My daughter had a very similar thing happen after buying a new set of tires for her Jeep Grand Cherokee. A month later she called me, panicked due to a loud noise from the rear of the car. My first thought was loose lug nuts. I had not seen her to check them after their installation. I should have made the effort. I drove to her location and tightened the four remaining ones. The fifth was broken off. Since Sam’s Club has no staff capable of replacing studs (??) they told her to take it to a tire shop nearby. Sam’s reimbursed her the $138 that she spent for five new studs and chrome nuts. No argument, even though it had been that long. I’m sure the Honda dealer will do the same for the OP.
That retorque your wheel after 50 miles on your receipt was put there by lawyers to try and limit their liability if your wheel falls off. I have never seen a properly torqued wheel fall off, however I have seldom seen a properly torqued wheel after someone else services my car.
The lug nuts on my car are supposed to be torqued at 76 ft. pounds.
I had my last free oil change at my dealer and they said I needed an alignment because my front toe was out. I didn’t want it done that day so I took the car home and measured the front toe myself and I had 1/8 ’ of front toe out.
I decided to get the alignment the next day but while I was out in the garage I decided to rotate the tires because it was no longer free at the dealer. I could not break them free with my 18" breaker bar and rather than put my 4 ft pipe over my breaker bar, I decided to tell the dealer about it the next day.
They apologized, said they didn’t know how it happened and would rotate my tires for free. When I got home from the alignment I went to check the torque on a few lugs. I had to use my 4 ft pipe to break them free ! Dealerships- I wish I could buy a new car without them.
Of course there is always the chance of vadalism after two weeks. They wouldn’t be able to get the locking nut off so that was still on.
My suggestion would be to sit down with the service manager and have a calm, polite discussion over this issue. Odds are he will resolve this in your favor without a lot of bent out of shape feelings and too much drama.
The service was done in the middle of August. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then and there’s also the possibility that someone came along and wanted a wheel or even a full set. Running into the locking lugs just stymied the process…
As to the lazy balance issue, what the AAA guy is getting at is that someone just slapped 2 weights on one side of the wheel instead of splitting them up with one on the outer and one on the inner side of the wheel rim.
There can be reasons why the lazy balance issue may not apply.
It also could be that those 2 weights have been on there since ? and were not installed at the last service.
Thank you everyone for the responses. I’m not the type to threaten, get hysterical, write nasty messages or yell at a person just doing their job. I hope to speak to the manager tomorrow and discuss the issue, severe safety risk that was posed by the missing lugs. End result, I would like the lug studs all replaced, 3 missing spare lugs replaced, and a full car inspection for the lugs, and for that effected rim to be inspected, as well as the tire at no expense. This seems to be reasonable based on comments. Thanks again I still don’t know what the supposed lazy balance job was, but based on above post, it doesn’t seem to be a major issue.
Regarding the lazy weight issue it is not a major one. It’s possible that the wheel could be slightly better balanced if the weight was split between sides but the unknown is whether or not that wheel already has a weight on the inside.
As for 2 weights on the outer (assuming the inner weight is present) it could be that the shop ran out of a needed weight and had to resort to 2 smaller weights to total what was needed.
Assuming the inner weight is there the 2 weights on the outside (and assuming they’re adjacent to each other and not spread out to some degree) is more of an appearance issue than anything.
Sorry for the number of assumptions… 
@HelenMK handling it as you described is the best way to do it, what you are asking is fair and reasonable and I doubt the dealer will give you any hassle.
As far as the balance I am guessing that instead of removing all the old weights from the wheels the tech simply added weights as necessary. The other possibility is that the machine said more weight was needed and instead of removing a weight and replacing it with a different one the tech placed a second one next to the first on.
Update. Had to call 4 times for dealership to answer. Seems like they were avoiding my calls, and had indeed received my messages, based on how informed the manager was of the situation.
He is outright denying everything. Says it is virtually impossible for me to have driven for 6 weeks with 1 lug on a tire without noticing an incredible vibration in the car. Note, there was no vibration, whatsoever, including during the car ride right before we noticed the missing lugs, where we were outside with the car the whole time. Dealership stance is that someone wanted to steal 3 $2 lugs, and that they are responsible for nothing. Even though I said that I barely drove, under 500 miles, as my husband used public transportation for work, they said they will contact their IT person to see if there’s a video of the incident. He let me know that it’s not a definite as to whether they’ll have the video. My father interprets this as, if they find the video, and it shows 1 lug being put on, they’ll discreetly fire the technician and tell me they couldn’t find the video. I would ideally like this to proceed in an honest manner. Wouldn’t it be great if they called me back saying, “Yes, we did find the video”. That’s what I want. I’d like to look at a video. While I find it extremely unlikely that someone wanted 3 lugs, since if you own a torque wrench, you’ll be smart enough to recognize wheel locks and know it’ll be tough to steal the tire, I’d like to have trust in this dealership and hope they find it for peace of mind moving forward for future service.
Father, who is a former mechanic, has suggested I get the lug studs replaced and all future maintenance work done at a different dealership, he suggested the Toyota dealership where my husbands uncle works as a mechanic, should this not be resolved amicably.
I was calm and I believe reasonable during the conversation with the manager, despite being interrupted several times and told repeatedly how impossible it was that the tire stayed on, making me feel even more nauseous on how dangerous this was.
There are several layers of management at a dealership, what management position did the person you spoke to claim to represent? Was this the service manager or the general manager of the dealership? If the former, I would escalate. He’s hoping it dies quietly at his level…
If there is some disbelief about the level of vibration with one lug, why not offer to bring it over for a test drive in that condition? That might scuttle that defense (excuse).
You might want to have trust in this dealership, but they’ve clearly performed in a manner that doesn’t inspire trust.
