Any - Wheel Nuts

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Thu 14 Feb 2019 20:00
Any - Wheel Nuts - ralph278

I visit a tyre centre. I get tyres changed, On my invoice is a note warning me to check my wheel nuts are tight after 50 miles. I visit a garage, Wheels come off e.g for some work on the brakes. I don't get a warning to check the wheel nuts. Garages seem to be living dangerously, although I don't hear of problems with wheel nuts coming loose.

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Thu 14 Feb 2019 21:11
Any - Wheel Nuts - Andrew-T

Checking wheel nuts can work both ways. It is unlikely that any fitters will have left them finger-tight and in danger of working loose, but I suppose it's possible, so worth a check when you get home.

On the other hand it's much more likely that the nuts will be impossibly tight, so if you suffer a puncture you will be unable to do anything about it at the roadside (see another current thread). A few months ago my car had some work done with the wheels off, and I had to put a 2-foot tommy-bar on my socket to shift the bolts afterwards. I'm glad I checked them.

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Thu 14 Feb 2019 21:34
Any - Wheel Nuts - Bolt

It is unlikely that any fitters will have left them finger-tight and in danger of working loose, but I suppose it's possible, so worth a check when you get home.

It has happened a few times working at a main agent, the technician put the wheel bolts on finger tight and couldn't be bothered to connect the airline to tighten the bolts up as it was lunchtime, the car was removed from the four poster and given to the customer by the supervisor

car lasted several miles before steering was affected and car returned to dealer, tech tightened the bolts using torque wrench and was ok

another car wasn't so lucky it had 2 wheels fall off on a roundabout and damaged the wheel arches

so it can happen and reason why garages should use torque wrenches to correct torque

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 07:25
Any - Wheel Nuts - NARU

It's a particular problem with caravans. Possibly because many don't have balanced wheels. Possibly because you wouldn't feel a wheel coming loose. My last dealer used to have two different techs check the torque in front of you.

The laws of physics mean that its always the nearside wheel which comes off.

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 09:21
Any - Wheel Nuts - Andrew-T

The laws of physics mean that its always the nearside wheel which comes off.

Presumably you are suggesting that the incremental movement causes the nuts/bolts to loosen. That should mean that an offside wheel should never loosen? Hmmm ...

SWMBO's family folklore says that her father was overtaken by his own rear wheel while driving in California in the early 1930s - which may add weight to your theory (they drive on the right of course).

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 09:56
Any - Wheel Nuts - Bolt

Presumably you are suggesting that the incremental movement causes the nuts/bolts to loosen. That should mean that an offside wheel should never loosen? Hmmm ...

works for hub nuts so why not wheelnuts / bolts !

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 14:47
Any - Wheel Nuts - Andrew-T

works for hub nuts so why not wheelnuts / bolts !

Some mission-critical machines use left-hand threads wherever this difficulty needs to be prevented.

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 11:14
Any - Wheel Nuts - Theophilus

SWMBO's family folklore says that her father was overtaken by his own rear wheel while driving in California in the early 1930s - which may add weight to your theory (they drive on the right of course).

Happened to me on a dirt road in Kenya - had just driven 12 miles of forest track (with precipitous drop off to sides), came to first straight stretch and was surprised to see a wheel overtaking me and disappearing into the bush. Yes, it was the nearside rear wheel - in East Africa we drive on the best side of the road, wherever the track looks clear!

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 12:41
Any - Wheel Nuts - galileo

SWMBO's family folklore says that her father was overtaken by his own rear wheel while driving in California in the early 1930s - which may add weight to your theory (they drive on the right of course).

Happened to me on a dirt road in Kenya - had just driven 12 miles of forest track (with precipitous drop off to sides), came to first straight stretch and was surprised to see a wheel overtaking me and disappearing into the bush. Yes, it was the nearside rear wheel - in East Africa we drive on the best side of the road, wherever the track looks clear!

Which side of the road used is irrelevant, the tendency for nearside wheel nuts/bolts to loosen is because they (usually) have right-hand threads and forward wheel rotation is what loosens them.

Didn't pre-war Rolls-Royces have left hand threads on left hand wheels to prevent this?

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 14:45
Any - Wheel Nuts - Andrew-T

<< Which side of the road used is irrelevant, the tendency for nearside wheel nuts/bolts to loosen is because they (usually) have right-hand threads and forward wheel rotation is what loosens them. >>

Indeed, but in most 'foreign' countries the left side is not the 'near' side ... :-)

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 15:15
Any - Wheel Nuts - gordonbennet
Didn't pre-war Rolls-Royces have left hand threads on left hand wheels to prevent this?

Indeed, i seem to recall some of my earlier lorries having left hand threads on the nearside wheels.

Our present lorry fleet wheel torqueing specs are, torque at fitment time, re-torque after 30 mins, re-torque the next day after a journey, our wheels are all fitted with wheelnut pointers.

In most cases, unless an inner of a twin wheel set needs to come off, or brake/hub work is involved, all of our tyres are normally changed with the wheel still fitted to the vehicle.

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 14:35
Any - Wheel Nuts - retgwte

its an attempt to avoid liability if the wheel comes off and there is an accident

there have been some quite expensive payouts after tyre fitters failed to do up the nuts correctly and the car went on to have an accident

so the fitters public liability insurance companies make them add words like this to the invoice to limit their liability

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Fri 15 Feb 2019 23:59
Any - Wheel Nuts - focussed

A bit of experience that anybody buying a trailer, or indeed a caravan might like to absorb.

. A particular trailer manufacturer had a big problem with their trailers shedding wheels quite soon after sale with a new boat package. They of course blamed the owner for not checking the wheel nut torque. A serious accident happened as a result of this and an official engineering investigation ensued - me not involved fortunately.

It turned out that during the manufacturing process the hubs and axles were spray painted before being assembled to the trailer chassis - without masking off the machined face of the hub that the back face of the wheel bolts up to. The hub and drum would get warm during use, soften the paint and as a consequence the bolts would then be loose, even though they were torqued up to spec when the wheels were fitted.

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