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Oops: Learned a lesson about torquing lug bolts
And paragraphing :)
Julie Macfarlane
"Its not just a car! Its an adventure!"
1981 MKI 2L 16v w 2Y
Amsterdam NY
>From: Mike Smith <smithma7@gmail.com>
>Reply-To: Mike Smith <smithma7@gmail.com>
>To: GGehrke <ggehrke@gmail.com>
>CC: Scirocco list <Scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Subject: Re: Oops: Learned a lesson about torquing lug bolts
>Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 15:07:08 -0400
>
>I think he might have you beat on length, Cathy.
>
>On 6/2/05, GGehrke <ggehrke@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So I'll come right out and say that as best I can figure, everything
> > that I'm about to say is completely my own fault.
> >
> > I finished putting a new brake MC, stainless lines, wheel cylinders,
> > pads and shoes on my '80 last friday. Brian and I determined that my
> > drivers side front caliper was bad (piston leaking, not seated
> > properly, something like that) so I was looking for a new one.
> > I spent the weekend with my girlfriend in Washington, DC and tuesday
> > morning left on my way back home to KY. I noticed the car shook more
> > than usual over the extremely rough city streets, but kept hoping it
> > was just the streets, because I knew I had a wheel bearing on the
> > passenger side front on its way out. It started to wobble worse and
> > steering was sloppy so I pulled over and checked the bad wheel to see
> > if the it moved too much, which it didn't. I checked the driver side
> > briefly too just to be sure.
> > Couple more miles down the road the car starts shaking pretty
> > violently so I slow down and decide to pull off at the next exit
> > (under a mile) to give it a thorough check when all of the sudden I
> > feel the steering wheel jerk, the car slams to the ground, and to my
> > horror the passenger side wheel goes rocketing down the freeway,
> > keeping up the 65mph I was doing. I navigated off to the side of the
> > road safely, but noticed that another car pulled off just ahead of me.
> > Turns out the wheel had actually bounced off him (he was just pulling
> > up to try to tell me he saw it shaking) but only left a small rubber
> > scuff on the side (he was in a newer golf, by chance). He gave me a
> > lift to the next exit where I called a tow truck. They took me to a
> > shop, where I determined that the lug bolts must have come completely
> > loose and just let go. One of the holes in the hub was buggered where
> > the bolt had stripped and left about 3 turns of thread in the hub. I
> > also found my brake pads were bent on that side, but there wasn't any
> > other apparent suspension damage or anything. After about 5 hours of
> > waiting I convinced the shop that the hub just needed to be tapped to
> > clean out the threads, instead of installing a new one, but they
> > couldn't get a replacement caliper until the next day. Fortunately
> > the Naval Academy has a program where they network families across the
> > country who we can call if we get into this sort of bind, so a nearby
> > family came and picked me up for the night. Went back the next day
> > and the car was better than before. The brakes were properly flushed
> > and bled with a new caliper (passenger side could still use
> > replacement, but I'll wait on that) and really feel pretty great.
> > Unfortunately, when all was said and done it was about a $400 bill for
> > work that I could have done myself for a fraction of the cost, but I
> > was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no other options. ($400+300
> > for other brake supplies = maxed out visa = unhappy grant)
> > I actually never even found the wheel (riding now on one of the stock
> > wheels that came with the car, which I kept as a spare) even though I
> > looked for it all up and down the highway for over 2 hours, so that's
> > another costly replacement. I never saw the lugs either so I can't be
> > sure what happened, but best I can figure I simply forgot to tighten
> > them properly. I tightened them with the car in the air, and then put
> > it down on the ground and tightened them all the way. Brian could
> > attest to seeing me do this. I just used a small ratchet, though,
> > because my stock lug wrench won't fit into the holes of my new wheels,
> > so I guess it wasn't enough and with a known bad wheel bearing (which
> > is holding up just fine) I didn't even think about it.
> > After getting it all straightened out I made it home to Kentucky
> > safely (though a solid day late and moderately shaken) where I'll
> > spend a day before heading up to cincy tomorrow. I was really
> > thinking about scrapping cincy and staying in washington the next few
> > days to save money, but decided I wasn't going to miss this for
> > anything (which should say something to anyone else out there who's
> > wavering). Before I go, though, I'm going to torque the snot out of
> > those lug bolts and carry an even better assortment of tools. Lesson
> > learned, as they say, the hard way.
> >
> > -Grant-
> >
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> >
>
>
>--
>Mike
>'86 red 16v (Red 5)
>"The snozberries taste like snozberries!"
>"It's a trick. Get an axe."
>
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