Loose wheel Nut

Spendless

My car started making a noise so too scared to drive it I've had it off the road till I was able to get it into garage. It turned out to be a loose wheel nut which they sorted. The garage never charged which I'm thrilled about but can a wheel nut just become loose of its own accord .

I'm worried in case it was a malicious act that caused it. I can't think of anyone who would do this, but I have just finished at college and was parking in the students car park right up until college finished and accept it could be a (stupid) prank by students.

I mainly use my car to ferry my 2 youngl children about and don't want to be worrying that someone has got it in for me.

Quincy_3

Maybe a prank, anyways if you look in the boot of your car (usually) there is a tool called a Spanner it sometimes look like the picture below, if you have hub caps on the vehicle you can use one end of the tool to pry off the hubcaps and then use the other end to tighten the nuts on the wheel.

I usually tighten them until you hear them make a squeak, if you have weak arm muscles you can stand on the tool and apply some downward pressure then you will have to replace the hub cap (if applicable) and put the tool back in the boot (thats at the back of the car) usually.



But it is odd as the wheel rotates in the opposite direction of the wheel nut.

Jorgan_2

Have you had any work done on the car recently that has involved the wheels being removed? Its possible they weren't tightened properly & has worked loose over time.

Quincy_3

albertross wrote:

Quincy, you sarcy git.. made me laugh though. There is another thread on here asking for some sarcasm, I won't say which one..

Thanks mate

@ Spendless

I was a bit sarcy but dont take offence :beer:

Spendless

Quincy wrote:

Thanks mate

@ Spendless

I was a bit sarcy but dont take offence :beer:

I know so little about cars I didn't even know you were being sacrastic till someone pointed it out and even then I had to go back and re-read:p

I'll get husband to do the suggestions . No work done on it recently except MOT (by same garage that looked at it yesterday) late April.

A_Doonhamer

Quincy wrote:

Maybe a prank, anyways if you look in the boot of your car (usually) there is a tool called a Spanner it sometimes look like the picture below, if you have hub caps on the vehicle you can use one end of the tool to pry off the hubcaps and then use the other end to tighten the nuts on the wheel.

I usually tighten them until you hear them make a squeak, if you have weak arm muscles you can stand on the tool and apply some downward pressure then you will have to replace the hub cap (if applicable) and put the tool back in the boot (thats at the back of the car) usually.

:eek: Do not do this, not only will they then be to tight there also the problem of trying to take them off again should you get a puncture and on a wet day (when your most likely to get a puncture as the water acts as a lube allowing foreign matter to penetrate the tyre) using the rubbish tools supplied to slacken them can be a huge challenge and often beyond the capabilites of a huge hulking male nevermind a smaller female. If your ever having work done on your car and see or hear somebody doing this smack the guy on the back of the head and tell him to tighten them to the correct settings.

Jorgan wrote:

Have you had any work done on the car recently that has involved the wheels being removed? Its possible they weren't tightened properly & has worked loose over time.

If you have any work done on your car which may involve the removal of the wheel then you must always check the wheel nuts yourself or by somebody you trust after about fifty miles of driving as wheel nuts can and do slacken off again.

After a wheel nuts have been slackened or removed they should always be tightened to the manufactures recommended torque settings. If they are done this way not only will they be safely tightened but should it be required the wheel nuts can be removed by almost anybody male or female with little effort.

The difference between nuts tighted using a torque wrench and a doing it with an old fashioned wheel wrench really is night and day and you simply cannot be accurate using the latter. Any respectable garage will do it this way. Using an air gun is also bad news unless it has an attachment allowing it to apply pressure at correct torque settings.

edit: somebody mentioned about knowing about the front wheel coming off at 70mph, Should you lose or suffer a failure of a rear tyre/wheel your far more likely to be injured/killed than if the same occured to the front of the car which is why its advised that new tyres should be fitted to the rear.

Quincy_3

A_Doonhamer wrote:

:eek: Do not do this, not only will they then be to tight there also the problem of trying to take them off again should you get a puncture and on a wet day (when your most likely to get a puncture as the water acts as a lube allowing foreign matter to penetrate the tyre) using the rubbish tools supplied to slacken them can be a huge challenge and often beyond the capabilites of a huge hulking male nevermind a smaller female. If your ever having work done on your car and see or hear somebody doing this smack the guy on the back of the head and tell him to tighten them to the correct settings.

Im afraid your talking complete rubbish, Oooh dont do this go to a garage for a wheel nut, :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Lol, you crease me up.

P.S the correct setting tool is called a Torque Wrench

Or as most mecanice call it in quick fit the whirry thing on that hose, or otherwise known as an Air Driven Wrench that should never be used unless shearing stud bolts off is a pastime game.

A_Doonhamer

I know what the correct term is, its what I do for a living.