Customer Just About Lost It.... A Wheel That Is 

I didn't think I would have to clear this up but yes.... I did re-install the front driveshaft 😐

No body else could make tightening a wheel entertaining, but you. Always a great video.

Eric I’m a retired Mechanic your customers are very fortunate to have you the care and attention that you demonstrate is exceptional ! Keep up the good work!

Loose Wheel Story, Here is mine. Did a brake job on my mothers Honda pilot before traveling out west for a trip. While on I-80 noticed a difference in ride quality. Pulled of the next exit and looked at the lug nuts, they were loose and one was missing. Went to the O’Reilys got a replacement and tightened them down. I am thankful it wasn’t worse.

Back in the ‘50s when I first was learning about cars we had Chryslers and the left side wheels had left hand threads on the wheel studs. There is some MOPAR engineer looking down on this situation saying “I told them not to change those to right hand threads”.

She'll be back in 100 miles for a retorque and say, "Hey Eric, it's quiet now but every time I go into 4WD there's a really bad clunking noise..." Hopefully, you hooked that driveline back up! I don't recall you ever mentioning those Chrysler wheels. Good to know. Always appreciate the tips!

You just saved her life. A true Hero.

Was driving my restored 1969 VW Beetle to a car show when I my front left wheel blew off and saw it roll right off in front of me. Lucky the wheel nuts stayed in side the hubcap, actually just jacked it up, no damage to the drum, tightened it back up and off I went. I was fortunate to have only be in second gear going about 20mph but actually was driving on the drum for a bit. Amazing car!!

I remember a lose wheel on a lawn mower, Eric made a road service call, repaired using a vice grip, happens in the best of families💯🇺🇸🗽👌

I just rotated my Sienna wheels and torque spec was only 76ft/lbs. About the same as what a quick lube puts on the oil drain bolt.

Eric O makes customers wanna move to his location just to get his attention to details when servicing their vehicles,...sma rocks! 😎👍🏾

Went to a quick lube place with a 2013 grand Cherokee. This was a work vehicle that the company owned so they told me where to go. Next day I drove about 300 miles and felt a vibration for about the last 100. About 3 miles from the house the front left tire came flying off and I'm going down the road on 3 wheels! I pulled into a gas station, but it didn't drop onto the rotor until I hit the brakes. That was an interesting experience.

Just like you said Eric ...reminds me of that song by my cousin (not really) "You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel".

Your customers are very fortunate to have you nearby, someone else may have sold them something unnecessary. Eric O for the win!

Dang it, Mr O. You’ve got me singing “ you picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel”. It’s stuck in my head

“Your wheel is falling off, lady!” Wowza! Glad it didn’t fly off and cause an accident.

Was driving down the road one day behind a guy pulling a double axle trailer and with a semi behind us. I start hearing this sound that sounds like a sprinkler. There's a big empty field off to the left so I'm looking at the field to try to figure out what the heck is making this noise. The noise is getting louder and the truck in front is slowing down and I check the rearview and the semi has basically come to a full stop in the middle of road way behind us and what the heck is making that noise? And then a wheel comes bouncing off the trailer and the noise stops. And I watch the wheel go bouncing across the road into the ditch on the other side and thankfully it stays there. I learned two things that day. One: If you hear a sprinkler while driving you don't want any part of what is going on. Two: If the semi driver behind you wants no part of what is going on you should probably trust their judgement. And just to wrap up the story, the pickup driver just kept right on going after the wheel came off.

