John
I had a disturbing experience of wheel nuts coming loose at start of my journey through France earlier this month July 2009.
After 2 nights stay near Paris I continued my journey south, and after about 15kms I started to notice regular knocking sound from the rear left side of the car. I decided to come off the motorway at the next junction and found a nearby supermarket carpark to drive around and inspect wheels & underside of the car.
I could see nothing amiss under the car, although I thought it could have been the rear exhaust box rattling against the chassis under certain road conditions. I attempted to execute some rapid turn and stops around the empty carpark, but couldn't really induce the noise again. The tyres and wheels looked fine. I therefore set off again, but had got only about another 5 km down a dual carriage with some fast roundaboubts to here the noise again but more noticeably. I parked in an emergenyc layby and, following my wife's helpful suggestion that she hoped that the wheels were not about to fall off (I jest not), carefully inspected the wheel nuts on the left rear. I was astonished to find that they were not even finger tight - including the locking nut - (so I think that largely rules out a random theft / vandal attempt). I then check the other wheels, and ALL of them had loose wheel nuts to a certain degree. I proceeded to tighten them up, and set off on the rest of my journey - 500 miles to south of France. On my arrival at the my holiday destination and on my return 10 days later the wheel nuts had remained tightly in place.
At first I was blaming the garage where the car had been serviced a couple of days earlier, including fitting my summer alloys with new tyres all round. However, I had driven 250 miles, and had two nights parked at my hotel with some interim short journeys and there had been no indication of a problem at that point. Then I recalled that on the day before the wheel nut experience, I had been parked all day (1130 - 2200) at Disneyland in full sun on one of the hottest days they have had - low 30s degC.
I therefore now wonder if there had been extreme differential heating, and then cooling that night (I think there had been some thundery showers that night), which resulted in the wheel nuts becoming slightly loosened, and which progressively became worse the next day over the first 15km that I drove.
Do you have any thoughts on this one?
Incidentally it has now been 2 weeks and they have remained totally tight!!
Yours
NPETERS
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Millions of car's wheelnuts survive far hotter temperatures than 30+c without coming loose.
They were never tightened properly in the 1st place
MVP
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If you have new tyres fitted you are supposed to check the tightness of the wheel nuts after about 50 miles, I always do. I once had a wheel come off after a service.
When I go on a long trip I check the wheel nuts, tyre pressures, oil, water and anything else I can think of. I think you were fortunate not to have an accident.
The air temp would have made no difference as MVP said.
Edited by quizman on 28/07/2009 at 18:00
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In the pre-war case of Alfred Rouse and the "burning car" murder trial, his defence tried to claim the brass petrol union nut had unscrewed itself because the fire had heated it - a suggestion thrown out because although the nut's female thread expanded, so did the male thread on the union it was screwed onto.
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The garage may not have tightened them up, and you should have retorqued them after so many miles. (the number of miles seems to vary).
I recently replaced my front discs and the wheels became loose again after about 150 miles. Ooops! They were tight when I put them on, but I should have rechecked them sooner.
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Quizman is spot on. Different wheels & the contact surface probably had rust & dirt in slightly different position on the hubs. The wheels needed checking after 100 miles.
If the garage had left them loose they would of been rattling in a few miles not 250 miles later
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