Well I was taking my 72 over to get repainted, the stripes reshot and my emblems put back on when all of a sudden the car started shaking horribly and pulling to the right. I was doing about 60 mph when it happened but luckily I was over to pull over safely. When I checked out my front end I noticed that 3 of my 5 lugs were gone on my front passenger side? I tighten my lugs whenever I wash my car about once a month and they were last tightened about 3 weeks ago. I was safe and hopefully the car isn't damaged too much, I will find out later tonight. I have newer Weld Aluminum Racing wheels with the threaded female lugs that screw into the 5 posts that hold the wheel onto the car. (I'm an expert can't you tell by my termanology.) :D Well I got the tire off and 3 of the 5 posts that hold the tire on to the car were missing? I called my shop, they sent the rollback and picked me up.

My questions are :
1. What caused this to happen? Cheap Chinese Lugs? There Old? Did I over tighten them.
2. What caused the postson the wheels to brake? Age possibly?

Scared the he!!outta me? :confused:

Probably over tightened.
Wheels do not need to be all that tight----I think 55-65 pounds is all.

My better half has also run the wheels off a car
about 70mph lower ball joint let loose in the fast lane of the freeway (97 T-Bird)
She got the car off the hiway without a scratch
Floppy front wheel damaged the fender while loading onto the wrecker.
Could not be avoided.

I tighten my lugs whenever I wash my car about once a month and they were last tightened about 3 weeks ago.


I bet that's the cause, right there.

Auldron,

Close friend of mine had somewhat of a similar problem. The shank on the lugnut(the long cylinder part), was about 1/16" too long. What happened was the lugnut would bottom out on the drum, but it appeared tight. Well after driving a bit, they came loose.

I'd double check the length of your lugnuts.

Change all the studs on that hub at the very least. If the wheel worked loose the studs have stretched and have been subjecting to bending loads, not good.

Also, if your Weld wheels use shank style lugnuts check them for length. They need to be long enough to grab plenty of threads but not bottom out, but I have seen a couple cars lose wheels because the shank lugnuts were too short and only grabbed 3 or 4 threads.

Oh Good I thought I would have to get new wheels can I just replace the studs that broke?

i Tighten My Lugs Whenever I Wash My Car About Once A Month And They Were Last Tightened About 3 Weeks Ago.

i Bet That's The Cause, Right There.

X2

Change all the studs on that hub at the very least. If the wheel worked loose the studs have stretched and have been subjecting to bending loads, not good.

Also, if your Weld wheels use shank style lugnuts check them for length. They need to be long enough to grab plenty of threads but not bottom out, but I have seen a couple cars lose wheels because the shank lugnuts were too short and only grabbed 3 or 4 threads.

Oh Good I thought I would have to get new wheels can I just replace the studs that broke?

Like Troy said. Change ALL the wheel lugs. Also check the rest of the lugs on your car. Make sure you have the correct lug nuts for your wheels and they are properly torqued to wheel manufactures spec's.

Lugs aren't that expensive and aren't that hard to replace. You may want to replace all of them.

Oh Good I thought I would have to get new wheels can I just replace the studs that broke?
Check the wheels, they may have to be replaced too. I'd replace all the studs because you have been overtightening all of them!

Change all the studs on that hub at the very least. If the wheel worked loose the studs have stretched and have been subjecting to bending loads, not good.
.

Years ago, the same thing happen to my friend; 36" tires on his 4X4, and by the time he pulled over 4 (of the 6) studs were gone... The other 2 were loose...

You may find yourself replacing the brake rotor when you go to replace the studs because the holes probably enlarged.

Last year, I was on the freeway when the studs sheared off the rotor. The front dropped to the ground. The wheel was trashed, and the fender was bent up pretty bad, but atleast I was ok!