Oh crap, that was close

[Bry]

Whilst on my way home tonight an old Duffer pulls out in front of me causing me to brake hard but while I'm braking I hear a loud knocking coming from the rear The noise stopped when I released the brakes so I thought never mind, I'll have a look tomorrow in the daytime. 500 yards down the road I brake again and the knocking is there again only louder and this time it's not stopping when I release the brakes I can definately tell it's the rear left so I decide to pull over and investigate (had no choice really as the car felt like it was driving on square wheels Guess what the prob was













Yup you got it, Wheel nuts were all loose on the back left wheel:shock: I tried to do them up as best I could by hand and then see if I could make it home but it was just too dangerous as I couldn't tighten them enough. I called my brother who brought me out my wheel nut wrench (that I lent him which is normaly in my car ) and tightend the nuts up properly, I also checked the other nuts and found they weren't that tight neither I know they were tight as I'd only fitted them 2 weeks ago and tightend them with a torque wrench and in that time I've bearly done 40 miles in the car, so WTF happend, did the wheel nut faries come in the night and fiddled with me nuts I then rang a few mates to see if they had any suggestions and one came up with what I'm hoping is the answer.
Apparently when you fit new wheels after about 50 miles the alloy compresses a little which means the nuts wont be as tight anymore, so you are supposed to re check the nuts after 50 miles Come to think of it I do remember being told this in the past when I've bought wheels but don't think I've ever checked, well this time I nearly came a cropper
So the moral of this story is CHECK YOUR NUTS
I know I will be religously everyday for the next few weeks

[Harry]

Crikey Bry happy that it was not worse. Do you torque them to 120 nm. Very good advice regarding new wheels and NUTS. We live and learn.

[Bry]

Crikey Bry happy that it was not worse. Do you torque them to 120 nm. Very good advice regarding new wheels and NUTS. We live and learn.

Torqued them to Toyota OEM wheels spec, can't remember what that was, but it was pretty tight

[BenF]

For a Mk2 - BGB says it is 'only' 85 ft/lbs. What is important to get the torque even across all the bolts.

I've also had wheel nuts come loose on my Mk1 trackday car on track, so its definitely something to periodically check.

[mattcambs]

For a Mk2 - BGB says it is 'only' 85 ft/lbs. What is important to get the torque even across all the bolts.

I've also had wheel nuts come loose on my Mk1 trackday car on track, so its definitely something to periodically check.

85 ft/lb is 115Nm

I make the same rookie mistake with my Civic once. I took a wheel off to check a brake disc and then a couple of days later a knocking noise appeared and gradually got worse. I stopped to check and ALL the nuts were loose

Good thread Bry

[Leon.]

I've had a couple a bit loose before but check them fairly regularly.

I do them up to my special personal torque level It's derived from years of trial and error though so I wouldn't change it! I use a torque wrench but hold it half way along the handle and tighten with force. Will have to see how it compares to 115Nm then

[Harry]

I've had a couple a bit loose before...

Bet you have

[k-ro]

For a Mk2 - BGB says it is 'only' 85 ft/lbs. What is important to get the torque even across all the bolts.

I've also had wheel nuts come loose on my Mk1 trackday car on track, so its definitely something to periodically check.

85 ft/lb is 115Nm

I make the same rookie mistake with my Civic once. I took a wheel off to check a brake disc and then a couple of days later a knocking noise appeared and gradually got worse. I stopped to check and ALL the nuts were loose

Good thread Bry

I did this once too.. For some reason while i was driving i had a thought that had done them up on one wheel. Pulled over after driving for prob 2 miles to find the were still just finger tight! NEVER done it again since!!

[PeterRST]

I sometimes help out in my fathers car trade business. Once I've picked up a Focus MkII from a Leasing company. The car had been freshly serviced by a Ford dealership.

After a few miles I noticed a weird grinding noise, so decided to get the wheels off and have a look. To my surprise the wheel nuts were all loose I could tighten them up with my bare fingers.

Upon closer inspection it turned out that it was actually the heat/rain spray shield touching the brake disc that had caused the noise. Luckily the mechanic was not only too incompetent to tighten up the wheels properly but also bent the rain shield of the brake disc while changing pads. At least that way I got an acoustical warning.

Still makes you think when you find loose wheel nuts after 10 miles of brisk driving. On country roads, 60+ mph on the clock and lots of trees/oncoming traffic to hit...

[Mattc1981]

this happened to mee once while overtaking a car it felt really wierd then started to dart off to one side of the road, pulled over and looked at my wheel every single one of the nuts were loose, one had fallen off. i had just been in at the garage having my tyres changed so went back and gave them a good ear bashing and got a free MOT from it and a heart felt appology from the mechanic

[PeterRST]

and a heart felt appology from the mechanic

Bet he was shocked even more than you, mate.

[toxo]

I've got 20mm spacers on my front wheels, they're big enough to have their own wheel bolts as they pretty much absorb the bolts built into the MK2 hub. When I first fitted them I did them up finger tight, and forgot... 3 months later when I got my car back on the road, I started getting a weird knocking noise under braking. Turned out I'd done the wheel nuts up tight enough, but not the wheel spacer nuts. They were held captive by the wheel, but had come loose enough to give me a comedy flapping wheel

Live and learn I suppose!

[tonigmr2]

I've also had this happen....in my case when I realised I only had one finger tight nut and a locking wheel nut left on the car. I can confirm the knocking grinding noises are a bit confusing until you realise the truth!!

T

[Bry]

I've also had this happen....in my case when I realised I only had one finger tight nut and a locking wheel nut left on the car. I can confirm the knocking grinding noises are a bit confusing until you realise the truth!!

T

Blimey

[tonigmr2]

I've also had this happen....in my case when I realised I only had one finger tight nut and a locking wheel nut left on the car. I can confirm the knocking grinding noises are a bit confusing until you realise the truth!!

T

Blimey

/never trust husband to tighten up nuts on wheels again. Ever. My life insurance is obviously too high.
T

[Harry]

lol

[toxo]

Oh FYI every tyre place I've been to (Just Tyres, Costco, Elite, Kwik Fit ) have said something along these lines on the receipt / work sheet:

We have tightened the wheel nuts on your car to 110Nm. The wheel nuts should be re-checked by the customer after 1 week or 250 miles to ensure they are still tight.

Sounds like good advice following this thread! lol

[C50]

my bro in law over tightened his nuts (wheel ) and his wheel fell off on the motorway. Must have had the wrong nuts and chewed through the soft alloy

so the correct nuts are quite important

[Turbo97]

I'v also had this! On my corrado, it has split rims and the front left had started leaking air! So i need to role on one of the ghetto style space saver nipped them up, jacked the car back down but for some odd reason i had forgot to torque them back up :S

few days later......here like a rotating clunk from my front left! got out to check....lost my 2 nuts Luckily, me being extra special, i still had 3 holding on!!! but hanging on by there last thread!

Scary thoughts!