I am an idiot. I screwed up somewhere and am lucky to have not died/killed someone/crashed.

[ztbird]

BLUF: I changed my brakes due to a noise problem and a month later arrived home with 2/6 lug nuts and 3/6 wheel studs left on my front passenger side wheel. Nearly f***ing died or killed someone else without even knowing it. This is almost certainly a "novice is an idiot" situation.

So around 3-4 months ago my brakes start making noise. I thought it was weird given I was only at low 40k miles. It kept up despite me being able to see through the wheels and see that the pads should be fine as far as what was left. Not knowing what was wrong and being only on the powertrain warranty, I arranged to use a friend's well stocked and flat garage and flat neighborhood roads to change out all my pads and try to spot the problem.

Changed out the brake pads on all wheels; none of the old ones were near the squealer tab. I did ended up finding some odd rust on the back passenger brake pads. Caliper and rotor appeared fine, so I assumed it was a factory defect or some such since I'm In Texas and we don't salt the roads. And no, this was not where I messed up. I have full memory of doing it, however I must be mistaken and forgot to tighten the front-passenger wheel, did it incorrectly, or forgot to re-tighten it a week later with the others. No, I did not use a torque wrench. I assumed hand tightened with the stock lug wrench was enough. This could also be my problem, but the other 3 wheels are all fine and were treated the exact same.

I was pulling into my neighborhood today and out of nowhere started to hear a rhythmic impact noise. I had JUST passed a construction crew so I assumed I picked up something in a tire and kept heading to my house to take care of it there...

I was missing 4 lug nuts and three wheel studs on the front passenger-side wheel. I just drove around 20 miles at highway speeds to get home. No impacts or potholes, no issues driving TO work that morning whatsoever.

Lucky to have not died on the highway or killed someone else. I screwed up, not making the same mistake again.

I have plenty of PTO and was able to take some for the rest of the week at the last minute. I ordered the parts to replace the wheel lug studs and lug nuts (and a proper torque wrench, jack stands). They are getting here sometime tomorrow. I will be finding out if I screwed up anything else tomorrow or Wednesday depending on delivery time. Going to check the other 3 wheels after I replace the studs on the first, however a quick wheel-on examination shows no signs of problems. I must have forgotten something with the front right wheel.

I'm an idiot, make jokes at my expense. Glad I'm not dead or killed anyone else or totaled on the site of the road.

Sponsored

 

[WOADKIL]

ALWAYS go back and double check torque on all the lug nuts. Also learn correct torque pattern for wheels with 6 lug nuts.

Lesson learned!

 

[Chris M]

BLUF: I changed my brakes due to a noise problem and a month later arrived home with 2/6 lug nuts and 3/6 wheel studs left on my front passenger side wheel. Nearly f***ing died or killed someone else without even knowing it. This is almost certainly a "novice is an idiot" situation.

So around 3-4 months ago my brakes start making noise. I thought it was weird given I was only at low 40k miles. It kept up despite me being able to see through the wheels and see that the pads should be fine as far as what was left. Not knowing what was wrong and being only on the powertrain warranty, I arranged to use a friend's well stocked and flat garage and flat neighborhood roads to change out all my pads and try to spot the problem.

Changed out the brake pads on all wheels; none of the old ones were near the squealer tab. I did ended up finding some odd rust on the back passenger brake pads. Caliper and rotor appeared fine, so I assumed it was a factory defect or some such since I'm In Texas and we don't salt the roads. And no, this was not where I messed up. I have full memory of doing it, however I must be mistaken and forgot to tighten the front-passenger wheel, did it incorrectly, or forgot to re-tighten it a week later with the others. No, I did not use a torque wrench. I assumed hand tightened with the stock lug wrench was enough. This could also be my problem, but the other 3 wheels are all fine and were treated the exact same.

I was pulling into my neighborhood today and out of nowhere started to hear a rhythmic impact noise. I had JUST passed a construction crew so I assumed I picked up something in a tire and kept heading to my house to take care of it there...

I was missing 4 lug nuts and three wheel studs on the front passenger-side wheel. I just drove around 20 miles at highway speeds to get home. No impacts or potholes, no issues driving TO work that morning whatsoever.

Lucky to have not died on the highway or killed someone else. I screwed up, not making the same mistake again.

I have plenty of PTO and was able to take some for the rest of the week at the last minute. I ordered the parts to replace the wheel lug studs and lug nuts (and a proper torque wrench, jack stands). They are getting here sometime tomorrow. I will be finding out if I screwed up anything else tomorrow or Wednesday depending on delivery time. Going to check the other 3 wheels after I replace the studs on the first, however a quick wheel-on examination shows no signs of problems. I must have forgotten something with the front right wheel.

I'm an idiot, make jokes at my expense. Glad I'm not dead or killed anyone else or totaled on the site of the road.

No jokes from me. Really glad you caught this and have learned from it.
This is a good reminder to all that do their own wrenching to double check their work.

 

[Tom_C]

Whoa. I've removed other wheels, but never on my truck. Good reminder!

 

[Rp930]

Buy a quality torque wrench and use it. It’s killing me I’m worried about. When wheels fly off they usually don’t hit the guy that didn’t torque the lug nuts, they hit something or someone else.

 

[AzScorpion]

It's not a joking matter so I doubt you'll get any here towards you. Just a good lesson learned to always double (and sometime times triple) check your work. Just like in construction the first thing they teach you is to measure twice and cut once. Just glad nothing serious happened!!

 

[RedlandRanger]

Here is a relevant back story - Many years ago, I stopped at a tire place to get a flat fixed - I thought I could limp into the place with my flat tire, but I let it go too long, too flat and I destroyed the sidewall so they couldn't fix it - it needed to be replaced. They didn't have the correct size so they put my spare on and I was planning to drive to the other store where I had purchased the tires to get a replacement the following morning. I drove straight home (less than a mile), and started out the following morning to the other tire shop. I was on the freeway, about 3 miles from home when I noticed some vibration - I was going to stop at the next available spot (they were doing road construction and there was no shoulder or anyplace to pull off). The next thing I know, the back end of the car drops and I watch that spare tire pass me on the freeway - then I watch my brake drum fly across 2 lanes of traffic during rush hour. The rear tire bounced down the road and ended up hitting the guard rail and bouncing over (this was on a raised section of freeway). I was incredibly fortunate that there was an un-used on ramp (it was new and part of the construction) where I was able to coast to a stop out of traffic as I had no brakes at all (since the drum flew off).

The lesson I learned that day was to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your lug nuts, and to make sure you have the CORRECT lug nuts. The explanation for the problem was that the wheels I had on the car used those old unilugs and the spare was a steel wheel which needed different lugs which caused them to loosen. I still think they didn't torque them correctly but I'll never know for sure. Anytime I take a tire off I double, and sometimes triple check the lugs with a torque wrench.

Glad you or the truck were not seriously damaged - it is easy to forget/overlook but it is incredibly important!

 

[theprinceofsnj]

You are one lucky person.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Good reminder for us all. I just swapped my tires over the other day. I torque each lug to the click, then re-check the click on each lug. Then when all four wheels are done, I do a walk around and check each lug to the click again. I know that sounds a bit unnecessary but I do it because it is so easy to miss a step.

So, go easy on yourself for possibly missing a step.

 

[got3fords]

Guess who's checking their lugs tonight....this guy!

 

[Msfitoy]

BLUF: I changed my brakes due to a noise problem and a month later arrived home with 2/6 lug nuts and 3/6 wheel studs left on my front passenger side wheel. Nearly f***ing died or killed someone else without even knowing it. This is almost certainly a "novice is an idiot" situation.

So around 3-4 months ago my brakes start making noise. I thought it was weird given I was only at low 40k miles. It kept up despite me being able to see through the wheels and see that the pads should be fine as far as what was left. Not knowing what was wrong and being only on the powertrain warranty, I arranged to use a friend's well stocked and flat garage and flat neighborhood roads to change out all my pads and try to spot the problem.

Changed out the brake pads on all wheels; none of the old ones were near the squealer tab. I did ended up finding some odd rust on the back passenger brake pads. Caliper and rotor appeared fine, so I assumed it was a factory defect or some such since I'm In Texas and we don't salt the roads. And no, this was not where I messed up. I have full memory of doing it, however I must be mistaken and forgot to tighten the front-passenger wheel, did it incorrectly, or forgot to re-tighten it a week later with the others. No, I did not use a torque wrench. I assumed hand tightened with the stock lug wrench was enough. This could also be my problem, but the other 3 wheels are all fine and were treated the exact same.

I was pulling into my neighborhood today and out of nowhere started to hear a rhythmic impact noise. I had JUST passed a construction crew so I assumed I picked up something in a tire and kept heading to my house to take care of it there...

I was missing 4 lug nuts and three wheel studs on the front passenger-side wheel. I just drove around 20 miles at highway speeds to get home. No impacts or potholes, no issues driving TO work that morning whatsoever.

Lucky to have not died on the highway or killed someone else. I screwed up, not making the same mistake again.

I have plenty of PTO and was able to take some for the rest of the week at the last minute. I ordered the parts to replace the wheel lug studs and lug nuts (and a proper torque wrench, jack stands). They are getting here sometime tomorrow. I will be finding out if I screwed up anything else tomorrow or Wednesday depending on delivery time. Going to check the other 3 wheels after I replace the studs on the first, however a quick wheel-on examination shows no signs of problems. I must have forgotten something with the front right wheel.

I'm an idiot, make jokes at my expense. Glad I'm not dead or killed anyone else or totaled on the site of the road.

Wow did you change your shorts after taking these pic?

After wheel mounting, I do the following:

1-wheels off the ground, torque in star pattern to 90 ftlb...other people go 100.
2-drive 10 miles, re-torque all wheels.
3-after 50 miles, re-torque again.
4-after 100 miles, re-torque final time.

After this, I don't need to check again until next wheel rotation...

 

[veedubtuner]

Many years ago, back home (Hawaii on Oahu ?) there was a Island wide VW cruise around the Island. Me and 2 of my buddies stayed up all night detailing and preparing our Dubs. I chose to pull off all 4 wheels off and clean them including the inside barrels. We left early in th morning and first headed to the gas station to fill up before the cruise, on the way there, my Scirocco was vibrating BAD. At the gas station I learned I forgot to torque ALL 16 lug bolts ?. Lack of sleep in my case. It happens, glad nothing bad happened in your case.

After torqueing the bolts we went on to have an amazing cruise of VW's around the Island ?.

 

[got3fords]

Reminds me when I kept hearing a noise while mowing with my big zero turn mower. I would stop and look and could not figure out where it was coming from. I said to myself, 'oh,well. whatever it is eventually fall off or get bad enough to figure out what it is'. Indeed, the noise got real loud and the mower was riding really weird. I looked down the left rear tire was really crooked and barely hanging on. The holes were so wallowed out I had to get a new rim.

 

[NotBudule2]

Guess who's checking their lugs tonight....this guy!

Guess who was checking his while reading this thread ?

 

[LaBalbe]

Glad to hear that it all finished well for you.

As they say, "Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement."
Thanks for sharing your bad judgement so that others can also learn from it. It takes courage and integrity to admit a mistake like that so publicly.

Sponsored