Customer Just About Lost It…. A Wheel That Is

46 thoughts on “Customer Just About Lost It…. A Wheel That Is”

1. I didn't think I would have to clear this up but yes…. I did re-install the front driveshaft 😐

2. I had one wheel come off. Once. And it was 1 month after I had the wheel off doing brakes. And it was on a Jeep Cherokee with nasty pitted aluminum wheels.

3. I was an aircraft mechanic for years, so I always triple check or quadruple check everything like you Eric. Nothing worse than getting fined $1,000 by the FAA for a simple mistake you might have made that wasn't a flight safety issue. It could have been something as simple as a maintenance aircraft log book notation with the incorrect maintenance manual reference number, that job sucked back in the day and we were paid peanuts. I worked midnight shift with no holidays or weekends off, missed many, many family gatherings on Thanksgiving and Christmas time. I should have stayed in the Military with 30 days leave every year. A pension would be really nice.

4. I asked montgomeywards not over tighten wheels so i could change tires Ialmost lost all four fortunatly i recked and re torqed

5. So torque wrenches are not overrated, I guess. 😉

6. I knew you reinstalled the front drive shaft.right after the last test drive.

7. Wow, that's scary. They say to check the torque again a lit later when you rotate tires. I will be sure to check them next time. Scary thought when driving on the highway especially. Thanks for this important video!!!

8. Not much to say here.
   Have you ever had deep fried french toast? Good gracious is it good; with whipped butter and hot syrup. That's a breakfast you only get once month, unless you're out there movin' and sweating all day, every day.

9. LOOSE NUT BEHIND THE WHEEL HAPPENS MORE.

10. Hope you hooked up the front driveshaft ?

11. No loose wheel , broke a 2 ft breaker bar on a lug nut

12. Test drive without checking the wheels still on 🎉🎉😅

13. For your customers safety don't you think they need 20 different locking lug nuts and you keep the keys

14. regarding over torque- just asking, would it be better to just torque to spec but use locktite to prevent the nuts from backing out? If you torque out of spec by 20ftlbs- could that not 'stretch / distort' the threads on either the nuts or bolts. My Volvo requires 105ftlbs- I actually torque to 100 WITH anti-seize – never had an issue.

15. Yep I definitely have a loose wheel story that I will NEVER forget….I used to have a toyota pickup with a 6 inch suspension and 4 inch body lift with 38 inch super swampers…..was hummin along the toll road at 60MPH then all the sudden we hear this faint knocking noise, luckily within a couple hundred yards there was an exit, as I'm going on to the exit my drivers rear wheel comes off and paases me….YIKES
    Luckily was already going pretty slow and somehow the truck barely leaned to that side, stopped in between the exit and the highway, got out and inspected and also had to walk a good 100 yards or so to retrieve my tire….had 2 broken studs and obviously no lug nuts left
    Ended up going to get parts and tools and fixed it right there

16. Reminds me of Darrel Waltrip when he was commenting NASCAR…lol

17. Fantastic

18. The other Kenny rogers fan, finally found ya

19. Should always remove plastic center cap before installing wheel to verify pilot engagement is true. Criss Cross pattern for tightening with vehicle supplied lug wrench

20. I had a '69 Chevelle with Cragar mags with the universal mounting washers. Coming down one of the main streets in town the lugs sheered off and the passenger side front wheel bounced down in front of the car, off the curb and just about hit 2 older ladies coming out of the Bridgemans Ice Cream store. Needless to say the mags went and steel rally wheels went back on. Close call but no damage except to the lug studs. Lesson learned. Thanks Eric for all the videos you do, I think they're great. I had surgery on the bottom of my tonque once, you talk about speech yer speech impediment.

21. This guy is great most shops believe me would get her for a rear end, control arm whatever,dont know how those guys sleeep at night!!!

22. U need to move your shop to Florida pal!

23. You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel

24. I was surprised you went right to driveshaft, usually i found that driveshafts make noise all the time.

25. Congrats on getting a socket over those nuts! here in illinois with the salt you have to pound a 6 point socket over then with a sledge then pound the nut ot of socket and replace lug nuts…Its a real PAIN!!! havent had any loose ones yet!! as usual great video man!!

26. My wife and I went food shopping and came home no problem. First thing in the morning she went some 8 miles to her sons and called me and she thought something was dragging. Another 8 miles and she came home and I went half a block and heard that exact sound. I went to remove the wheel to inspect the bearing or drive (FWD) and found a couple lug nuts loose. My question is why these things happen with her and not me… like trucks breakdown on railroad crossings? LOL

    Thanks and entertaining as usual.

