Saved By The Bolt. literally

[kwill22]

missing 2 lug bolts and 1 snapped at the neck.

i was driving my brother to school this morning and i notced my front left tire feeling a little wierd and loose and its funny cuz i said to myself it feels and sounds like the bolts are loose. never the less i said id check on it when i got back home.

the ride got worse and worse and right when i was getting off on my exit i hear a loud thud/snapping sound and my steering wheel shifted to the right and my car all of a sudden had hydrolics. i look out my window to see WTH is goin on and i see my tire just spinning and wobbeling all over the place. i seriously though my rotors and everything just detatched. so i pull under the overpass and get out mad as hell and i se that there is one lug bolt in my tire. and it was loose as hell. 2 were missing and i had snapped at the neck. so i just took a bolt of the back tire and put it on the front so i could make it home which thank God i live only a mile from the highway. i should have took pictures on the spot but i was too pissed. so i got some when i got back to the house and got the tire off.

the bolt that snapped



didnt do any damages.:o




THE bolt that saved me A LOT of problems

[kwill22]

[whiltebeitel]

At least you made it back safe! One nice thing about the bolts, is that replacing them is easier than a snapped stud.

[Hick]

you need a jack stand under there

[ben312]

Something similar happened to me awhile back. I was driving a felt the car shaking and making a thumping noise. I was on a side road so I pulled over and found one nut down the street and only one one the car. I was right by the house so I just trolled home and ran to auto zone. Has to go to 3 different ones to get 3 bolts to fix it. Not fun. Make sure those bolts are tight boys.

[kwill22]

yea im just tryin to figure out how those bastards came out. the last time i even took that tire off was when i changed my pads about a month ago and i know i tightened hem then and i think i wouldve had this problem a long time ago but then again, you never know. im just glad i was so close to my house when it happened. i was doin 70 when that bad boy snapped.

you need a jack stand under there

yea mine are at a friends house on the other side of town so until i can make it over there im prety much stuck with my rusty 'ol jack. lol

[kwill22]

oh yea, im waiting on my girlfriend to come by so she can run me to auto zone. lol, sympathy points for me.

[ben312]

Are u on bottlecaps or an aftermarket rim? Light metals have a tendency to flex and wrap and change shape over time. Generally its not enough to cause any problems and you wouldn't know it without some kind of micrometer, but sometimes u need to re tighten your lugs after 2 weeks of putting them on. I always re check after a week or two. Gives them time to settle and back out at bit, then you drive it back in and its good.

[nando]

At least you made it back safe! One nice thing about the bolts, is that replacing them is easier than a snapped stud.

nah. I broke two at the track, all I had to do was get out a pair of vice grips.

I would have pulled over as soon as I felt it being wierd. I did on the track and I'm glad, it would have really sucked if the wheel came off trying to brake from 100mph.

what did you have them torqued to? you *did* use a torque wrench, right? (insert Dan Gillian joke here)

[kwill22]

Yep. I'm still on the bottle.

[chadthestampede]

I had all 5 lugs shear off once in my parents old van when I was 17, the wheel came clean off and bounced out into a field about 300 yards away, the van fell on the rotor and slid to a stop and left a 50ft scar in the road. The bottom of the rotor was ground to a flat edge.

I also had two lugs snap when I was driving my dad's car once, I managed to make it home with the other 2 intact, though.

Now I'm super paranoid about this kind of stuff happening.

[kwill22]

yea this is the first time ive ever even heard of it happenening. well at least on a normal car. guess i got to experience it first had though.

[2002maniac]

This thread scares me. Be careful!

[nando]

yea this is the first time ive ever even heard of it happenening. well at least on a normal car. guess i got to experience it first had though.

what did you have them torqued to? you *did* use a torque wrench, right? (insert Dan Gillian joke here)

[VacMan]

^^

He has the car jacked up on the widowmaker jack without a stand in sight. You honestly think he might have used a torque wrench to tighten them?

Good luck OP. Lesson learned I'd say, eh? :)