WARNING: Not for the faint hearted...

[krash kendall]

Whether you work on your own car or have somebody else do it, sooner or later everyone loses a wheel.

You had a couple of luck circumstances - slow speed, traction bars, straight stretch.

I had the front driver's wheel come of my '65, my father in law had the same happen to his '02 Caravan (wrecked the fender), and we even lost the tailwheel on our plane a couple times. That really wakes you up on landing!

 

[D.Hearne]

Whether you work on your own car or have somebody else do it, sooner or later everyone loses a wheel.

You had a couple of luck circumstances - slow speed, traction bars, straight stretch.

I had the front driver's wheel come of my '65, my father in law had the same happen to his '02 Caravan (wrecked the fender), and we even lost the tailwheel on our plane a couple times. That really wakes you up on landing!

Speak for yourself. The only time I ever lost a wheel was when the bearing failed on the 9" in my old 70 F100. Lost the axle too. Then to compound things, I had recently installed new bearings in the 31 splined axles it had and where it failed ( Walsenberg Colorado) there wasn't a 31 spline spare in the local junkyard. Had to buy a whole 28 spline rear to get the axles and chunk.

 

[krash kendall]

Speak for yourself. The only time I ever lost a wheel.....

See? Like I said, "Sooner or later everone loses a wheel." The conventional way or some unpredictable way.

 

[sentipede]

Yup.
Goldcoast on LaSalle and Maple, one block south of Division.

i have been trying to keep my cool on this to see how the mechanic reacts to this, but so far they came to pick up the car, bent the rear bumper jacking it up and then towed it in park. i also stopped by yesterday to see that in an effort to do me a favor they took a dry "cotton" rag to my hood to wipe off the shop dust and fingerprint grease...looks like i need another detail...

They are currently in possession attempting to repair the damage.

i just want this entire fiasco to be over...all i was trying to do was get rid of a little brake squeal...

 

[Sicarius428]

If they were trying to getting rid of some squeal they forgot to drop it a couple more times.
Kevin

 

[strange65]

You got off easy and the main thing is no one was hurt!

yowch! I wouldn't be going back to that for anything other than to pick up the check for my Currie 9" with Baer discs, considering how incompetent you have to be to do that. I'm paranoid, I check each wheel 3 times. I bet the drums and backing plates and axle flange are screwed. Glad to see it's OK.

Thats not paranoid thats a compulsive disorder syndrome lol (just kidding)

 

[sentipede]

Seriously, if I were on the highway or my wife was driving, this could have been a disaster.

Anyhow I picked up my car and while they obviously did not charge me for the repair, they also did not refund my initial payment for brake repair...AND the brakes are still squealing!!!

I should count my blessings, things could have been much worse.
An expensive lesson, but a lesson learned nonetheless.

I'm just happy to have my car back right now, I will figure out next steps later.

 

[HistoricMustang]

Nice paint job!

HistoricMustang

 

[DJCarbine]

Do you have front disc or drum?

 

[Jimmys66]

Seriously, if I were on the highway or my wife was driving, this could have been a disaster.

Anyhow I picked up my car and while they obviously did not charge me for the repair, they also did not refund my initial payment for brake repair...AND the brakes are still squealing!!!

I should count my blessings, things could have been much worse.
An expensive lesson, but a lesson learned nonetheless.

I'm just happy to have my car back right now, I will figure out next steps later.

Learning from my own failures is one thing, but learning from someone else's idiosity and having to pay for it is entirely another thing.

Thank god this guy didn't want to be a doctor. He'd be missing a watch and someone he worked on would own a loose metal kidney.

 

[sentipede]

I have factory power drums all around.

I guess it would be like forgetting the sutures in open heart surgery.

 

[MrBobMarley]

Didn't you say they bent your bumper and towed your mustang in park?!

And then they didn't refund you a dime? You must be the nicest guy on earth man. I wouldn't let those clowns come within a cubic mile of my car after something like that.

 

[stangkid88]

car looks amazing, besides the obvious...

 

[coolblue65]

Where on lasalle is that? Looks like northside, maybe 2200N or something.

Dude... I could have done your brakes for you, and for a lot less too. And one of the gaurantees on my brake jobs is 'No wheels shall come apartith from said vehicle whilst traveling at speed'.

I am unusually cheap on labor too. Pizza, tacos, cash... all accepted forms of payment.


Where in Chicago do you stay?

Ditto that!

I am curious as to what shop you are using, and how you were refered to them? I work all over the northside of the city, and there are few places that I can think of (if any) that I would recommend anyone taking there car too.

 

[danza]

Well if it makes you feel better. A about a year ago I rebuilt my power steering control valve and in my happy frenzy I forgot to torque the drivers side wheel.
Needless to say, having your wheel fly off on the freeway is not fun. Luckily I was able to slow down to about 30mph before it finally let loose.
I just replaced the fender last weekend. My attention to detail has drastically increased since. And yes, you may call me a dumbass for that one.

 

[dennis112]

On a cross country hop, my GMC was desperately overloaded with car parts and it was pulling my Mustang on a trailer. The tongue weight was so much that you could jump on the rear truck bumper and it would not go down at all-seriously.

Traveling on I70 in western Ohio I hit a large bump and it sheared all the lug nuts on the right rear axle. The tire took off and the drum brake went airborn. LUCKILY I had traction bars on the truck at that time. Thanks to the traction bars, I glided gently down the road and I was able to remain in control of the steering--I had no brakes. The sparks were awsome!!!!!!!

I was not quite as Serpentine as I needed a new backing plate (hung low), axle studs, and a brake drum. Also I had to pay towing charges on both the truck and the trailered car.

 

[tylerrocks]

Didn't you say they bent your bumper and towed your mustang in park?!

And then they didn't refund you a dime? You must be the nicest guy on earth man. I wouldn't let those clowns come within a cubic mile of my car after something like that.

I agree with bob. I would not have allowed them to make the repairs after the wheel came off, I would have demanded they pay a reputable to make the repairs. You might could have gotten some nice upgrades to your ride if you threatened with a lawsuit.

 

[stangonline]

Screw that - get your car back from these idiots NOW, before they screw it up even MORE. Document everything - take it to the best shop in town to have it repaired..then give THEM the bill. If they squeal about it - tell them if they dont take care of that, your neck is going to start hurting..

 

[85 Turbo Bird]

I strongly agree with tylerrocks and stangonline. While I'm a passive person and will let a lot slide by, this would not be one of those "live and learn" type of events. They royally screwed your car and need to fix that, whether or not they do the work (and I would reccomend AGAINST that). So take it to a very good shop and get it all fixed to your liking then give the original shop the bill. There needs to be some retribution here.

Good luck with everything and I'm glad to hear that you got the car back in driveable condition.

 

[2nd Mustang]

So, I guess they never did a road test of the brake job because a severly loose wheel should've wobbled like crazy. Yes, I know how it feels.