I had my Weld Cheyenne's and tires mounted Friday afternoon. They looked great and the ride with the Pirelli's was much improved. That all went to heck when the front left wheel came off on the I-5.
I felt a few weird vibrations and then the truck veered hard right. Luckily there were no other cars close by and I didn't hit anything. Also, the rotor dropped onto the rim and the weight of the truck kept it from falling all the way off.
When I checked out the damage I found all of the wheel studs sheared off. I guess they were either over torqued or the lug nuts were cross threaded. I have no idea how it happened. I checked the right side and they were messed up too.
Now the truck is sitting at the tire shop that did the install while I'm rolling in an Aveo rental car that I'm paying for. I have contacted my insurance in case the dealer decides they are going to give me a hard time. I guess we'll see soon.
Yeah.. I had a similar problem (except for the wheel falling off thing). I had to replace to wheel lugs on my truck. Once time I was at a tire shop (no finger pointing here, they are usually a very good shop) and when the guy was trying to install the lugs on of them stripped out a stud. I then rotated my tires I don't think I torqued the lugs down to the proper weight (I guess that's the right term). I then took it to get an alignment and they wanted to rotate the tires again, this time one of the lugs was stuck on the stud. Looks like it cross threaded. Well, they never took it off. I then decided to take it off and the lug sheared off and half of it was stuck in the lug.
I think the first thing was that the studs are soft and that you really need to make sure that you use the proper torque setting. The second thing was that the lugs were cheap (alos appeard to be a soft metal) and I found alot of metal filings in the threads. I changed all my lugs to Gorilla lugs ( I think they were about $35 from 4WP) and they seem much better quality and don't look like they will start "falling apart" allowing cross threading.
Now.. to change the lugs is very easy.. just remove the wheel, remove the brake caliper (remove to two bolts that hold the caliper to the hub), take the brake rotor off, then tap on the stud (or what remains of it) until it backs out of the hub, then insert the new stud (about $6 from the dealer), then reinstall disk rotor, then install brake caliper, then install wheel and torque to 83lbs.
I had my Weld Cheyenne's and tires mounted Friday afternoon. They looked great and the ride with the Pirelli's was much improved. That all went to heck when the front left wheel came off on the I-5.
I felt a few weird vibrations and then the truck veered hard right. Luckily there were no other cars close by and I didn't hit anything. Also, the rotor dropped onto the rim and the weight of the truck kept it from falling all the way off.
When I checked out the damage I found all of the wheel studs sheared off. I guess they were either over torqued or the lug nuts were cross threaded. I have no idea how it happened. I checked the right side and they were messed up too.
Now the truck is sitting at the tire shop that did the install while I'm rolling in an Aveo rental car that I'm paying for. I have contacted my insurance in case the dealer decides they are going to give me a hard time. I guess we'll see soon.
Kevin
Can you say "civil suit"? That tire installer would be treating me like a king or My a$$ you be going straight to the lawyer. Sounds like, with you having to rent a car own your own, that's what you should do.
Could of killed you or others.
That sucks....I agree with above. They are 100% responsible for ALL the damage. Tell them you want it repaired to factory standards with original Toyota replacement parts or they get a call from your attorney.
I'm betting they used the wrong type of lug nuts - it's amazing how few people can tell what type of nut goes with what type of wheel. If they used a normal tapered-tip nut on a wheel that requires a sleeve-type nut, then only a few threads will engage. What normally happens after that is all of the threads rip off the end of the studs and someone's wheel falls off. Same thing happened to a guy with Ivan Stewart wheels here a few months ago. Shop just orders wheels, and sticks them on with the nuts that came off the truck, even if they're the wrong type. Regardless, the shop was in the wrong - there's no reason other than installer FU that would cause a wheel to fall off. I hope you get what you deserve - you damn sure shouldn't have to pay for your rental car, much less have to pay for the new rotor, studs, and lug nuts.
I don't want to name the shop at this time. They made an error and they seem to know that they'll have to cover it. We'll see how it progresses.
The wheel is trashed. Maybe even the right as well. The rotor, brake cover, and maybe a few more items will have to be replaced too.
The lug nuts were straight from Weld for this application. I saw them torque the lugs by hand. They did seem to be using more effort than I expected though.
No need to get lawyers involved yet. I think it will get peacefully resolved.
Stuff like this is why DIY is my motto. Hope everything works out for you.
Hell Yeah.
SH*T like this is why I RARELY allow others to work on my truck, and it really pains me when I HAVE TO have someone else do something. Seems like every time I've let someone work on my rig (including the dealership), they fu#k something up
You're lucky you didnt total your truck, kill yourself, or kill others... DAMN!!!
Sue the bastards, you're lucky to be alive
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So what is the correct torque setting on aftermarket wheels i.e. Welds? I torqued my Welds to what the manual list for the stock wheels. Is it the same for aftermarket wheels? I also remember reading it some where that you need to recheck/re-torque the lugs after 50 miles.
Hey spjonm3, do you know what the p/n is for those Gorilla lug nuts?
Its crap like this that makes me nervous if anyone by myself works on my stuff ! There are a lot of unqualified people working on people's expensive vehicles ... be careful who you let work on your stuff.
I guarantee 9/10 shops have people that just hammer away with an impact.
i second that. if i were you, id bring a video camera to cath them dummies using an impact gun to r/r lugs. make the shop pay for all the repairs and the rental car.
to many of my dummy friends dont torque their lugs, i watch them loose wheels and studs. im really conservative myself. i usually torque to only 60 lbs and i check em regularly. im no engineer, 83 lbs of tq on some softie studs makes me nervous.
btw when i changed out a flat on my front left tire, i noticed that one of my studs was cross threaded from the factory, that sucked.
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i usually torque to only 60 lbs and i check em regularly. im no engineer, 83 lbs of tq on some softie studs makes me nervous.
I'm not an engineer either, but I think the people that set the torque spec at 83 lbs probably were engineers, and to me, under-torquing sounds as bad as over-touquing.
On 5 or 6 family vechicles that I have worked on, my Tundra has the lowest torque spec. The highest is my dad's GMC YukonXL 2500 which gets torqued to 150.
You are a VERY lucky man! Blessed is probably a more appropriate word here anyway. Especailly at freeway speeds, to have this sort of thing happen! I hope you didn't have any "other" damage to your truck (i.e. fender and other body damage)!
If it "was" the tire shop's fault... which it certainly sounds like it was... they'd be reimbursing me ASAP for my rental car charges or some heads would roll! Especailly if this was a national chain tire shop! Truth is... IMPO, this tire shop would literally be... KISSING MY BUTT right now!
Here's wishing you the best of luck...
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