[matttom]

I took om baby into my local dealer last week for some service. I had an oil change, tire rotation, state inspection and the rear drums cleaned and adjusted. No problems at first, yeasterday I heard some weird noises but could not tell where they where coming from. I did not think anything of it and drove around.

So today I'm driving to work and I hear clunking sounds coming and going. I stopped 4 times got out looked around and under the truck. I finally tugged on each wheel to see if they were loose. Well the rear drivers tire pulled out like an inch! I checked the lug nuts and found they were all loose

My rims have keyed lugs that require a special socket to remove so nobody was fu#@ing with me. I tightened them down drove a few miles and tighted them down again. When I got to work they were a little loose still.

As you can guess my next move was to call up the dealer and let them know what had occured. I was very calm and they were very appalogetic. So all they said was they were sorry and the could offer me some coupons . So i said no I will bring the truck in tommorow and I want it inspected in front of me with the tech that did the "WORK".

On the rim their was about a half of a teaspoon on metal fillings. I'm concerned that the lug studs or the rim was damaged

I will let you guys know what happens.....

 

[Dee Cab]

I see either new parts or a call to Toyota Customer Service in your future.

 

[DevinSixtySeven]

bet they used a zip gun on the lug nuts. never ever seen/heard of it happening when it's done properly (by hand with a torque wrench).

you might need new wheels as well as lugs and nuts. you're damn lucky a lug didn't shear and you lose a wheel on the road.

 

[The Phoenix]

On the rim their was about a half of a teaspoon on metal fillings. I'm concerned that the lug studs or the rim was damaged

That's not good man. I mean you do get some stud shavings from tightening/loosening lugs constantly, but if its alot then that could mean it stripped some threads from your wheel pushing outward.

 

[integraGSR]

bet they used a zip gun on the lug nuts. never ever seen/heard of it happening when it's done properly (by hand with a torque wrench).

you might need new wheels as well as lugs and nuts. you're damn lucky a lug didn't shear and you lose a wheel on the road.

most shops don't use these anymore. they use the torque extensions that limits how much torque is applied then it stops.

TSKT80A, Extension, Wheel Torque, 80 ft. lb.

 

[Mazutoytundra]

I just bought that Snap-on Torque stick for my personal use. But I still go back and hand torque all the lug nuts. I feel safer that way.:tu:

 

[KurtH]

a call to Toyota Customer Service in your future.

That's a waste of time. I know this from experience.

 

[42GAMI]

since your wheel was slapping the hub, id have them replace all the studs. im sure it will operate fine, but i got money that says your studs are severly fatigued.

i once "dropped" my supra, front and back. when i was done it was late and i was tired, needless to say, i forgot to torque one of my rims properly. had some wheel slap as four of the lugs came loose. i inspected the lugs, had a few metal particals on the studs. one stud had a shallow grove ring cut into it from the slapping of the loose rim. after i inspected the situation i retorqued the wheel to spec. about 3 months later, i had wheel slap again, i pulled over and 3 lugs were missing. upon careful inspection, the studs were missing, they sheared off.

... i like to think of myself as a gambling man, but the odds on damaged studs are anybodys guess. id have the dealer change the studs at the very least.

... as a matter of fact, it happened to one of my rims featured in my avitar.

 

[hsvhobbit]

Make sure you WATCH them check every lug for damaged threads and you personally double check the rims for damage. One time my dealer screwed up torqueing my wheels and there were so many shavings in the threads that I broke 2 of the lugs trying (and failing) to remove them. Thank god I was just doing this to rotate the tires and not on the side of the road in the rain.

Dealership replaced all the lugs at NC with NO quibbling...of course, me wondering out loud if I needed to call the NHTSB abt concerns for possible understrength lug bolts couldn't have had anything to do with that decision.

 

[shall36]

OK...sounds like the tech didn't run in the lugs. It happens, unfortunately. It's hilarious how guys on the board suggest that you make a mountain out of a mole hill.

I left lugs loose on one of my trucks (with steel wheels) before. Here's what happens. The threads on the lugs get buggered up, so you should replace the lugs. Not a big deal. Next, the lug holes in the wheels can get wallowed, especially on aluminum wheels. This is what those shavings are about. Now, if all of the lug holes are elongated, the wheel ought to be replaced because the lug nuts cannot seat properly in the lug holes. This should be simple enough to check visually with the wheel off the truck.

Finally, the nuts need to be checked to verify that the threads on them are still good. And no, I wouldn't run a tap through them as you don't want to remove any material from the inside of a lug nut!


This sort of thing does happen. And yes, someone will throw out hyperbole such as, "what if the tire had come off and a bus full of pregnant children were killed?" Bottom line is that the dealership needs to make you "whole" again, which means any damaged parts need to be replaced. Plain and simple. A local chain of tire stores in my town used to have a two-man system to check the torque on lug nuts. The tech would run in the lugs and torque them. Then, a manager would come back around with a torque wrench to ensure that the lugs were not too tight or loose. Good system.

 

[Marauder]

And people look at me like I'm crazy when I do my own service on my vehicle! That's exactly why I do it, I don't miss stuff like that.

I have also never liked to use the dealers for any kind of service, they are the biggest losers typically that work there. Good mechanics usually work at private repair shops since they can make more money there than at the stealership.