Your dad is giving you good advice. A wheel with only one lug may very well move on the unsecured studs while rolling, laterally when going straight and axially when turning, and can cause thread damage. A damaged thread could easily prevent proper nut installation on future installations.
Contrary to a prior thread, a single lug cannot be relied upon to hole a wheel on. The primary mechanism that holds the wheel on laterally to the axle is the friction between the hub and the wheel contact surfaces, made sufficient by the load placed on the surfaces by the lugs. With only one lug in place, you lack that mechanism.
And when turning, considerable axial load is placed on the studs. The axial load placed on a single stud while turning at those moments when the tire’s contact patch is diametrically opposite of the stud (the load will actually vary in a sinusoidal manner as the wheel turns) is enough to overstress and break the stud. That load on the stud is analogous to pulling on the stud with a prybar some 8 or 12 inches from the stud with hundreds of pounds of force. Maybe more.
Two things.
First, if the one locking lug nut was properly torqued down, and you have the factory wheels where the hub ring matches the hub of the axle, then yes, the wheel could have stayed in place and there might be a little vibration at higher speeds, if the tire was well balanced, it might not be enough to notice.
Second, you were talking to a person that had skin in this game. If this sort of thing were to be happening more than once, they may be trying to save their job. You have to go up the food chain and ultimately to the owner. This manage made a stupid mistake. He could have sent the car back to the shop, had the one lug stud that I think is the only one needed to be replaced, or had all four studs replaced and new lug nuts all for a minimum cost to the dealership and he would have one happy customer.
It does seem odd that the mechanic (probably a trainee) would miss this. As a rule, you mount all for wheels and spin on the lug nuts to snug. Then you lower the car to the ground and go back and torque all the lug nuts. He would have noticed the missing lug nuts on the second pass. Many shops also require a second person to come behind and recheck the torque and the air pressure.
The only way I can see this happening is the mechanic is trying to beat the time allowed in order to get more cars through the bay, and increase his take home pay so he is using torque sticks on an impact wrench and is doing the lug nuts in a single pass, and no one is checking. Or someone indeed thinks its funny to watch someone’s wheel fall off. Any of your neighbors have a similar problem?
But even if it is a prank, this manager really passed up an opportunity for customer satisfaction. Its going to be hard to get that back.
No. No neighbors have this problem. I have nosy old neighbors who are outside or looking outside on 3 sides of me. No one goes unnoticed on our short out of the way one way street. They ask me later who I had over. I’ve gotten used to it.
I should mention that this dealership boasts an express 30 minute tire rotation and balance service while you wait. I didn’t know they had that, until I was on hold for a long time, insisting that I’d wait to talk to the service manager, and that I didn’t want voicemail again.
They might have been on a time crunch. Still waiting to hear back from manager. I would consider contacting owner of dealership if they cannot locate the video.
BJ’s snapped off 4 out of 5 lugs on every wheel of a friends car and did not tell them. They drove out of the parking lot and the car was shaking. They stopped within a few hundred feet and found the problem. They said that they replaced the lug nuts as standard practice. The problem was that they put standard lugs on metric studs.
Personally I think its time to have the studs replaced and move on. What’s to be gained? Maybe a tech screwed up 6 weeks ago. Maybe someone tried to steal the tire. I really can’t see a shop video being held for 6 weeks but even if it does show the wheel being missed, what will that prove except the tech screwed up which is what most of us believe anyway.
I completely agree with keith and the express lane you mention is becoming common with dealers.
The downside to the express lane is that it’s often staffed by trainees who are under the gun to hurry, hurry, hurry. That go-fast method can lead to mistakes by experienced guys much less someone new to the field.
The dealers are doing this to compete with the prices for similar services at fast lubes and chain operations. It’s also not good in my opinion and the sole purpose is to benefit the dealer by creating foot traffic into the shop and creating that positive PR spin so the car owners will get cheap service and hopefully (very soon) trade their car back in for a new one…
I spoke to another person, who suggested that the video of the car maintenance, if found, may show the lugs being put on, but might not show them being tightened and torqued properly. She mentioned that the ticking that was heard while driving last week and this past week, may have been separate lugs coming off, after not being tightened, after I told her the noise went away each time. Any thoughts on that? I just want to know if that’s another possibility.
If the nuts were coming off, than they were not properly torqued.
@db4690
Given what could have happened and as precaution for the next guy who may crash given the loss of a wheel , an “all out war is well within reason” . IMHO, this is not a forgettable or forgivable offense. After an oil change by the dealer, I noticed the oil cap was not replaced and I caught it early to; now that is not a war. A wheel falling off for the next guy and some one could die ! I make the suggestion because I have enlisted the manufacturer representative before a couple of dealer confrontations. It has always worked and I got more then bargained for. Everyone was contrite, humble and there was no real confrontation.
You inspect the studs for damage, replace the lug nuts and drive on…What COULD have happened does not count. Nothing happened. No damaged property, no injury, just a lesson learned…
That works for you and I. It doesn’t work for many drivers rushing from one appointment to another , driving their kids to and from child care who unfortunately can’t even find the car jack or know a tire lug nut from a jack handle. It sounds good…but it doesn’t work for most and I would be some PO’d if I found out my daughter’s car with our grandchildren in it was driven one foot passed the exit and onto the main road with missing lug nuts.
It works for you and I though. It should be a lesson learned for the dealership…“be more careful” that only happens if we put up a stink and hold them accountable, instead of doing no more then replacing lug nuts and driving on. I raised our kids to be kind and gentle until it came to their safety and the safety of their kids…then the gloves are off and everyone involved is held accountable. This is a lady with an infant son. She is going to inspect and replace the lugs and drive on ? Doing that for her without holding someone accountable should not be the only thing be done on her behalf IMHO.