Very nearly lost my front wheel today - Advice please.
 

5 miles from home after a 300 mile journey today I suddenly heard this heavy knocking noise from up front. I found somewhere to pull over and found all lug nuts on my drivers side front wheel very loose. One was missing - the bolt had sheared off.

The wheels (Eagle Alloys) where fitted this week and torqued to 160NM /118lbf.ft - recommended by my tire shop. I re-torqued them when I got home.

Was 160MN too much or too little? All other three wheels are still torqued correctly. What went wrong?

Now I did drive about a mile with a loose wheel and sheared off a stud. Should I replace all studs? Or just replace both front hubs anyway. I have 112.000 miles on and am now driving summers on 35" 12.50 tires. Is it time for new front hubs anyway or are they good for a lot more time, and new studs will do?

Ed

the factory wheels require 150lb ft of torque, but maybe the aftermarket wheels are different. I can't really help you on the other stuff, I've never had that happen.

They messed up when they mounted your wheels. You aren't in the ditch 0r pilled into a bridge. Good point. They should stand behind the mounting of the wheels to do it to last. The rest is an act of G.

My only thoughts are the lug nuts designed for the style /material of the wheels and were they torqued in a cross pattern?

When I put aftermarket wheels on my old truck, they recommended that the lug nuts be re-torqued after 25 miles and again after 50 miles.

I had this problem once on an old chevy that i put aluminum wheels on, I put a little lock tite on the threads and never had another problem. as far as the lugs go I would replace the whole hub, because with 112000 miles already then the extra strain on the bearing with a 35 inch tire probly wouldnt get a bunch more miles anyway.

Same situation happened to my son and daughter's car. They both have alloy wheels and one of their front wheels came loose. They were lucky because they heard the knocking noise, stopped and tightened the wheel nuts. We did some research later on and found out that alloy wheels are supposed to be re-torque after 50 km after installation.

Well let this be a lesson to all of us. I re-torqued after 10 miles but not again after 50 miles. From now on I'll always re-torque at least twice and will check em regularly. I'll also replace the front hubs completely.
Ed

Retorquing wheels
 

I have had a oem alloy work loose on my T-Bird which stuck the 'Fear of God' into me. I have 2 trucks with alloys, one with oem while the other has Eagle Alloys. I swap out summer and winter tires every year on both.

When I change tires, I tighten them on the lift in a criss-cross pattern. I use a long breaker bar and once on the ground, double check the lug nuts for tightness. I take them out for about a 3-5 mile run and recheck. After the first run to work (about 40 mi) I recheck them again. I've not had a problem with this and plan to continue doing it till something proves it's not worth doing.

My 2 cents

That's how they should be done but with torque wrench not a breaker bar to tighten to spec.
but that's Me :-down