What is it with wheel nuts and me?

[Casper]

Well, last night turned into a bit of an adventure. Mrs Casper and I headed off to Whoosha’s 50th party in the XR for the long drive from Hoppers to Cranbourne for a good night out. Half way there (just out of the tunnel) and the car pics up a vibration from the rear end. Pulled over as it felt like the passenger side rear wheel was the cause. Looked at it, all ok, checked the wheel nuts, all good. Thought we may have thrown a wheel weight so jumped back in and off we went. Then, coming through the road works on the Monash there was a “crack” noise and the vibration got much, much worse. This time I pulled straight over as it was certainly more than a wheel weight causing the issue. Checked the passenger rear wheel again and checked each nut for tightness, all good. Scratching my head I walked back around to the drivers side and noticed a wheel nut sticking out further than the others quite a way. Aha! The culprit, a loose wheel nut on the drivers rear. Went to go tighten it and the whole thing just fell out, still locked onto the wheel stud! Then, at that moment I noticed than one other wheel nut AND the entire wheel stud was missing as well. The entire wheel was held on by 3 nuts. Made the decision then that it was just unsafe to drive and we called a tow truck. If 2 had snapped off like that then the likelihood of the other 3 going were just too high for me to risk it. So we sat and waited for the tow truck and thanked our lucky stars that the wheel hadn’t completely separated from the car on the freeway. What is currently a minor inconvenience could have become a major accident!
Anyhow, its not all bad, you do get to see some strange things sitting stationary on the Monash Freeway.
1)Ironically the car was stopped due to missing studs only meters from the Stud Rd exit :
2)People don’t seem to give a damn about roadworks speed limits
3)Melbourne has a LOT of stretch limo’s. I counted at least 10 of them including a stretched Territory and Morgan Excalibur (WTF?).
4)CrannersEL has a VERY shiny car.. but it needs to be lowered more :LOL: Must have been en E Series cruise on last night, saw a few of them blinged up and shiny drive by but Cranners stood out, it looks in perfect condition. A credit to the owner.
5)Associated Towing are fantastic.. and back at the depot have some very cool tow trucks. The owner is a Ford fanatic and, parked down the back, is a fully functional “monster truck” tow truck made from an ex-Army recovery vehicle with a customized F100 cabin on top.. Very Cool!

Anyhow, below is a pic of the one recovered stud, wheel nut still attached. The cause? Its suspected the wheel nuts were about 2mm too short to suit the length of the wheel studs and were overtightened when the new wheels were fitted. This has stressed the wheel studs and they have simply sheered off with the stress. All are being replaced now (car’s at the tow yard just up the road from G&D, they will pick it up on Monday and sort it out for me).








Special thanks for the night goes to:
Whoosha, for seeing the funny side
Matt @ G&D for helping me organize the tow truck and for next week when they will no doubt go out of their way to fix it all up and get me back on the road.
Mark and Tracey. Tracey fro coming to get us at the tow yard and driving us back to the party. Mark for making the night amusing and offering the loan of the Festiva. The offer was very much appreciated Mark, and the cause for a couple chuckles on the way home remembering the discussion :
Rusty @ G&D simply for the priceless look on his face when presented with what was decided a few months ago to be “unbreakable” wheel studs after we tried to actually break one at Heathcote.