dv55xc

Hey everyone! I had an odd thing happen to my car the other day. My lug nuts flew off my wheels! The car was running fine when I drove out to where I was going. On my way home during traffic on the freeway the lugs decided they no longer wanted to be on the wheel studs. I barely stepped on the brake pedal and BOOM! I also heard what sounded like something shattering when I the lugs flew off. Fortunately I was not going very fast and not in a turn. I was only able to recover one of the lug nuts from the wheel that came off and it looks fine.There was no warning, no noise, no odd vibration or anything to let me know that the lug nuts were loose. What's worse was that when I got off my car and rechecked the lug nuts, they were all out of spec by 1/4 to 1/2 a turn! I am very fortunate that my car didn't receive any damage, injure myself, or even worse; injury someone else.

Here is the thing that confuses me: I know the lug nuts were torqued to spec. The night before, I was working on my brakes and remember torquing every single lug nut to 80 ft lbs using a torque wrench. I made sure the torque wrench was dialed to 80 ft lbs too. I put the lug nuts on the wheel in the air tight enough to make sure the wheels were sitting flush to the hub. I then lowered the car and proceeded to tighten the lug nuts. If it means anything, i tightened them in a star pattern first and then went around in a circle to check on each individual lug nut. The torque wrench clicked every time indicating that the lug nut was set to 80 ft lbs. That was the very last thing I did before finishing up and I knew that I was 100% sure the car was ready to drive the next day. I am not the one to blame anyone (or anything) else and will take full responsibility if it turns out that I'm at fault.

Has anything like this ever happened you? This is the first time this has EVER happened to me and I just don't understand why it happened. The only thing that I noticed that was off the night I took off the wheels was that the lugs were making a creaking noise when I broke torque on them. The studs look fine though and I have the right pitch of lug nut thread (M12 x 1.5mm).

To give you better insight into what happened, here are the lug nuts that I was using: Evasive Motorsports | PH: 626.336.3400 Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm PST: Muteki Classic Lug Nuts - BLACK CLOSED ended
They were on my CE28's when it happened.

Manga_Spawn

Hm makes me wonder if the wheel was properly seated on the hub before you tightened them down? Otherwise was your car parked inside where someone couldn't mess with it? I have had lugs get a little loose in the past but you would have been able to hear them before they completely came off not to mention the wheel would have been wobbling around like crazy prior to them coming completely off.

Kenny_Stang

Actually had the exact same thing happen yesterday, but fortunately felt the wheel start to wobble and immediately pulled over. It seems that the hubcentric ring wasn't seated properly and when I torqued the lugnuts they seemed properly tight but after driving the ring settled and the lugs were now loose enough to back out with the vibrations in the road.

NeutralSteer

I had the exact same thing happen on my Civic when I was in a rush putting on my summer wheels a few months ago. The wheels were OEM so no hubcentric rings, but it was probably the same deal with the wheel not being completely seated on the hub when I was putting it on.

Since then, I started taking my time a bit more and hand tightening all the lugs in a star pattern while rotating the wheel/tire (with the lug to be tightened vertical) while the car is up in the air to see if it's properly seated before torquing them down with a torque wrench. I also started using anti-seize lube on my hub face (mainly to prevent rust), which makes it easier to see if the wheel is seated 100% as it gets slightly squeezed out when the wheel is fully seated. I've been a bit paranoid about it since then, so I've been keeping a torque wrench on me the first few days and have been re-torquing them (at a lower setting so I don't actually tighten the lugs any more) until I feel confident that I didn't mess it up.

B serious

Did you put a rear wheel on the front axle with a rear hubcentric ring on?

dv55xc

that's a good question. Usually when I tighten the bolts in the air the wheel seats itself correctly. Tv's possibility of the wheel not seating correctly is there for sure but wouldn't there be a noticeable wobble in the steering? There was no warning before the wheel came off.

The car was parked in my garage the night before. The for is locked and guarded by my dog. Not to mention the lugs are splined. You would need the key to loosen or tighten them.
Although, I did park behind my ex that same morning to go on my morning run... hmmm

dv55xc

yikes! Thats scary. At least you had a warning. I had no warning what so ever.

dv55xc

definitely taking my time next time. I'm going to drive around the block and check to see if the wheels need to be re torqued every time I take the wheels off now

dv55xc

no. The wheels are staggered. 17x7.5 in the front and 17x9 in the rear. S2k spec ce28s. I do not run hub centric rings on these wheels. I was told I didn't need them for this spec. I'm starting to wonder if this might be the cause.

B serious

How does one not seat a wheel properly, though??

The wheel just goes on the hub. If you don't have centering rings...it would be even harder for it not to seat properly.

Y'all had some strange experiences for sure.

I once snugged my lug nuts...forgot to torque them....drove 150 miles to a track.....drove 1 or 2 whole sessions....and felt some strangeness in steering. Started hearing noises. Had time to take a cool down lap...pull into the paddock...park...and check my lugs which were finger tight and almost half way backed off by that time.

I can't believe yours just...fell off?