Back in 1971 I was a teenager and we had a 1968 VW Campmobile, and we also had a fold up camper that my Dad towed with it. We went on vacation in Southwest Virginia to Breaks Interstate Park and we were going up and down small mountains on a twisty 2 lane road. The curves were so tight that you could almost see your own behind going around them. I started hearing this KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK sound and mentioned it to my Dad. He was a great father but as to vehicle maintenance he got oil changes but everything else he basically depended on the semi annual state inspection. Before this trip, however, he did have new tires put on the vehicle. He dismissed the noise as me hearing things, then in a bit my Mother heard it and you could tell it was getting louder and in a bit my brother chimed in too and we convinced him to stop. As he slowed down I also heard a bing bing bing sound from the front driver's wheel. He pulled the hubcap and two of the lug bolts were in the hubcap and the remaining three were loose. We tightened those and replaced the ones that had come out, surprisingly they just had a few marks on them and the wheel didn't show much signs of wear. We checked the other wheels but this was the only one with loose bolts. We snugged up all of them to be sure. We were quiet for a while, as many of these winding roads had some good sized cliffs on the side, and in that bus with a trailer I'm pretty sure we would have gone over had the wheel detached.

Yes, loose wheel story. Just dropped sister in-law off and got a flat from the parking lot. Spare wheel on all good and hit the highway to head home. On highway about a mile and something didn't feel right so took the next exit and pulled off to walk around car and see what's up. Turns out, in a hurry I only finger tight the nuts on the wheel I just changed. Feel very lucky I stopped to check. Learned to not rush and I'll be faster in the long run. Surprised it took you that long to check the wheel. Amazed other shops take advantage of simple loose wheel. Love your work, thank you.

what i usually do is every oil change i check tire pressure (spare also) and torque, lube hinges, check sunroof drainage, clean and condition leather seats

I always assumed the wheels on chrysler products come loose because of the excessive corrosion they build up around the centering hub. Figured people tighten them down and their torque wrench clicks but then you drive down the road, some of that corrosion inevitably breaks up, bam wheel is loose. I get the hub and wheel (including the centering hole of the wheel) clean, put grease on it and torque it down. Haven't had one come loose (knock on wood)

Hey Eric - I had a Monday morning chuckle about your title 😅 Thanks from a retired Navy guy! Picked a fine time to leave me “Loose Wheel”.

Holy.. I am instantly reminded of the time a tire popped off on me on route 90, driving a Yukon. I was young and driving with a trailer and touring musicians; it was not my vehicle and I didn't understand how things worked back then. We were driving back from NYC to Boston escaping a hurricane and kept having a strange vibration but only while turning to the right. The vibration eventually got so bad on the Mass pike, around 5 AM, the right tire pops off, we come to a BOOM landing on the right front, screeching halt in the brake down lane. I was lucky enough to feel it coming and get pulled over. We watched the tire bounce, bounce.. bounce up and over the median and over the other side. Luckily no one hit the tire as traffic was light. It was my friend's vehicle and the shop previously working on the vehicle had not torqued the lug nuts. Tons of side wall damage and knuckle, etc... They paid for it. Ever since then I started to slowly learn how to do my own maintenance and now do most of my own repairs unless a lift is needed or technical computer work.

40 years ago i had my Metzler Blue snow tires put on (NJ) my Saab 99 (front tires), drove to Vermont for a work event .... major snow storm brewing when I left ... left NYS Thruway east thru Troy NY in a blizzard headed east to Beninngton VT ... 11pm, start hearing a slight clicking at 60mph on front passenger side ... next thing I know I'm carving head on into the 4 ft high snow bank on the right hand side .... Saab come to a stop, I clear the windshield and see my tires doing the loop de loop 100 yards down the road, then falls over .... I'm of course the only fool out driving in the storm, not even a snow plow ... out in the middle of the White Mountain Preserve .... I knew there was an old 50's style motel 10 miles down the road ... 2 hour walk in 2 ft of fresh snow ... get there and the sign says "Closed for the Season" ... one of those 1 story places where the owner lives on the small second floor over the office one light on and an old Cadillac parked in front .... woke the owner up, he gave me a "cold" room ... next morning (Sat) I called the Saab dealer in Bennington (who I knew) and he sent a tow truck out at 9am ... turned out wheel lugs had not been tightened/torqued .... loosened, snapped off one stud ... Sat, so no mechanic, owners son came in and installed 4 new studs for me and the wheel and spindle were okay ... I was back on the road by noon heading up to the ski area I was doing a clinic/show that Sunday .... 40 years later I'm still a wheel nut torque/check fanatic .... lol ... a good lesson learned at a young age that stuck

Gee, Mr. O. I hope you remembered to put the driveshaft back together. Good detective work though.Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!

I have wire wheels on an old MG. The wheels fit on a splined hub that can rust out after a few years. Hit the brakes and the wheel spins on the hub. You'll stop eventually. The car came with a nice little brass hammer to tighten the big nuts that hold the wheel on. It's good to give your nuts a tap every once in a while.

Hi, I'm from Australia, (big island a long way south west of Hawaii). Back in the 1970's my family lived about 120 miles from Melbourne, and I stayed in the Melbourne suburbs during the week for university, travelled down Friday night late, returned to the city early Monday (left about 4 a.m.) aiming to get back to my city place before peak hour traffic. Had been servicing the car over the weekend checked brakes etc, put all the wheels back on with nuts firm but not tightened. My approach was to leave the hubcaps off until I had torqued up all the nuts, then fit hubcaps as each wheel was checked and finished. Got called for lunch, ate, went for a walk on the beach and came back, thought nothing of it, but my mum had come down and fitted the hubcaps. Left at 4.00 a.m. next morning as per schedule, working through a section of winding road at about 70mph, massive thump, and front left wheel departs, climbs an embankment, jumps a fence and runs about 1/4 mile across a field, hits another fence and stops against it. Meanwhile I had pulled into some space on the opposite side of the road, got out to survey the damage, and started to follow the wheel track through the field to recover the wheel. Found it with the hubcap on, full set of nuts inside. Lugged it back to the car and managed to lift the nose of the car enough to jamb the tyre under the bumperbar, which gave me just enough room to get the car jack into place, lifted the car, refitted the wheel (studs damaged but OK for emergency use), checked other wheels (all nuts loose but torqued them up), and continued on my way at a more sedate speed. Darned lucky really, left wheel came of in a left turn when the wheel unloaded with body lean, previous curve was a right turn with a field of trees at the side of the road, if I had lost the wheel in that curve when the wheel was fully loaded, I would have been straight into a batch of 4 foot diameter gum trees. Spoke to my mother on the phone from back in Melbourne, she had gone around and fitted the hubcaps while I was at the beach because she didn't want me leaving them off cos it would make me look like a 'hoon' (Aussie term for idiot driver who doesn't care less about others).

Best related story I have is that I used to work for a rural Ford dealership where we had a small independent shop directly across the road from us. A customer pulled in to have a "rattle when driving" complaint looked at, but didn't want to pay our diagnostic fee (It was not a Ford product). They ended up across the street to have the work done, and about 30 minutes later, we saw their tow truck head down the road... I happen to be going on a test drive at the time, and ended up following the tow truck. Approximately 2 miles down the road, there sat the guy, on the trunk lid of his car, minus his right rear wheel... He had them tow the car to us, as they apparently said that he needed shocks and a front left tie rod... which he didn't need at all, but he did end up needing a new wheel in the right rear, new rotor, brake assembly, strut, and lower control arm (independent rear suspension) which were all damaged when the wheel fell off doing 60 down the road! Made for a very interesting day!

Ron Pratt just put out a tow video of this exact same problem. Guy's plow truck rear wheel sheered off most of the studs because they werent tightened all the way so all the weight and spinning wallowed out the holes and destroyed the rim and studs.

When I was a kid my dad did a tire rotation on my mom's ford escort and used his electric impact wrench he just got used. I'm sure the brushes on that thing were shot in hindsight. I rode with my mom "to town" and the car started shaking like crazy 5 miles down the road and we had to stop in a gas station to make a phone call to dad. Dad never used that impact again lol

My early days of diy i know that sound all to well 😮 . Good job Eric o .

Years ago, I made the potentially fatal mistake of tightening a wheel lug nuts on my Mother's '63 Country Squire using a short 1/2" drive ratchet, I was 12 or so years old. Lucky for me the wheel cover contained 2 lug nuts which had fallen off, which of course made a racket. Trust me, since then I ALWAYS torque wheel lug nuts. This lady was very fortunate for your expertise, knowledge and experience...