27. scary when they come off . glad my wheel didnt kill anybody

28. have witnessed wheels come off during driving more than once. Discount Tire is bad about this.

29. I won't be charging ya for the torturing of the wheelnuts, but I will be test driving your vehicle to the beer store to pick up that case of beer you now owe me……😂… ( …and it's not Bud Lite)😮

30. What a great tip. I'm just the loose nut behind the wheel.

31. confirmed on a Grand Cherokee Laredo. two days into ownership (and on brand new asphalt) at WORK. I recognized that knock right away by the tone alone. thank goodness the tools were still IN the vehicle; people tend to throw away the Jack, tools, spare (this one had none) floormats, manual, and any keys they're not using on a regular basis. I forked out for a clicker torque wrench (40 bucks for a 1/2 drive), and got everything over a hundred pounds…and discovered oddball lug nuts. shortly thereafter, an electrical disaster occurred when I had the battery replaced with the correct size (there was a group 54 in it, I believe), and they put it in backwards; previous owner had placed the battery posts facing front with the undersized battery for cable fit. parked for a month with a brand new battery, alternator and starter (the original had started to seize), but burnt through the stock and two rebuilt alternators. we thought the computer had fried. sold on, and the new owner reported: blown fusable link in the top-post wire to the alternator, no computer damage (i thought they stopped USING that sort of thing, and relied soley on the computers). also reported, after actually HAVING both the stock wheel AND the ones he'd put on come off and destroy the driver's fender, it had had the WRONG LUG NUTS to begin with!

32. On my 2012 Mazda 6, the torque spec for the lug nuts is 80 ft-lbs. That seems insane. I torque them to 105.

33. Lookin good ! “Thanks for posting” as always Mr O.

34. What's the downside of torquing more than the recommended spec?

35. BI-METAL CO Roe zion. Kore Rosian.
    Due to thermal X pan Sion and the freeze thaw cycle relative humidity and barometric pressure being unstable. Yes indeed they are loosening and that aint Kool.

36. Happened to me in my Chevy PU in Feb 2023. Heard a bang and thought the wheel bearing had failed… but no, the one tight lug nut broke the stud and what a wobble it made with the remaining 5 loose lug nuts. I was very lucky it held together until I could pull off the highway.

37. I try to make a habit of checking lug nut torque after the first drive any time the wheels are off. My experience has been brand new wheels often need re-torquing 2 or 3 times as the new metals stretch and settle,. but used wheels generally are fine. Good to know to watch out for the Chrysler alloys though.

38. Did you charge the customer for that? I recently had a vehicle come in the shop with a loose wheel. I couldn’t bring myself to charge for tightening the lug nuts.

39. My sister usted to drove a 81 Ck pickup, and has the same problema in all truck's wheels. We tough maybe shebwas lucky 'cause somebody planned to stole her wheels, and for some razón, he could't do it. Maybe it's the same story here, with this Jeep.

40. Thanks, Eric, for your characteristic honesty. It truly helps the plight of the other honest mechanics

41. I watched this video about a month ago and thought that this loose lug nut problem would be a rare occurrence. A friend of mine called me today panicking about a noise in her Honda CRV. I looked underneath at the CV shafts, drive shafts, suspension parts, shook the wheels sideways and up and down and could find nothing wrong. She made plans to return to the dealership in the morning as it was still under warranty (she had it for less than a week). She called again an hour or so later and sent me a link to a different YT video where a guy had similar noise when decelerating and he found loose lug nuts. Then I remembered this SMA video and had her bring the car back to me where I found two missing lug nuts and three loose lug nuts on the right front wheel. I torqued the remaining lug nuts and sent her on her way to return to the dealership in the morning to rip them a new ass for being hacks.

42. Got to love that NY rust

43. I don't think I've personally seen a pattern with any model or style wheel. But I can say, nothing blows one's confidence quite like have one of your own fly off into the woods. As in…one of mine that I put on.

    Actually, I've had 2 of my own fly off. As if the first experience wasn't bad enough, the second one made me question whether I should be allowed to own a wrench again.

    Those experiences are also why I don't torque lug nuts on the ground. I torque them lifted. Then I retorque after 100 miles. Yes, I am OCD about that.

44. It's videos like this that make me miss working in a shop. Taking the time to diagnose a simple issue with an even easier fix before it becomes a real problem is what made those days feel special. I do not miss the pay, though. We were only $14/hr flag for level 1 and 2 work. Not worth it.

45. Bought a 1979 Dodge B-100 van that had fancy aluminum wheels. Same problem. Lot of knocking noise. Loose lugs on 3 of 4

46. Dang it, Mr O. You’ve got me singing “ you picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel”. It’s stuck in my head

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