Well, I had a bit of excitement on my way home from college in Ohio, back to Michigan. Near as I can tell some moron decided to either loosen or steal 4 lugnuts off my drivers front wheel... (I'm a graduate student at Ohio State, but have Michigan plates... and we just had the big OSU, U of M game last weekend.. guess I was a big target in the parking lot... I know lugnuts don't just fall off)

So while driving 70 mph down the expressway my front tire took off. I had no warning, only a clicking noise and a small vibration a few seconds before the wheel stud with the one remaining lugnut snapped. I was able to keep it under control and quickly hit the on ramp for the nearest rest area which I was just passing. Luckily no one was near me at the time, and the poor guy in the little car that was on the other side (my tire crossed the median, into the opposing "fast lane" then back across the median, across 2 lanes of highway and up the same off ramp I myself went up)... yeah, luckily that guy managed to miss my rampant 31 inch tire coming at him at 70mph.. that could have been ugly.

Anyways, the only damage to my bronco was a broken wheel stud, a 1 inch of rotor metal ground off to form flat spot on the edge of my rotor, and a dent in my drivers rear quarter panel just in front of the tail light/bumper from where my tire bounced off. Somehow my rotor wasn't warped in all of this and was ground off burr-free... and actually had some small amount friction surface left, so I got it jacked up and put my spare on (now I know why I carry spare lugnuts) and was able to crawl the 200 miles home.. through central Michigan which was under a severe winter storm of 8+ inches of wet snow..

All I can say is yesterday was not a good day for me, but luckily I know I had the "Big Guy Upstairs" watching over me and the bronco. This whole deal gives me something to really be thankful for this Thanksgiving day and makes me love my bronco even more. Give me a few days and I'll try to post a few pictures of the damage. Sorry for the long post, but I figured you all might appreciate my story.

 

WOW. Glad to hear you or no one else was hurt. I think of putting lock lugs on mine every now and then, just to prevent what happened to you, I'd need 5 sets. And then keep track of which key goes with which set. Small hassle I guess compared to the alternative.
Why can't people just leave other peoples stuff alone?

 

Jon, I'd say it actually was a good day for you; you're alive, no one else was hurt, damage to the vehicle is repairable, and you made it home safely. Good job in keeping it under control.

Whoever removed those lugs went WAY over the line that separates harmless fun from malicious pranks. Someone could have easily gotten killed from their little stunt......