I have been watching you for years and don't remember you ever mentioning this before. But the one time a friend had a funny noise and we couldn't figure it out. Loose wheel on a 2004 dodge Durango. He had just gotten tires. That's actually pretty scary that it was common. I always just thought the shop missed it. Thx Eric you never disappoint!

I had this EXACT same issue with my Chrysler 200 a while back. I had it at 2 different shops that wanted to do all kinds of things. Needless to say I stopped going to those shops.

My boss used to have a small farm on which he had an old tractor that used have a rhythmic bump when he ran it. In the end he completely stripped it down but found that everything was OK. When reassembling it he found that the bolts that connect the rear wheel rims to the central wheel flanges had worked loose. He tightened them up and bingo everything ran tight as drum. As he said, ‘it was a five minute job that took him the best part of a weekend to fix’.

Speech is getting much better.

I heard that sound right after getting new tires. 70 mph on the interstate. Then I felt my front slam down hard and my wheel keeps on going for like a mile lol. Fun experience.

Over the years of running a garage i have seen loose wheels several times .A few times the wheels and studs were shot and needed to be replaced .I only did it once was installing wheels on a car after doing a brake job . A phone call from another customer came in and i forgot to torque the wheels, they were just hand tight. The road test saved my reputation .I heard a clunk before i left the lot .I knew i had forgot to torque them up.I re/ road tested and all was good.I always say the most important part of a repair is the road test .

I'm 52 and I've been rotating my own tires since I. I use the same tools today I used then. A Snap-On air impact. I run the nuts on and a couple whacks and call it good. I never-ever had a broken stud issue. I have a 21 RAM 3500 with 20k miles on it and I just went through a massive problem with broken wheel studs and aftermarket alloy rims. I now torque them to 130 ft-lbs. I have 45k on it and no problems. Rotate every 5k. I have a Noise Vibration Harshness App on my I-pad that can help figuring out where noises and vibrations are coming from on a vehicle. I believe it's called NVH. It was $100. I have 7 vehicles. Two junior drivers. One experienced driver. They're getting better about saying something if there's a new sound, or shake, or vibration. Take care.

It never fails to amaze me how many car owners won't check lug-nut torque or tire pressure. These simple checks that will save a lot of grief.

My rule for all non steel wheels was torque to spec and write on the work order "return in 60 miles (100km) for free re-torquing" This included tire repair advice for flats carried into the shop.

Great job as always…..could have been a bad day for her.

I almost lost a set of duals on a 53' semi trailer once. After doing my pre-trip inspection, I got on I-70 heading West, toward Columbus, OH for a delivery. During one of my frequent mirror checks, I saw what I first thought was a rock fly away from the trailer. Then, I saw the same thing happen 3 or 4 more times so I knew something wasn't right. By the time I got pulled off on the shoulder, that set of duals had started wobbling something fierce! Upon checking it out, I found that 6 of the 10 studs (which were all there 100 miles or so before) had sheared off! I own my tractor but, pull trailers assigned by the company I'm leased to and that trailer was one that they'd rented. Upon calling the company shop about the trailer, I learned that it was the 4th rental trailer, out of the 10 or 12 they were using, with the same issue that week. Needless to say, those trailers ALL taken out of service immediately and the trucking company scrapped the idea of renting, rather than buying trailers.

I guess anytime you hear a noise it it best just to check the lug nuts before taking it to the shop. Simple, quick and could save you a lot of money.

And don’t forget to reattach front driveshaft. 😂

GM customers had issues with Aluminum Alloy Wheels in late 80’s and early 90’s. Pour caused air bubbles and they leaked air. Epoxy used to Seal it inside the tire.

