Forgat to check my wheels..

[t_marat]

Today at 120kmh I start to feel some vibration. Slow down, and hear some noise, kind of clicking, coming from the back of the car. At first thought the tire must be blown!! But look around and see all tires are good. Have a closer look at a rear left wheel. One bolt is missing! The other is hanging out, I take it out with my finger! Its broken, the inner part is left inside.
Lift the car and try to tighten other bolts with a wrench (or whatever it is called). Two are loose, the third seems to be tight, but I see that it is not holding the wheel firmly and does not turn either way. Put a little more force with my hand, and now it is also broken.. The inner parts are left inside the hole..
Now I have just two bolts to hold the wheel, which also happenned to be in a row, one adjacent to the other! Three other holes for bolts are filled with leftovers from what was there before.
Tried to drive with just two bolts; put in first gear and go in idle mode. Seconds after the wheel starts making clicking noises, and feel that it is acting as a brake. Feels like the remaining two bolts are about to get ripped off.
I was 25km away from the city. Called the evacuation car, had to transport the car back to city.
Checked all the other wheels, all are OK, very tight. The last time those wheels were taken off was in winter, to put winter tires, both rear wheels. Since then nobody, nor me neither anybody else who drove the car, touched them.
So they become loose with time, right? If only I had checked them before going out, would have saved me a lot of trouble.

[632 Regal]

have any enemies that might have loosened them for you? Your lucky the wheel didnt fall off and crush the fender/door or Q panel!

[SharkmanBMW]

have any enemies that might have loosened them for you? Your lucky the wheel didnt fall off and crush the fender/door or Q panel!

ditto,
That's a good old dirty trick!
You are very lucky it didn't come off at speed, lock up the back and spin you out of control.

[t_marat]

I don't think I have enemies who would do such a thing.

Do those bolts loosen by time themselves? Did you ever noticed such a thing?

[Alexlind123]

They should never loosen over time...perhaps they were not torqued properly when they were installed.

[632 Regal]

or they had oil on them, these should be installed DRY.

[t_marat]

The same guy torqued both rear wheels back in February. It was very cold back then. No oil.
Must have been improperly torqued.

[E34 530]

have any enemies that might have loosened them for you? Your lucky the wheel didnt fall off and crush the fender/door or Q panel!
Going with this theory.

[BillionPa]

were they installed with metallic anti-sieze compound?

overtorqued perhaps on the ones that broke if the lugnuts were cheap.

[NovceGuru]

were they installed with metallic anti-sieze compound?


Is that a bad thing?

[t_marat]

were they installed with metallic anti-sieze compound?

overtorqued perhaps on the ones that broke if the lugnuts were cheap.
Don't think there was any anti-sieze compound.
The lugnuts; people tried to drill through the leftovers of the bolts in the hold, so as to insert something in and be able to turn them and take out. But they could not drill through as the lugnuts were very hard, the drill edge kept becoming blunt. Does it speak anything of the quality?

[Morgenster]

The enemies theory has a point if you have nice looking rims. Normally they should be easy to steal unless you're really mechanically inept. Upstart delinquent thieves may have tried their first 'job' and failed leaving the wheel on.

[t_marat]

I park my car in a fee based parking lot. There is a guy in there, usually a 50-60 years old, who keeps an eye during the night. A lot of people park in front of their apartments, but I prefer fee based parking, at least there is somebody in there.
4-5 days ago, while I was inspecting the car in the morning, that guy came up and said if I am seeing something strange or wrong with the car. I said no, everything seems to be fine, and asked why he asked. He said two girls with keys (he wasn't sure if the keys were for a car) had been hanging around the car lately. Asked if I know them. Had no idea at all.
Now I remembered one thing. About a month ago I accidentally touched a minivan while parking. There was absolutely no damage, neither to their nor to my car, even the dust was untouched. I was just getting out of the car that a girl started shouting, very abusive (I haven't said a word!). Turned out she was the owner or something. Then her mother came out. I said it is clearly my mistake but luckily there is no damage at all. Did not apologise, just did not want to after all of her daughters abusive words, and she was still shouting! She was kind of crazy! The type which just keeps shouting and shouting. Had very bad feelings, really wanted to hit her. Just left.
The van was very old, totally rusted underneath. Haven't moved for at least a year.
Will go and talk to that guy tomorrow, if it is his shift.

[632 Regal]

they wouldnt have survailance cameras would they?

[t_marat]

no, no surveilance. Its just rows of cars, and one lone guy who from time to time walks around (at least in theory). Its more psychological, any thief knows there is a man in there. It will be very easy for them to overcome him. Its just to keep off thugs.

[BillionPa]

Anti-sieze is a GOOD thing

it prevents rust on the threads, and allows an accurate torquedown of the bolts.

without it, the torque wrench may say 85, even though the bolt only has 50 against the wheel, since the friction on the hub is a bit overzealous.

then vibration and such will cause the bolts to fall out over time, possibly crack if enough are out, since there will be LOTS of uneven forces pulling them every which way.

[SharkmanBMW]

Anti-sieze is a GOOD thing

it prevents rust on the threads, and allows an accurate torquedown of the bolts.

without it, the torque wrench may say 85, even though the bolt only has 50 against the wheel, since the friction on the hub is a bit overzealous.

then vibration and such will cause the bolts to fall out over time, possibly crack if enough are out, since there will be LOTS of uneven forces pulling them every which way.


Ditto ^^

[ttsalo]

I don't think I have enemies who would do such a thing.

Do those bolts loosen by time themselves? Did you ever noticed such a thing?

Yes. The bolts should always be retorqued after some tens of miles after changing the tires. I had all five bolts become loose in one front tire by themselves some time after changing to winter tires last year. Fortunately nothing broke (I think it's possible to destroy not only the bolts, but also the centering hole of the wheel and corresponding part in the hub, if the situation becomes bad enough)