Driving with loose wheel bolts!

[All-Star]

FYI,

A couple of days ago I noticed a slight knocking/metallic scraping noise coming from the front of my car. I could also feel it through the floor and steering wheel. It seemed to get progressively worse each day. This noise would only occur when decelerating/coasting and only in a straight line. Its frequency would also depend on how fast I was going. Otherwise, when accelerating or turning it wasn't there. Sometimes starting from a full stop would produce a clunk which sounded like something fell into place.

At first I thought it was either the driveshaft, CV's, or even an engine mount, but after MUCH googling I ran across my exact scenario. Turns out all the wheel bolts on my left front wheel were loose!! Two of them were so loose I could use my fingers to easily turn them. Why they were that loose I don't know. Could've been vandalism, or maybe gradual loosening since I got my brakes replaced a month ago.

I'm just posting this for future reference for anyone that may encounter this issue.

[silverstarmazda]

good to hear you caught it early, results can become very dangerous. they probably started to come loose by themselves. who worked on your brakes? cuz i kno mechanics who just zip them on with an air gun and call it a day. this doensnt tighten them up all equally and can cause some to come loose later down the road. if you got into and accident, you can actually sue the mechanic for man slaughter, or attempted murder. i would suggest re-tightening all your wheels to spec just in case

[cwp_sedan]

if you got into and accident, you can actually sue the mechanic for man slaughter, or attempted murder. i would suggest re-tightening all your wheels to spec just in case

This would be very hard to prove though.

You are always supposed to re-tighten your lugs after a couple 100kms after removing the wheels for service.


This is scary though. You should definitely check the lugs every so often to make sure they are up to spec and tight.

[Ozil]

if you got into and accident, you can actually sue the mechanic for man slaughter, or attempted murder. i would suggest re-tightening all your wheels to spec just in case

that made me laugh for some reason...

[aZuMi]

This would be very hard to prove though.

You are always supposed to re-tighten your lugs after a couple 100kms after removing the wheels for service.


This is scary though. You should definitely check the lugs every so often to make sure they are up to spec and tight.

Ryan, I think this is the actual bolts itself and not just lugs. Since the OP did some brake work, they would have to take the bolts out and re-install them. Either way, both is very dangerous...scary to what can happen if both the bolt and lugs aren't tightened.

[silverstarmazda]

This would be very hard to prove though.

You are always supposed to re-tighten your lugs after a couple 100kms after removing the wheels for service.


This is scary though. You should definitely check the lugs every so often to make sure they are up to spec and tight.

yea, but if someone died im sure theyll be an investigation of some sort. theyll check the studs and wheels for damage, and to the trained eye they can tell what happened. like how you can tell if someone got into an accident just by telling the tread mark on the road. did the wheels lock up? or did the owner do a burnout and loose control.

[cwp_sedan]

Ryan, I think this is the actual bolts itself and not just lugs. Since the OP did some brake work, they would have to take the bolts out and re-install them. Either way, both is very dangerous...scary to what can happen if both the bolt and lugs aren't tightened.

There is lack of proper description by the OP about what he is actually referring to so it could be. I assumed it's the lugs since he never mentioned taking the wheel off and he also mentioned possible vandalism. Vandalism would be odd if the person took the wheel off, loosened the studs and put the wheel back on. That's why I thought lugs.

yea, but if someone died im sure theyll be an investigation of some sort. theyll check the studs and wheels for damage, and to the trained eye they can tell what happened. like how you can tell if someone got into an accident just by telling the tread mark on the road. did the wheels lock up? or did the owner do a burnout and loose control.

Oh I agree with you but if there was just an accident it would be hard to get anything out of it unfortunately.

[aZuMi]

There is lack of proper description by the OP about what he is actually referring to so it could be. I assumed it's the lugs since he never mentioned taking the wheel off and he also mentioned possible vandalism. Vandalism would be odd if the person took the wheel off, loosened the studs and put the wheel back on. That's why I thought lugs.



Oh I agree with you but if there was just an accident it would be hard to get anything out of it unfortunately.

Yea, the vandalism part is a bit questionable when it comes to the bolts, lol.

[silverstarmazda]

lol who would just loosen the bolts and not take anything? im always scared that some honda ppl would steal my 4 lugs nuts and leave the 1 lock nut o.o but thank god we got a different thread pitch

[The Wolf]

a buddy I used to work with got his 6 serviced by Mazda, and they didn't re-torque the nuts on one wheel. They were barely on the lugs at all, in fact...

[silverstarmazda]

we had an incident back wen i was in high school where some didnt tighten on of the wheels. it fell off wen the lady got on the road. we had to replace the rim lol. we still have the busted wheel in class ahahaha.

a buddy I used to work with got his 6 serviced by Mazda, and they didn't re-torque the nuts on one wheel. They were barely on the lugs at all, in fact...

[All-Star]

they probably started to come loose by themselves. who worked on your brakes? cuz i kno mechanics who just zip them on with an air gun and call it a day. this doensnt tighten them up all equally and can cause some to come loose later down the road.

I won't mention who installed my new brakes simply because I can't prove it was their fault. Although, using basic forum tools here, one can find out easily.

There is lack of proper description by the OP about what he is actually referring to so it could be. I assumed it's the lugs since he never mentioned taking the wheel off and he also mentioned possible vandalism. Vandalism would be odd if the person took the wheel off, loosened the studs and put the wheel back on. That's why I thought lugs.

lol who would just loosen the bolts and not take anything?

My apologies for the confusion here. The loose lug nuts were the culprit. I mistakenly labelled them as wheel bolts (which have threaded posts). To clarify, the lug nuts (example) are tightened on to the threaded studs (example) of the wheel hub to keep the wheel secured.

As far as vandalism goes, I'd consider loosening/tampering all the lug nuts on one wheel as vandalism. Again, I have no proof so I'm just shrugging it off.

Bottom line - guys, check your nuts once in a while. + a dollar of truth

[silverstarmazda]

I won't mention who installed my new brakes simply because I can't prove it was their fault. Although, using basic forum tools here, one can find out easily.

i think i know who it might be lol. i bumped into a couple mazda 3's who go to "this" person's shop and came back out with loose nuts after the wheels have been taken off. new kid on the block still has a lot to learn about tightening wheels. oh yea, when your braking in your new brake ands and rotors , its important to tighten all of them equally or else the new rotor will warp during the hard stops and go's. if you just got pads and still use the old rotors, you dont have to brake them in