35 years ago I had four new winter tires installed on my square body, very used, Suburban. After putting 110 miles or so on the truck I heard a clinking noise as I did a U turn. Inspection showed ALL the lug nuts loose, some fallen into the center caps, hence the rattle during the U turn. It was a very cold couple of days , 35 below cold here in Laramie Wyoming. A walk around of the tire shop showed the air compressor outside the building. I figure the air line was restricted with ice, and the shop was an early adopter of "torque sticks". I watched the installation through a nifty window from the waiting room, so I know the wheels weren't torqued with a torque wrench. I spent a day changing studs and wheels. On a positive note, I installed some used Rally wheels I happened to see for sale in front of the gas station! I'm 73 years old now and I still retorque wheels after 100 miles. Keep up the great work, Eric!

Two stories that connect. Dad had an 01 Ram and bought some American Racing wheels for it, you know the ones with the 3 tear drops, yeah, those. Anyway they were fine for several years, he had a service done and was driving around one day not long after and the driver rear wheel passed him going down the road. Luckily no damage. He put the wheel back on and it was fine for another few years until he traded the truck. He kept the wheels to sell later. Several years later I bought a 99 Ram and decided those wheels would be a good change. I tossed them on and drove all over. One day, headed to his house from mine, I came down a hill where there is a stop at the bottom. Close to the bottom I felt a vibration but had to stop a few feet later. I stopped and took off carefully and sure enough the vibration was there. I continued slowly and tried to figure out what it was. A few seconds later there was a clunk and the driver front dropped a little. I carefully eased over to the right shoulder, thinking the wheel was off. Hopped out and looked. The wheel was still under the truck but the brake rotor was riding on the inside of the rim. The only thing damaged was a couple of studs. Jacked it up, put a couple nuts on where I could and limped it home. Replaced the studs and looked at the wheel and there was no damage. Put it back on and it stayed for a long time until I sold the truck! Cursed wheel!!

Ha, having a KK for many years, I knew exactly what it was when I heard it. I had the same thing happen on mine. Ended up being when I did the brakes, I got some anti-rust spray on the studs when coating the hub face. The additional lubrication helped the lugs nuts back out easier. Brake cleaned the studs & never ran into an issue again. The sound is the spokes hitting the calipers which is why it goes away with brakes applied.

Kudos to the customer for getting this taken care of promptly before serious damage occurred

I volunteer at a shop full of DIYers (car ministry). We always perform 3 test drives: part of incoming inspection, after all repair work, and during final inspection. Occasionally we get a loose wheel during the repair test drive. One time we got 2 blocks from the shop heard a thud & slowly pulled off the road. Driver's rear wheel was sitting at 30° on one stud, no lug nuts. We found 4 of 5 lug nuts in the road...

I was driving through downtown Detroit one summer evening and stopped to ask directions. While speaking through the passenger side window to the gentleman, someone kindly checked my lug nuts for me. Problem was they forgot to put the wheels back on and left my car on cinder blocks. Good times.

A piece of info to add to this Eric, and this has just been my experience in maine with these same vehicles. Is that around the center hole of these wheels I have noticed aluminum corrosion building up and to about this exact situation our shop has made a point of chiseling out any build up around the center hole on the axle to prevent a high spot of that build up getting pressed between the wheel and the brake rotor. And we too have over torqued and do a test drive and retorque to help prevent this. We do advise them to return for a recheck but you know that's a 50/50 if they bother. Good video and you aren't alone in wondering why on just the dodges.

Had a wheel come of a trailer when bearings went out. I slowed down when I heard the trailer bang the pavement and just like in the movies... the trailer wheel went passed me and luckily into the left ditch without hitting any oncoming vehicles. I pulled over into a school parking lot just down the road and in a few minutes, a person pulled in with my wheel in their trunk. There are still some good people in the world. I lashed a dolly under the back corner of the trailer with a ratchet strap and limped back home at 5 miles an hour. That trip showed me how many impatient people there are in the world.

The money light, love it , Cha-Ching . Don't forget the drive shaft.

Eric O knows how to make even a simple wheel tightening video interesting. Good content. I’m sure you did put it back on, but I hope you didn’t forget to install the front driveshaft again!😊

That's interesting and good info. A friend had a brake job, and days later, her Grand Caravan started shaking the faster she went. Took it to multiple shops, checking brakes, tires, balance, and alignment. Don't know whether they ever checked the lug nuts. I hope so.🤔👍

Window squirts.. thank you Eric, LOL! I did a 4 wheel brake job, took my 2003 GC for a ride, same noise. I forgot to tighten my driver side front. Great video.

My story. 2010 f-150 with 7 bolt rims. Torqued to 150 ft lbs before a cross country drive. 3000 miles later one of the rears had 3 of 7 bolts loose enough to take off by hand. Many more had loosened a lot. As a rule with alloy rims I now re-torque regularly.

When I was in high school, my '72 El Camino had a set of universal lug bolt aluminum wheels. They were fine until one day I was driving and it started shaking bad, ended up the aluminum behind the washer had worn away and the lug bolt was bottoming out on the wheel stud. Lol I think I just stacked more washers on the stud cause I ran those wheels for another few years. Great video Eric!

not much worse than cruising down the road and seeing a loose wheel coming at you. I've seen a few 18 wheeler wheels come off and that's really scary. One of our trucks lost one as he exited the highway to come home. Last he saw it it went across the freeway into a field. We never found it.

Drove 1400 miles after putting a 4.5" lift on my 93 Jeep Cherokee with bigger wheels and I forgot to re-torque the lug nuts after using an electric impact. Heard a clunk when stopping or speeding up upon entering the last 100 miles to home. Thought it was the track bar up front since it had loosened up before but didn't check the noise until I got home. Ended up being the left rear wheel, it had shredded 4 lug nuts but the studs were fine and the wheel wasn't damaged. Learned a good lesson to always torque lug nuts 100% of the time and to never use an electric impact to tighten lug nuts.

Glad the wheel didn’t come off one her while she was driving. Glad she came into your shop and had it looked at

Good detective work! Glad there was no damage and the wheel didn't fall off while the customer was driving!!! Wonder what the customers reaction was when you explained the issue.

Thought it was just me going through a phase of customers with chrysler coming back for loose wheels even though I knew I was torquing them to proper spec....nice to know that it's common lol will probably overtorque just a little now because of this....thanks!

Wow, that's scary. They say to check the torque again a lit later when you rotate tires. I will be sure to check them next time. Scary thought when driving on the highway especially. Thanks for this important video!!!

That's crazy. Glad she brought it to you and it didn't fall off.... that's scary..

I had a 2000 Dodge Dakota, I had a local shop put 4 new tires on it. 1000 miles later the left rear wheel came off. I laugh about it now but at the time it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever had happen to me.

Someone didn't use the correct amount of ugga duggas! lol

Eric, I had new tires installed at a cheapo muffler & brake shop in Buffalo. I pulled out after it was done, drove about a block, got a terrible wobbly vibration. Pulled over, and 2 wheels had loose and missing lug nuts! Had to walk back and get the mechanic, who was very angry. He had also held me up for 2 hours trying to remove my factory glued-on plastic G6 GT wheel covers! I have also had wheels over-torqued to something like 300 foot pounds, at least. You just never know what you're going to get, these days. I always check my car over after it's been to a garage, for NYS Motor Vehicle Inspection.

I once had the problem of a loose nut behind the wheel. Cleared right up once my wife stopped driving my car. Badam.

This may not do too well being unlisted. It doesn't show up in my feed and only found it through the top secret link in the short.

Great video as always. Refreshing to see honesty and integrity on display.

Yep eric ive got one. I was 12. My father was driving a two yr old 1960 chevy station wagon. We were coming down N.H. Rt11B from Gunstock ski area. Suddenly he said "OH SHI_! VERY LOUD. hes doin about 45 mph. He just rounded a corner now straight road for about 1000' I now see the right front rolling ahead of us into the woods. He gradually lets off the gas.we come to a stop then it falls. God must of been with us! No damage except the lugs.

My dad didn't tighten the lugs on our pop up and entering the drive way of the state park. The driver wheel wobbled bad. At camp the ranger brought all but one lug. Thank God we had arrived. Fast forward 7 years ago my blazer at a mud park, it instantly stopped into a dive. The wheel was under the control arm and no (5) lugs to be found. Gotter fixed!

One day I was driving home and I wanted to see what my car could do I got up to 90mph and it started to shake violently and right when I said what a p.o.s the wheel flew off and my car slammed on the road and the wheel rolled into a field. 🤦‍♂️

Great vid Eric. I was very surprised when you had it on the lift that you didn't check the rear though. Thanks for the info as I don't get many Chryslers/Dodges in my shop. Thanks for sharing

Hey Mr. O, you are one of the best. I have a Dodge Caravan with those alloy wheels. Took it to our local mechanic for brakes. When he put the wheels back on he tightened the lugs so tight that I broke my breaker bar trying to get them off. How tight is too tight. Keep in mind that I don't ever want to sing the loose wheel song!

2 stories, first was a big box store (sounds like Costco) just installed new winters and mama told me that she could hear a noise. I pulled out a breaker bar and socket and the back wheels were tight, but the front wheels the bolts were just hand tight on a Camry. 2nd was a shop next to our towing company, for whatever reason the owner (Old guy) forgot to tighten the front wheels on a Jeep and the passenger front wheel flew off into a residents front yard a block from the shop. I drove down and threw a sling on the front end and took it back to his shop. That mechanic who owned the shop was the most embarrassed mechanic that I have ever seen in my life. No damage and the customer never found out about that test drive. Every winter tire changeover on ALL of our cars I make sure to go over the wheel nuts with a 24' breaker bar. I don't care what the torque is as long as they are TIGHT! The "Old Wives tale" about warped rotors from over tightening wheel lugs is a complete lie. Warped Rotors is almost ALWAYS caused by somebody riding the brakes in mountainous areas, or MOST likely drivers who drive with 1 foot on the gas, and their other foot on the brake pedal. For many years I would ask drivers who had badly warped and discolored rotors, "Take me for a drive and show me how you drive". Sure enough every time it was TWO-footer driver. Get away gangster drivers are hard on brakes too.

Thanks for putting this video out Eric, this one gave me a flashback on one vehicle I worked on long time ago. I always and I mean always torque wheels to the specifications each and every time. I remember a shop I used to work for this gentleman had a 2010 or 2011 I'm not sure, but it was a Dodge Ram 1500. I remember torquing all of the wheels properly every time when we had the wheels off for service when doing brake inspection or whatever. This customer would somehow be back a few weeks later or so saying his lug nuts were loose, but no noise like in the video, but noticed a couple of the lug nuts were loose. So we ended up just using the proper socket and proper torque spec once again and just retighten everything (Those lug nuts like to swell up after some time). I think we used a 7/8" socket or 22 mm socket can't remember anymore. Somehow there were common problems with those alloy wheels not sure why. Once we did that I think everything was all right in the end. Those wheels are super finicky they must be torqued precisely after service or else you're faced with this problem.

One of my co workers put a long thick plastic zip tie around my driveshaft one time. Took me about 2 miles to figure that one out haha.

Wheel flew off my limousine once. That was a fun night. Couple studs and she was back up and running in a few days.

As soon as you took off at the beginning of the show, I instantly knew it was a wheel coming off

At work, we all have a loose wheel incident (well 1 of us has a broken wheel stud incident), rust is a SOB! sometimes the wheels just need to be retorqued after 100miles, at least that's what we've been doing and haven't had a issue again.

Had a Nissan frontier where my rear wheel fell off right after I pulled off to the side of the road to check on why the rear end started shaking. Never had it again though after that one time. Put all new nuts on and studs.

That was definitely a familiar sound to me. As a 16 year old punk kid did a clutch on my beat down 1992 civic. Got so excited to test drive forgot to tighten one wheel and it very nearly went flying

My wife’s Jeep just went in for service. Her whee fell off on the drive home. Thanks for the informative video. I usually do the automotive work - I will now over torque her jeep tires as a standard practice.

The torque spec on that SX4 you just had in a while ago is only 62.5 ft-lbs. I feel like something got lost in translation from Japan.

Interesting, I have a 99 dodge ram 1500 and have always used the 95 ft lbs for the lug nuts. Never have had a problem. But I always check them after a tire has been removed. I'm also pretty particular about having the wheel surfaces clean before putting the tire back on. I can definitely see your reasoning for increasing the torque. Thanks for the info.

I too have a loose Chrysler wheel story. About 9 years ago I had a 2001 Town and Country. A horrible noise developing on a drive back home. I got off the highway and as I turned into a Tim Hortons/gas station the wheel popped off. Wow was I lucky! In fairness to Chrysler, I think I may have not checked the torque after replacing a hub. Humorously enough, to limit the use of the spare donut and before the used tire I ordered online came in, I drilled, tapped, and put a bolt gooped with sealant on the inside part of the rim that was punctured by the rotor. It held for over a week and when I brought it in to swap the tire, the tire place accidentally threw my good wheel in the trash! I was able to get back there before their trash pickup and was good to go. Great videos! I learned of you through Watch Wes Work.

Yes, I have a loose wheel story. One of the first cars I drove was a 1979 Plymouth Horizon. I was driving to work and heard a small clunking noise, and being naive, thought nothing of it. On the return drive home, the clunking noise got louder, and the front end started to wobble. Just as soon as I pulled over, the right front tire almost came off, being partially held on by 2 very loose lug nuts! Had to get it towed because the studs were cremated.

Good to know! I'm going to go check my wheels. I love my rusty old Dodge.The damn gas hog!

I currently own 4 Chryslers since new, all with alloy wheels: 1998 Ram, 2012 Liberty, 2015 Wrangler, 2019 Grand Cherokee. No one touches the wheels but me and I always torque to factory spec with a Snap On Techangle, just like Eric's. I've never found a loose lug nut on any of them. So if this is a problem, it might be related to out of calibration torque instruments or worse, the ugga dugga gun with/without torque sticks. Because my luck simply isn't *that* good.

I had a wheel come off when I was working at a dealership in the early 90s. When I got back to the shop the guy that worked beside me started into Ya picked a fine time to leve me loose wheel. Good times, thanks for the share.

confirmed on a Grand Cherokee Laredo. two days into ownership (and on brand new asphalt) at WORK. I recognized that knock right away by the tone alone. thank goodness the tools were still IN the vehicle; people tend to throw away the Jack, tools, spare (this one had none) floormats, manual, and any keys they're not using on a regular basis. I forked out for a clicker torque wrench (40 bucks for a 1/2 drive), and got everything over a hundred pounds...and discovered oddball lug nuts. shortly thereafter, an electrical disaster occurred when I had the battery replaced with the correct size (there was a group 54 in it, I believe), and they put it in backwards; previous owner had placed the battery posts facing front with the undersized battery for cable fit. parked for a month with a brand new battery, alternator and starter (the original had started to seize), but burnt through the stock and two rebuilt alternators. we thought the computer had fried. sold on, and the new owner reported: blown fusable link in the top-post wire to the alternator, no computer damage (i thought they stopped USING that sort of thing, and relied soley on the computers). also reported, after actually HAVING both the stock wheel AND the ones he'd put on come off and destroy the driver's fender, it had had the WRONG LUG NUTS to begin with!

Should have picked up Andy for comedy hour while there

That was a wheely good video, Eric. As usual. :)

I live in a grade 1 rust belt and have owned Chrysler caravans, intrepid, jeep Liberty also. I always put grease on the mating faces of the wheel a hub and on the lug nuts. Never used a torque wrench but don't overtighten either and have never had on come loose. Making sure that the wheel isn't mounted on a crusty surface and that the lug nuts are tightened in opposing sequence is essential.

Glad you caught this before disaster struck. If I was her, I'd be getting those wheel nuts checked at regular intervals.

Speech is getting better.