 

[68KANE]

OK...sounds like the tech didn't run in the lugs. It happens, unfortunately. It's hilarious how guys on the board suggest that you make a mountain out of a mole hill.

This sort of thing does happen. And yes, someone will throw out hyperbole such as, "what if the tire had come off and a bus full of pregnant children were killed?" Bottom line is that the dealership needs to make you "whole" again, which means any damaged parts need to be replaced. Plain and simple.

LMAO. Now I don't know what you do for a living but you sure sound like a car dealer to me. I agree that this guy shouldn't be made rich by this negligence (very important to use this word) but he also shouldn't have to twist anyone's arm to have ALL parts replaced and have his a$$ kissed.

I purchased my Tundra under the Certified Toyota plan and the vehicle had after market rims on it. On a trip about 1 month later while traveling on the interstate (70+ mph) one of the rear wheels came off the truck. Now I did have something I consider more valuable than anything on board; my wife and children. It was all I could do to get over to the shoulder while avoiding cars and watching helplessly as my tire careened down the grass median into opposing traffic. Luckily no one was injured or killed by either my truck or the wayward tire.

I spent the next week 900 miles from home and 60 miles from destination I was heading to while my truck was being repaired. I was assured by my home dealership acting manager (where I bought the vehicle) that I would be taken care of but when it came time to pay for the room and repairs to the vehicle, the communication with the home dealership ceased. They essentially 'lawyered up' and I had to front the repairs and room bill on my dime.

The cause of the accident was incorrect lugs on the aftermarket rims, which although installed by the previous owner, should have been caught in the 160 points Toyota Certified Vehicle checklist. At least 4 checks deal with inspecting aftermarket equip or removing the tires. The standard lug wrench wouldn't work and you had to use a thin-walled socket to take the tires off.

Upon returning home, I went to the dealership and waited for 40 minutes in the showroom well prepared to make a BIG scene until the manager finally agreed to see me. He requested that I file a claim with my insurance and let them investigate who was to blame. Numerous complaints to Toyota National were lodged but they admitted the only recourse they had was to list a complaint against the dealership during the annual review. BIG HAIRY DEAL.

Final solution was to file a claim with insurance (they didn't investigate) and file a small claims suit against the dealership. It took several hours investigating who the registered agent was and what county to file in but I finally tracked them down. They ate all my wasted vacation time AND even the time spent investigating them. Within two days of filing, I settled the claim for all that I was asking for.

Bottom line Matttom; don't trust them at all. Insist on all lugs being replaced, all studs replaced, all wheels replaced AND the cost of an independant mechanic to give it a once over. And of course, a loaner vehicle or rental plus $$ (coupons whatever) for your time/inconvenience.

While I love my truck and wouldn't trade it for anything, the term Toyota Certified Vehicle means that at some point, someone decided it looked like a Toyota.

 

[matttom]

Well here is what happened.... I went in today and had them pull the wheel in front of me. I physically touched and inspected everything. There was very minimal damage/wear on the studs and rim. The rim had some wear on the outside where the nuts seat but nothing to worry about. The inside on the lug holes in the rim had marks where the thread of the stud were up against it , but they were not out of shape. The studs themselves showed no wear or damage. The studs were not lubed with anything from the last service though :td: .

At this point there was nothing I really wanted the dealer to do.... I made sure the manager printed out a service order that noted the damage and the loose nuts. They also gave me a stack of coupons .

I 'm glad that there was no big deal but at this piont my confidence in their work is seriously in doubt

 

[shall36]

Me...A car dealer? Oh, the insults!

No, just remember that when you have humans doing work of any type, there will be mistakes. The likelihood of mistakes goes up when the rate at which the work is done is correlated with the money one receives for doing that work. The best mitigation strategies use checklists, buddy systems, or some form check mechanism performed by another person or computer or something.

If you guys knew what happens in aviation maintenance, you would never fly!

If you really stopped to think about all of the bone heads out there driving on the same roads as you, you would never drive. The odds of a vehicle maintenance error causing a fatal or serious accident are exponentially lower than the odds of some dumb-arse driver causing you harm.

Sounds to me like the dealer handled our friend pretty well, which is pretty rare.

 

[matttom]

Sounds to me like the dealer handled our friend pretty well, which is pretty rare.

Whoa..... Let's not get carried away here. The dealer did what I TOLD them to do. If I did not know what I know I'm sure they would have acted different.

PS the sevice manager said "this truck is an 02, so how do we know that the damage was our fault" WTF

 

[68KANE]

Whoa.....
PS the sevice manager said "this truck is an 02, so how do we know that the damage was our fault" WTF

Which is EXACTLY what I encountered when I had my experience. Jacka$$es pulled the 'who's to say you didn't put the wrong lugs on the truck' when I confronted them. Of course, in my suit paperwork I let their attorney have a copy of the internet photograph from the sales ad that when blown up, clearly showed steel lugs on alloy rims. Had I not had that picture, I don't think they would have settled so quickly if at all. Bottom line is they should be kissing his butt not inferring that the damage was preexisting.

Matttom, I would have insisted they replaced anything with wear on it. If they balked, I would have gotten an estimate from them and filed a small claims suit against them. That would not have been out of line requesting they replace what their negligence damaged.