Wheel nuts? Who needs those!

[Roobubba]

So I was driving home to Oxford from Sutton yesterday evening, looking forward to band practice, and this juddering vibration and awful sound starts from the from the front passenger side of the car.
Not good.

It started off gently and got progressively worse, so I pulled off the motorway, found a quiet road and got out to have a look. Couldn't see anything, so I looked for the tool take off the hub cap off and see if the wheel nuts were loose... Couldn't find the tools... Hmm

Call out Autonational Rescue, they arrive really quickly (very impressed with them!) - about 10 minutes after I called...
The mechanic had a look around, thought it might be the suspension because of the crazy amount of movement of the front wheel, then he looked closer... suspension fine - the movement is all just the wheel...
So he managed to get the hub caps off, the three non-locking wheel nuts were each about half way out of their threads, being held on essentially by the hub cap. He put on the spare wheel so I could get back to Oxford.
Because of that, we had to cancel band practice, too - that'll cost 20 quid for the studio because of cancelling so late.

The car had just been serviced (800 quid, new cam belt, new front brakes - I commute a long way...) so clearly whoever put the wheels back on at the garage didn't tighten up the wheel nuts on that wheel, and they forgot to put our locking nut key and spare nuts back in the car, too. bar-stewards!

I'm really quite thankful I'm alive: I wouldn't fancy a wheel coming off at any time, let alone at 70mph on a very busy motorway...

Mrs Roo took the car back to the garage to shout at them this morning, I will have to see what's happened from that.

Roo

[Twinfan]

Scary stuff!

I'd be going apeshite at the garage, personally...

[Modular1]

personally, i'd go fcking mental at the garage too. they could have killed you.

[Transcend]

the word incompetance springs to mind instantly.

Glad it turned out ok though

[dave_mc]

woah, that's terrible.

Glad you're ok :)

[Alex]

A wheel came off when two of my co-workers were driving this white van during our civil service. Since it was a "company van" and the people at the place we were doing our service back then were total arseholes, they took it with quite a lot of humor. They weren't driving very fast, mind that. Needless to say it still wasn't very good for the van.

[d1dsj]

Hopefully you got a report off international rescue confirming the fault and potentially fatal consequences of poor workmanship? I would shove that under the nose of the service manager and insist on either a partial refund or a free mot and service when it's next due.

[38thBeatle]

I am glad you are OK Roo. That could have been nasty.

[Afghan Dave]

Hopefully you got a report off international rescue confirming the fault and potentially fatal consequences of poor workmanship?

"wheelnuts are not looking F.A.B. Virgil...

 :? :P

[Roobubba]

lol Afghan!

Yeah I have the report from autonational rescue. Mrs Roo went there this morning. She didn't shout at them, apparently they were very apologetic about having left the wheel nut lock and bits on their worktop and not putting them back (they found them and returned them), but they wouldn't accept responsibility for not having done the nuts up fully. They have offered us a free MOT next time, if we decide to return. Thing is, it's so convenient being right around the corner, but I'm not inclined to go back.

I can understand why they wouldn't admit liability straight away, but I can't accept that it wasn't their fault. I'm sorry, but putting a wheel back on is not rocket science, and wheel nuts, when tightened properly, don't just fall off.

The main thing is that I caught it in time for the wheel not to fall off and kill me, and I'm obviously quite happy about that!

[FernandoDuarte]

Roo, go there and put the hell out of pressure on these guys... if necessary, give them high tackles!!!!!

[JacksonRR]

^^^^For real, dude. I had a shop do a front end alignment and put new tires on. The next day I take the Subaru to the station down the road to have it pass mechanical inspection, so I can get it fully tagged up. The guy says, "Hey look at this." They freakin forgot to tighten one of the two bolts that keeps the wheel from turning like the Delorean from Back to the Future. I drove it carefully 20 mins back to the shop and told them to fix it. The guy said there was no way he did that and didn't want to put it on the lift. Well after 5 mins of arguing and staring this big $%&#er down, it went on the lift, was re-aligned and I walked out with free inspection papers. He had a VERY red face when I walked under the car and jiggled the loose bolt. "How bout this? You didn't do this? Seems it has something to do with setting wheel angle, yeah?" tink tink tink tink

If someone messes up and it's life-threatening, take them to the bank. I'm glad you didn't suffer any and caught it in time, Roo. You are fortunate. I bet the $%&#er that half-put your wheel on plays Teles.

[38thBeatle]

Send Keith Richards around with his telecaster.

[hunter]

I had the same happen once. Also the garage didn't tighten them up. shite happens but worst outcome was prevented, so you were lucky ... or smart ... anyways, good nothing happened!

20 GBP for a rehearsal? That sounds expensive!

[d1dsj]

Hopefully you got a report off international rescue confirming the fault and potentially fatal consequences of poor workmanship?

"wheelnuts are not looking F.A.B. Virgil...

 :? :P

Glad someone got it!  :lol: