Wheel Fell Off During Test Drive

Matt300ZXT

Member
Jul 10, 2008
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I went to check out a guys 86 GT today and it looked straight, pretty clean and somewhat promising. It started up, sounded good, had a good idle with no smoke or anything. Got in the car to ride along to see how it ran and there was a hissing sounding noise, sounded like it was coming from the dash on the driver side but went away when he was giving it some gas; he had no idea what the noise was coming from.

Anyways, during the drive there was a constant clicking/scrubbing noise that sped up or slowed down depending on speed. I asked about it and first he said it was the tires up front and pulled into a parking lot to show me how the wheels were supposed to be slightly wrong on offsets or something and the tires were scrubbing (said he wanted 86 specific offsets but they only had 87+ so he just took them). The only place I saw evidence of scrubbing was on the front strut tower, and only a little bit of an area. We got back in and continued on down the road to O'Reilly to get some ratchet straps to help hold the car in place in my enclosed trailer I had brought. On the way back to his house he started telling me the noise was probably from the weights on the wheels since they were on the inside of the wheel instead of the outside and that the Valvoline guys told him the weights were probably hitting the suspension, and keep in mind this was only about 3 miles total we had driven, then right rear wheel just fell off at about 40mph and we skidded a little less than an 1/8th of a mile I guess it was, RIGHT to his driveway. Well I got out and looked since it was on my side and 3 of the 4 studs had broken off, the drum was laying beside the car and the brake shoes were of course all flopped around since one of the springs had broke.

I'm guessing the noise wasn't from tire scrubbing or anything because I distinctly remember hearing popping noises coming from the rear area on my side. I'm guessing lug nuts were a little loose and had just worn themselves off and the car just succumbed to the stress and the rest popped off (if there were even 4 on there) and the wheel flew off and landed on the drum. It had a severely worn flat spot on it obviously, so I'm wondering if the stress from that sheared the 3 studs off.

Of course after that, the car wouldn't move since it was on 1 wheel in the back and it was severely cambered in at the top and probably stuck against the inner fender.

Just curious if you guys knew of anything else that might have caused the wheel/studs to fail like that and if there's any negative to the wheel falling off like that other than just needing new brake parts installed on that wheel.
 
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that guy is a complete idiot..all that stuff he was telling you was a load of crap.

He forgot to tighten the wheel, plain and simple...Expect to replace the axle at a minimum, maybe even a bent 8.8 rear housing...I too would pass on the car.
 
Ok, was curious if the axle tubes were close enough to the ground that slamming down like that would scuff/dent/warp/crack them or if it would chew up the hub on the end of the axle that the brakes/wheel bolts to, etc.

He did text me a few hours after I got home saying he got it fixed, all it needed was some new lug studs and it'll need some new brake parts on that end but I told him that the wheel falling off of it left a pretty sour taste in my mouth about the car. So the search continues. Thanks for the help guys.
 
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It would take an examination to see what drug on the street. Was it the backing plate and lower control arm or pivot point? If so, the axle flange might be salvageable. I have a hard time thinking the outer housing was bent, but who knows what else was monkeyed around with or bent, like cables.
No one joked about the interior. I bet Tuff Stuff and an air freshener will take care of the freshly soiled front seats.
 
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:rlaugh:never, never, never trust a air gun always recheck by hand when car is back on the ground. This happened twice in my garage, I wasent there either time. my neighbor and my brother. I still get on them about it, they will never live it down
 
I just had new tires put on professionally, and the guy forgot to tighten the wheel locks on two different rims.


:rlaugh:never, never, never trust a air gun always recheck by hand when car is back on the ground. This happened twice in my garage, I wasent there either time. my neighbor and my brother. I still get on them about it, they will never live it down

Same here. I'll usually drive it for a few miles so they seat and then re-check the torque.





That sucks though dude... I guess your trailer was big enough.
 
Back in the stone age when you actually saw Granadas on the road, I saw a Granada loose the driver's rear wheel and at least part of an axle going the other way on the interstate. I was glad the assembly did not hook a hard left. Although it did cross the road behind us. The car made lots of sparks as the rust bucket pulled over.
 
What color was the car ?? ....that would be irony at it's peak @forzalife may have lost hos job, he couldn't go to work cause he still had no jack :nonono:

Overtighted lug nuts and the studs stretched by the air gun. Yahoo did that on my new tires. Had two pop on me not long ago on the right rear. Went ahead and replaced all of them, then hand tighten them down, all nervousness has finally left me :rolleyes: