Loose Wheel On Preflight

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Bill Greenwood

Ejection Handle Pulled
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Bill Greenwood
Ok this is not strictly a preflght matter but I want to make a point.
Today I went to have my winter tires mounted, we don't have much snow, its warm, but some is forecast. So I waited couple of hours, and when the car was ready I did a quick walk around just to look at the wheels. Then I drove out on the highway, and took it very slowly. Right away something felt wrong, sort of wallowing not crisp, and then at about 20 mph it began to make a rumbling noise. I crept back to the shop and sure enough, the bolts on the right rear wheel weren't even finger tight. It could have been dangerous if I was going 60 mph.
When I did the walk around, I didn't get down and wiggle each bolt. I wasn't in a big hurry, I just assumed they'd be ok.
If this was an airplane, I'd need to really check more fully, How did the mech make a mistake? I don't know, maybe just in a hurry. He was embarrassed and apologized.
So much of fixing or flying a plane is like this,its not hard to change one wheel, but the essence is to be organized so you don't forget one, or forget and leave a towbar on the plane.
 
Bill Greenwood said:
Ok this is not strictly a preflght matter but I want to make a point.
Today I went to have my winter tires mounted, we don't have much snow, its warm, but some is forecast. So I waited couple of hours, and when the car was ready I did a quick walk around just to look at the wheels. Then I drove out on the highway, and took it very slowly. Right away something felt wrong, sort of wallowing not crisp, and then at about 20 mph it began to make a rumbling noise. I crept back to the shop and sure enough, the bolts on the right rear wheel weren't even finger tight. It could have been dangerous if I was going 60 mph.
When I did the walk around, I didn't get down and wiggle each bolt. I wasn't in a big hurry, I just assumed they'd be ok..
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Call me anal, but after any tire work, I pull into the parking lot around the corner from the tire shop and check things out. I back all of the lugs off and tighten them to proper spec with my own torque wrench. I've had to many brake rotors killed by shop apes who think the air gun needs to be turned up to *eleven* when tightening the lugs.
 
The mech did it the proper way, he just did only 3 of the 4 wheels. I cant see what number he had the electric wrench on,but after using it he then used a real torque wrench to check each bolt, I could hear the click as it reached the limit. And he used a jack under the wheel that was lose.
I've had props worked on for my planes and I was sure to look closely at those bolts. I had a friend actually lose a prop once. Howard Pardue was flying a small replica P-47 or might have been a Corsair, with a wooden 4 blade prop, when it left the airplane. He was over a freeway, made a forced landing on it, rolled off the exit ramp and into a service station, to the surprise of the attendant . The prop was found in a field, no damage and he had it on his wall for years.
 
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Some tire places make a big deal about using the torque wrench. But, I've had one of those places install only 3 of the 4 lug nuts - I didn't notice for a long time because it was under the wheel cover... Of course, the 3 that were installed were torqued properly.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Call me anal, but after any tire work, I pull into the parking lot around the corner from the tire shop and check things out. I back all of the lugs off and tighten them to proper spec with my own torque wrench. I've had to many brake rotors killed by shop apes who think the air gun needs to be turned up to *eleven* when tightening the lugs.
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I'm sort of like you, but I don't drive around the corner. I just do it right in their parking lot. I also bring my own tire pressure gauge and check them. I trust my snap on torque wrench, and tire pressure gauge a lot more than some stranger who is not really all that concerned about quality, just waiting for 5 pm so he can get out of there.
I had a tire shop install new shocks on my pickup truck about a decade ago, at the same time as they put new tires on it. The shocks were not even the correct shocks we agreed on and I was charged for, one was left loose, they broke a wheel stud, tires were not properly balanced, and air pressures were all over the place. I sat there for a few hours until the shop owner returned, and before he got in the door I stopped him, showed him my truck and said so how are you going to mske this right. He started by firing two people right in front of me. Then asked me to please pull my truck into the far bay that was empty, and he did the work himself, he apologized profusely, and then gave me back $200 to help a little bit with the hours of my wasted time. He was appalled by the lack of quality done by his crew while he was gone for a few hours. The monkeys in the shop didn't give a crap at all.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Call me anal, but after any tire work, I pull into the parking lot around the corner from the tire shop and check things out. I back all of the lugs off and tighten them to proper spec with my own torque wrench. I've had to many brake rotors killed by shop apes who think the air gun needs to be turned up to *eleven* when tightening the lugs.
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This. I've never found one loose but they are almost always overtorqued. I miss my old shop where the owner was a fellow Porsche club instructor and he wouldn't let his guys use an impact gun to tighten the lugs (OK to remove them).
 
I swap my own tires, too. Air impact wrench to remove, then for first "snug up," but no more than two "lugga-duggas." Then, around each wheel in a star pattern.. twice... with a torque wrench. When I get the cars back from a shop on the rare times I need to take one in, if I know they've removed a wheel, I recheck the torque and tire pressure. 90% of the time the lugs are WAY too tight and the pressure is too high.
 
MuseChaser said:
I swap my own tires, too. Air impact wrench to remove, then for first "snug up," but no more than two "lugga-duggas." Then, around each wheel in a star pattern.. twice... with a torque wrench. When I get the cars back from a shop on the rare times I need to take one in, if I know they've removed a wheel, I recheck the torque and tire pressure. 90% of the time the lugs are WAY too tight and the pressure is too high.
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The big problem is, once over torqued the damage is done. The lug has been stretched.
 
unsafervguy said:
The big problem is, once over torqued the damage is done. The lug has been stretched.
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Fortunately, there are degrees of damage varying between none and ruined. Most of the time, I've gotten lucky. For some reason, the lugs on the two Volvo 240s we owned were very unforgiving... replaced many of those, and didn't enjoy dealing w/ the stupid ABS tone rings in the process.
 
Besides over-torqued, there are cross-threaded lugs. Had that from an Ape with an impact wrench. Literally my pneumatic impact wrench barely turned the lugnut before the lug itself spun on the hub. I had the pleasure of sending the car back to the shop who cross-threaded the thing, and who accused me of "hitting something on the road"to cause the lug problem. Hogwash! Still, they had to CUT OFF the rim and tire in order to pull the hub and replace the lug. That was a 1 AMU bill and a lesson to me to do as much work as I can myself, and find a reputable independent shop to do all that I can't/won't do.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Call me anal, but after any tire work, I pull into the parking lot around the corner from the tire shop and check things out. I back all of the lugs off and tighten them to proper spec with my own torque wrench. I've had to many brake rotors killed by shop apes who think the air gun needs to be turned up to *eleven* when tightening the lugs.
Click to expand...
Yeah why do they do that?
 
Wow. I'm confused why people so picky don't do the work themselves in the first place. I can see it either way, wanting it done perfectly, and not wanting to do it, but to pay someone to do it and then redo their work is a bit nutty to me.

That said, I was driving a twisty road rather "briskly" when I was a teenager and I heard a strange rattling sound. Pulled over and popped the hubcap and out fell a nut. Needless to say I check all the wheels and counted my blessings before continuing my drive. All the nuts on that one wheel were hand tight at best. The other wheels were ok.

So maybe I get it after all.
 
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