David Lock

My lad went to collect 3 friends from Gatwick last night but phoned me on his way back, after dropping them off, to say car (205 DT) was “making a funny noise”. I said all the usual things like check brakes, tyres and fluid levels but we couldn’t identify it and he said he would drive back home carefully. 20 mins later he phoned to say the front nearside wheel had come off as he was driving along. He hadn’t hit anything and managed to steer half onto the verge. This was a wheel that had been the spare and recently changed by garage at MOT. I went out to collect him and found that the brake disc had made a 40 yard gouge in road and scraped 1 ½ inches off the disc. I kept waking up last night wondering what might have happened if the wheel had come off whilst he was doing 70 on the M23. I also feel guilty that I had told him to drive home instead of going out to sort it out. I’ve told the garage to go and collect the car but I was too angry to discuss it with them just at the moment
Has anything similar happened to you? dl

imlach

Yes....picked up brand spanking new Scooby back in 1999 from main dealer.
Drove 15 miles to car audio place to get a CD changer put in.....

Popped back an hour later to get told by CD installer that did I know all my wheel nuts were finger tight!!! (never found out how he discovered that!).

Cue embarassed Subaru dealer and lots of free servicing for a long time

OllyK

You do check the nuts again yourself 100 miles or so after a wheel has been changed / removed don't you?

davegtt

Dont these places tell you to check the wheel bolts after 50miles from changing a tyre or wheel so you cant pin it on them? Same with tyre pressures etc.

Brendan Hughes

Nothing that was a garage's fault.

Had a front ball joint pop in my Dutton when I was doing a 3-point turn. 2 miles from home, had to leave the car there, I think a mate towed me back.

Drove a 7.5tonne lorry round N London, in Essex a clack, clack, clacking sound started. I thought a stick was stuck under the wheel arch, looked, nothing. Carried on driving, M25, N Circular, clack clack clack, getting louder. I kept getting out and looking under the wheel, nothing. Finally I passed a policeman who looked rather startled, 100 yards away from a drop point. I parked and looked again, this time AT the wheel rather than under it, and noticed the entire steel faceplate was cracked all round the wheel nuts, just as he came up and said "Do you realise your wheel is about to fall off?"

He forbade me from driving it further, which I thought was quite pointless as I had no intention of getting back in it until it was fixed!

Good luck with the garage, glad your son's OK.

imlach

I check my nuts every few miles tbh.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Same thing happenned to me in my mini 1000. Minor clunking noise which I couldn't trace, which then got progressively louder along with vibrations in the steering wheel. Was only a mile from my parents house so limped it to there. 50 yards from their house the nsf wheel fell off (10 mph), the car slid to a halt on the bottom wishbone, the wheel rolled onto the pavement, hit a wall, rebounded back and to rub salt into the wounds hit the car door!

I had recently replaced the bottom balljoint, but couldn't blame a garage since I did it myself and it was all my own stupid fault My best man needed something to prop up his speech anyway

David Lock

I never have done but will now. I doubt if many people do but that's no excuse I know. d

SteveScooby

iTrader: (2)

I've been to 4 incidents on the motorway where wheels have come of people's cars or trailers. the worst was this one:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/5167858.stm

OllyK

I have to say Kwik Fit and the local independant are pretty good about saying to check, indeed our local KF says to drop back in in a few days and they'll re-torque them for free.

Most people are way to lax about checking vehicles before they drive them, how often do people check the washer fluid (bet it's when they go to use it and nothing comes out in most cases) tyre pressures, oil, brake fluid etc etc

davegtt

Selecta tyre also print on the reciept please check your wheel nuts in 50 miles time....

Shark Man

I forgot to torque the wheel nuts on my mums car the once...lucky I took a test drive before giving her the keys...I wondered why I was getting wheel wobble whilst turning at 20mph

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

My cousin had a front disk shear off, i.e. the friction surface snapped off the bit that bolts through the hub, i.e. no brakes on that side.

Criss

Thats aweful poor scooby driver having to live with that.

Shark Man

...and the main reason why all trailers and caravans need a form of annual MOT testing.

GC8

My sympathy lays with the victim and her family, not the fool driving with an unroadworthy (and ultimately deadly) trailer. Get your priorities right man... "poor Scooby driver" my ****!

speedking

I had the opposite where the locking wheelnuts were so overtightened that they had to be destroyed to get them off. Had MOT, service, and new tyres in the preceding month so couldn't pin it on a particular company

Ipkis' Wifey

just had 2 new rear tyres on my Granny at my local tyre place. i have a sticker on my steering wheel telling me that i have to check the wheel nuts after 50 miles

David Lock

Souvenir Piccy

Brake disc with scratch

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/broquet/DISC.jpg

dl

Brendan Hughes

Is that a brake disc designed for a wheel with a flat tyre? If so, it's upside down.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Blimey How far did it slide on that disc?

David Lock

Silly me.........

David Lock

About 30 to 50 yds I think. Must have had his foot on the brake quite hard. Says he was doing around 35/40 mph. 60 limit. d

windyboy

Similar thing happened to me once, I had taken the front near side wheel off foe some reason and then managed to cross tread all of the nuts when putting then back on again Was then driving home from work and heard a knocking sound and the steering was very wobbly, I was in rush hour traffic and nowhere to stop, was about 5 minutes from home and the wheel fell off and rolled about 100 meters until it hit a wall and stopped. Luckily at that point I was in the estate where I lived at the time and was driving really slowly and trying to limp home, the brake disk dug a grove in the road but luckily was badly damaged.
After realising what happened and after talking several deep breath's I had then to ensure the laughs and taunts from the local kids who were palying nearby, and then I had to go and get the tyre before they made off with it.
When I phone the RAC the operator asked if my car had broken down I said "err well not really, the wheel has fell off" to which he replied "oh right, you'll need a flat bed then..."

Windyboy.

Reffro

Bugger. I was sorry to read this thread, just glad your lad was OK after. Is he still ferrying around his amps and stuff in the 205?

David Lock

Hello R Yes it suits his needs perfectly - when using all 4 wheels

He can get 2 big amps, a head unit + assorted guitars and a passenger in and close the tailgate. 50 + mpg and enough character (the car that is) still to be fairly "cool". Now on 135k so we are getting our money's worth!!

But the wheel incident was rather scary so thank goodness it happened on a quiet bit of road - a straight bit West of Storrington and not the M23. David

little-ginge

Glad your son was okay

Not quite a wheel coming off, but frightening just the same. I was going heading down the local bypass a few years back when the passenger side wishbone snapped. Que wheel paying a very close visit to the underside of the wheel arch and the bottom of the wing digging into the tarmac. AA chap who came to get car told me another 1/4 of an inch deeper into the tarmac and I would have flipped the car.... a very lucky escape

Reffro

Excellent. I just checked my thread from when I sold it, that's 20k miles further on, so yes you're probably getting your monies worth.

I let my mate know how his little old car is doing, I take it that once the brakes are sorted you'll be putting it back on the road.

David Lock

It's all fixed now with new discs and fortunately no damage underneath, just some verge to brush off! Tell your mate he can't have it back just yet