As I was driving home last night, I noticed a strange vibration starting to happen with my steering well, and pulled off to the side of the road to see if I had a flat. I noticed on my rear passenger rim, three lug-nuts were missing. I was spooked so I decided to drive 20 mph back to my house. I never made it. I heard a loud pop and upon inspection the lug bolts that connect to the lug-nuts had been sheered off and the rim was being held on by one bolt and one lug-nut. I was just going to see if any of you had any explanation for why this would happen, and if anyone could tell me what needs to be replaced/fixed and most importantly.... a price range for the damage. Thanks guys...

AO

 

Well first off...consider yourself luck, and secondly stupid.
Lucky becasue you didn't crash and kill somebody...
Stupid becasue why would you continue driving knowing you had 3 bolts holding your tire in place!!!! AND NOT INSURING THEY WERE TIGHT BEFORE HEADING OUT....every car has a lug wrench or you just don't know how to use it....

Geeez...

Anyway, you will probably need a new rim, since the holes are probably elongated and new studs...new rim from dealer is probably 200+ and new studs approx 10 x 5 and 1 hr labor about 100.

As for the lugnuts becoming loose like that, have you had any work done on the car where they had to remove the wheels? Brake job, tire rotation? Any enemies?

 

Normally I would agree with your assesment of my stupidity, and I wholeheartedly concur with how lucky I, and my passengers, were. However, in my defense, it should be noted that the bolts, upon noticing that three were missing, WERE tightened for the rest of the trip. And secondly I was taking someone to the hospital, thus, requiring me to keep driving. Nonetheless, everyone involved is very luck that this situation did not turn out much worse. Thanks for the response and the price assesment

AO

 

You sure were lucky. If you are a DIY type of person, then it'll cost you about $10-15 total. The studs are like 2 to 3 dollars each at Pep-Boys. By the way, I hope whoever you we're taking to the hospital is OK, but driving on 2 lugs even 10MPH is extremely unconscious.TAXI next time!!!

 

Ive heard of this happening to other people, and the reason for it usually is people trying to steal ure wheels, as they loosen the lugs b4 jacking up the car, and then all of a sudden someone comes and they run off scared leaving the lugs loose. That is usually the case. But i use to work at a tire place before, and another reason this cud happen is because when some people put the lugs back on, they dont use a torque wrench or tighten them enough. You might want to have your other lugs checked, or if u have a torque wrench, tighten them ureself to specs. Better to spend 5 minutes to check now, then to regret it later.