Lost wheel

[michaedo]

Rotated the tires last weekend and failed to torque down the left
front wheel nuts. Dang, been kickin' myself for the last couple of
days for that dumb ass move. Looking on the bright side, (there's
always got to be one right?....right!?) I've decided that I'll be
flaring my wheel wells after all. Luckily I felt something was amiss
and was getting off hiway 50. The wheel came off on the exit
ramp and I rolled/slid into Stewart's, a Lotus/Jag/Rover car fixer.
Went back to the ramp and retrieved the wheel and 3 out of 4
of the errant lug nuts. Grrr. Didn't do too much damge to the
fender but did rip the chrome brow off the wheel arch along with
the chrome strip along the bottom. Jeez....

[ghcoe]

Yup, I did that on our tent trailer this summer. Checked the brakes and did not tighten one side. Wheel came off in town and I drove for almost a mile before someone came up beside us and told us we lost a wheel. It came off at a intersection and went across the oncoming lane and hit a dumster. Boy did I luck out. I was just thankful no one got hit or damage anything.

I watched a wheel go bouncing by me years ago and it crossed on coming traffic. It was bouncing about 6 feet into the air as it flew by. I though for sure it was going to go through someones window. It made it across only to bounce over a small hedge and slam right into a minivans passenger side door. They were waiting to turn into traffic. Shortly after that I saw a Porsch turn into where I was waiting and he was missing a left rear wheel. Turns out he had just had his tires rotated.

George.

[BQS4]

Originally Posted by michaedo Rotated the tires last weekend and failed to torque down the left front wheel nuts. Dang, been kickin' myself for the last couple of days for that dumb ass move. Looking on the bright side, (there's always got to be one right?....right!?) I've decided that I'll be flaring my wheel wells after all. Luckily I felt something was amiss and was getting off hiway 50. The wheel came off on the exit ramp and I rolled/slid into Stewart's, a Lotus/Jag/Rover car fixer. Went back to the ramp and retrieved the wheel and 3 out of 4 of the errant lug nuts. Grrr. Didn't do too much damge to the fender but did rip the chrome brow off the wheel arch along with the chrome strip along the bottom. Jeez....

Hmmm, I happen to have a fender and the chrome pieces, if interested. The fender would have to be repainted from signal blue to white....also have a set of Ascona flares too....

[tomking]

Originally Posted by michaedo Rotated the tires last weekend and failed to torque down the left front wheel nuts. Dang, been kickin' myself for the last couple of days for that dumb ass move. Looking on the bright side, (there's always got to be one right?....right!?) I've decided that I'll be flaring my wheel wells after all. Luckily I felt something was amiss and was getting off hiway 50. The wheel came off on the exit ramp and I rolled/slid into Stewart's, a Lotus/Jag/Rover car fixer. Went back to the ramp and retrieved the wheel and 3 out of 4 of the errant lug nuts. Grrr. Didn't do too much damge to the fender but did rip the chrome brow off the wheel arch along with the chrome strip along the bottom. Jeez....

You are not alone. I did the same thing with my newly restored GT 4 years ago. Fortunately I did no damage. Had to walk a mile back to the house to get a tire iron. I was out on a checkout ride. I missed part of the checklist!

[traytodd]

You're in good company with Gil.

[lowkey]

I too have watched my left reat wheel, pass me as I was doing 50 on a checkout ride. The car handled fine as I watched the tire roar down the street, into the other lane, and then hit the front bumper of a pick up truck parked at the curb on the other side, and sail ten feet in the air, and land in the grass.

There were three guys standing around the truck, and I thought, "oboy, here we go." I was wrong. They were laughing thier heads off, thought it was the funniest thing, couldn't stop laughing.

Didn't want my insurance info, nor any money, and they helped me put the wheel back on. Can you beat that?

[DennisGardiner]

Back in the late 1980's I was driving a 73 Manta Rallye,... and my 'so-called' FRIENDS????,... decided it would be funny to loosen the lug nuts on the right rear wheel.

I got less than two miles before the wheel came off dramatically launching the rear of the Manta up into the air (via the tire rolling on the floor board),... just before the axle came crashing down into the pavement.

Ha, Ha,... Funny, Funny. So-called Friends.

[gvy]

Wow;

Would you believe,that after reading all this, I just went checking al my wheel nuts.

Geert

[ben]

glad to hear you ok
and car,to. could have really bad