Wheel nuts just came loose!!

[Turtle]

Hey all,

Driving back from college today... heard a knocking, got home and checked my wheelnuts.

Both front wheels were loose, left front was particularly loose with a couple of the nuts loose enough to spin right off.

So... ive tightened them again now, perhaps I just made a mistake and didnt tighten them enough when it was jacked up, or perhaps I need to buy some spigot rings...

Im worried.... what should I do? Thanks.

 

[ohc_turbo]

maybe someone tryed to nick your wheels?

 

[Arnold]

Assuming you have never checked them since buying the car, they were probably not originally tight enough.

 

[Fordy]

either you havnt tightened them enough when you put on the alloys or someones tried to nick your alloys and got disturbed

 

[Turtle]

Well it was parked in the college car park.... hmmmmm

But the nuts are allan key nuts, i doubt anyone had the right key. And its very open to people watching... so I think an attempt at theft could probably be ruled out.

Im gonna check all the nuts properly tomorrow morning and I'll grease the studs when I get the chance so they dont spin off so easily like they do at the moment; they are really smooth.

 

[Fordy]

Dont grease them, just clean them with a wire brush or rag and tighten the nuts with a torque wrench to 98nm

 

[5ilver Micra]

Hi mate...i bet you had the same problem as me....Some dude came in to work a few days ago sayin Quick i need my spare wheel puttin on im in a rush....so i said yeah ok...blahblah...fitted his spare n chucked the other in the back....the dude came back and said my wheel nuts are loose..we figured out that he had never used his spare wheel Ever and because i was in a rush i jus wacked it on....(not even lookin at the back of the wheel) and all it was..was a rusty wheel...as time passed the vibrating got all the rust off an that made the wheel nuts come loose. I know i tightened them up because i check them twice and ive been workin in a garage now for about 4 years so i know how tight to do them

 

[Turtle]

Dont grease them, just clean them with a wire brush or rag and tighten the nuts with a torque wrench to 98nm

Well they are very clean already, so I want to put some grease on to stop the nuts spinning off so easily.

 

[Arnold]

Well they are very clean already, so I want to put some grease on to stop the nuts spinning off so easily.

Surely greace would lubricate and make things easier to spin? ie fall off.

 

[ohc_turbo]

put some copper grease on the thread, thats what you should use

 

[Turtle]

Surely greace would lubricate and make things easier to spin? ie fall off.

No because the grease would provide some friction in the thread, i.e. sticky

At the moment the nuts are brand new and the threads are really clean so once they came loose the nuts almost came completely off.

 

[ohc_turbo]

no, it wouldnt matter if both the surfaces were clean, the bolt should be under tension thus not comming loose, thats how it works, copper grease's main function is to stop the nut and bolt rusting togerther and after a year or so when you want to take the wheel off you shear the bolt off the hub, also it will lubicate it

 

[Turtle]

Yeah thanks for that i'll use copper grease...

And yeah, they shouldnt be coming loose at all, im hoping it was just a mistake I made or something... we'll see...

 

[SammoHung]

just a few thoughts:

you said about tightening while jacked up....

sorry if I've got this wrong (missunderstood the text) but you should "nuts nipped" while the wheel is jacked up in the air....then jack down to the floor.....then apply the roadwheelnut torque (58 to 72 foot pounds) to each nut.....dont over tighten though!!

I like the rusy wheel story...i can visualise that happening as the rust flakes away from the inside that is against the brake disk....but ofcourse of there is this much corrosion on the wheel you should treat yourself to a safer one (new)

I am a fan if a bit of copper grease too...it is thick, especially when a bit of road muck gets mixed in while driving, and this will crertainly prevent the nuts from "spinning off"....however if the nuts do somehow become loose, then a wobbling wheel will soon unscrew the nuts....grease or no grease.