Was going over the car this morning in prep for next weekend at VIR and noticed what felt like a loose wheel nut or bad wheel bearing on the front left. There should be no play when pushing in and pulling out on the top and bottom of the tire...if there is, something is wrong. In the photo below, something is DEFINITELY WRONG.



The wheel nut itself is gone, along with the dust cap that keeps dirt and water out of the bearing assembly.

 

HOLY CRAP!

 

Wow! Glad you caught it. Looks like that nut gets staked just like the outward facing wheel nut?

Wonder when that happened and how long you were riding on it like that?

 

It's the same approach front and rear, just a difference in how they mount - front is inboard and rear is outside. They were removed when I pulled the all 4 knuckles to replace the wheel studs and were staked when reinstalled. I have absolutely no idea when it came loose or fell off, but may include this as a contributing factor to the crash

 

remind me not to hire you as a mechanic....

 

Yikes dude!

 

This also explains why I was getting no AC voltage when testing that wheel speed sensor. The ABS tone ring (sometimes called pulser assembly) is held on by the same wheel nut and has disappeared.

 

that nut torques to something stupid like 225ft/lbs if i remember correctly.

 

Never reuse a wheel nut, and beat the stake like it owes you money.

 

242, or basically as tight as I can get it since my torque wrench doesn't go that high.