Lucky I and my wife who knows as much about cars as I do, and more important knows what she does not know. We both heard a noise on the right front shortly after I switched to the snow shoes.
Make this a reminder to all. It is not hard to miss one wheel or just one lug. If you hear something odd, check it out. It is far easier and cheaper to correct the problem now, not after the wheel falls off.
Good Luck everyone. Drive safe.
I can happen to anyone…I’ve done it before…Even had a tire place do it to me…and had a dealership do it to my wife’s car (luckily I noticed it before I drove out of the lot).
At least car and everyone is safe.
It happened to me on my 2 wheeled camper trailer. I had not tightened the lugs sufficiently and 500 miles away from home in the mountains, we heard a cluncking noise. All lugs had worked themselves loose on one wheel and the rim was busy cutting a hole into the hub.
We changed to the spare and when arriving on the West Coast had the dealer install a new hub. We needed a new wheel as well since the holes in the old rim were now egg-shaped because of all the flopping around.
When you buy tires at Costco they want you to come back in after a few days so the can re-tighten the studs with a proper torque wrench.
That’s why they make wheel studs nice and long…Gives plenty of time to realize something is very wrong before the wheel falls off…
I’m embarrassed too the number of near misses from my semi competent attempts. Luckily I’m a check it again freak. One of my worse was,driving up a steep hill towing my pontoon boat and having hitch separate because I didn’t even put the pin in. While my wife sat reading, I told here I was stopping to check the hitch. 10 minutes later after raising it with a jack and reattaching it, she was the really good wife, pretending it was typical and not saying a thing as we continued on our way, with a knowing…I married a boob smile.
One of my worse was,driving up a steep hill towing my pontoon boat and having hitch separate because I didn’t even put the pin in.
That happened to me with my camper. It never came uncoupled…but it started making noise…So I pulled over…Luckily the trailer stabilizer kept the camper in in place. Ever since then I check and double check. Actually my youngest now hooks up the trailer…and I just check it. Two sets of eyes helps.
UHaul connected a 12 ft rental trailer to the back of my truck one and forgot to lock down the coupler. They were distracted by a wiring problem on the trailer when they first connected it. I should have double-checked everything but I was in a hurry from the time lost (about an hour) on a bad trailer ground. I started down the highway and the trailer began to act funny so I started to pull over. As I stepped on the brake I heard a loud noise in the rear and I saw the trailer pass me on the right. It plowed into a dirt bank and came to a stop. UHaul brought me another trailer and picked up the damaged one. We all triple-checked the connections this time.
Some years ago, I had just bought my first new tractor and decided it would be stored inside instead of my car. Because you always drop the attachments when parked, they need to be raised, slightly, before driving out. Now, the bucket had nearly a 10 foot reach and nearly a half ton lifting capacity.
One morning while starting the tractor, I rested my hand on the bucket lever for support while checking some of the other controls on the floor by my feet when I began hearing cracking and scraping, enough to make me raise my head. Much to my horror, and with no effort or strain on the part of the tractor, the bucket had “collected” several bicycles I had hanging from the roof trusses overhead and was now driving them through the trusses, to the roof level. Luckily, none of the bike frames were bent, and the trusses were patch able. From then on, the tractor stayed outside, unonfined by idiot operators…
After driving 500 miles on a vacation trip after recent service decided to investigate clunking noise from front right wheel. Turned out to be a lugnut rolling around behind he hubcap. No harm, no foul I suppose, but will not go back to those guys for a rotation.
Don’t beat yourself up over this issue, Joseph.
It can–and sometimes does–happen to all of us.
I can recall, back in 1968 or so, an incident like this when I was putting the snow tires on my father’s '66 Galaxie 500.
It seems that, as I was about to begin the process of re-tightening the lug nuts after lowering the car from the floor jack, I got a phone call that distracted me for awhile. After the phone call, it was time to pick my father up from work, and I just got into the car and drove.
Yup–You guessed it! After a few making a few turns, I realized that I had not snugged-up the lug nuts properly, and that the rear wheels were somewhat loose. A quick return to the house, a few minutes with the lug wrench, and I was back on the road–albeit a few minutes late to pick up my father.