha, if you ever need a hand and are close let me know!

[JamesJimJam]

Sweet, man! We should talk on Faceobok/a messenger. I'm going to be in Omaha soon.
Also, the tow company put the wheel on the two remaining studs so they could tow it properly.

[2drSE-i]

There is just no way you'd be able to prove fault. Even if the studs were brand new, they could be defective, theres just no way to prove that it was walmarts fault, even after 2 minutes, much less a month.


Sorry to hear about this man, always sucks to dump money into your car when you aren't expecting to.

[anubis_4_99]

are the wheel studs next to each other or across from each other?

if they are across from eachother then you can limp it to wherever you need to, to get them replaced, just tighten the hell out of them

i've got 2 on one front wheel and 3 on another and have been driving even highway speeds for over a week lol, not by choice mind you but its my only car and havent had the time or money to get new studs yet, but picking up the new studs today

they only run like $2 at autozone and arent too bad to put in






There is just no way you'd be able to prove fault. Even if the studs were brand new, they could be defective, theres just no way to prove that it was walmarts fault, even after 2 minutes, much less a month.


Sorry to hear about this man, always sucks to dump money into your car when you aren't expecting to.

im sorry but i dont agree with this, if my wheel fell off after 2 minutes of a shop servicing that wheel, i think anyone would agree that the fault lies with that shop. regardless of defects or what not, if a shop services that area of the vehicle it is there responsibility to look for other possible dangers and at least bring them to the attention of the customer, if they then refuse any repairs then yes i could see it being a no fault situation.

and while a month is a stretch to try and prove fault, if no one else has worked on that area of the car since that time, i still think there is a good chance.

[JamesJimJam]

Here are some pictures.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/041711182328.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/041711182346.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/041711182402.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/041711182420.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/041711182605.jpg

Also a video of the horrible noise.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/th_041711182455.jpg (http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/evanellis2/?action=view&current=041711182455.mp4)

[YK86]

You need to realign the bottom half of the fender. You can totally tell the molding is higher on the fender side. Actually, the whole fender near the door looks like it's too high.

There is a 10mm bolt on the bottom near the jacking point and also below the lower door hinge. Loosen those and tweek the fender so the moldings line up. You may need to bend the tab where the bolt (under the hinge) goes as they are kind of flimsy. Loosen the 10mm by the top corner in the door jam and maybe a 2 in the engine bay. Bolt down the lower 2 where it's supposed to be, and then push down on the top of the fender. This will get the fender to bow out a little if you do it right. I had to do this on my fender the other day.

After doing this, you may need to pry the fender out a bit as that's where they commonly flex in an accident causing the door to rub and make that noise you hear now.

[anubis_4_99]

dude your golden on the wheel, tighten those lugnuts down good and rock it to get the studs replaced

86 is right on on the door front, you may also end up needing to just replace it, and if thats the case the u-pull-its in town normally have a good selection

[MessyHonda]

damn thats crazy...yeah never a good idea to torque over 80

[JamesJimJam]

dude your golden on the wheel, tighten those lugnuts down good and rock it to get the studs replaced

86 is right on on the door front, you may also end up needing to just replace it, and if thats the case the u-pull-its in town normally have a good selection
The brake pad on that wheel is destroyed. Also the only u-pull-it doesn't have any 3geez in it.

[Xaisk]

My fender does the same thing. I just temporarily took a hammer and pryed the fender to where it wont touch.

Im going to replace my entire fender and door on the passenger side. Its very similiar to that.

The rotor, pads, and stud replacement shouldnt be a big deal at all. Id say keep it and fix it up. Itll be a good car.

[anubis_4_99]

The brake pad on that wheel is destroyed. Also the only u-pull-it doesn't have any 3geez in it.

yeah that could pose a problem, i've had to rig things up and drive home on my e-brake before, but im sure thats not something most people would want to do lol i had to make sure to keep like 10 car lengths in front of me at all times and was super paranoid the whole time

hope it resolves for you one way or another, gotta say though from the pics looks like you have a really nice 3g, would hate to see it end up in the yard