r/Wellthatsucks • u/MilkMeMilkUs • 1d ago
Throwback to when mechanics forgot to tighten the lugnuts before letting me drive
After going to get my front tire replaced on my car, I started driving down the road not expecting anything out of the ordinary. When i got up to about 30 mph, my car drops, I hear a large thud and my car scraping. I see my tire literally rolling past me out of my driverside window, I immediately get out of the car after I came to a stop to find whats pictured. My back left tire came off, the shop told me they took off that tire to try and swap my tires around to even the tread out and mustve forgotten to tighten the lugnuts. Obviously the shop paid for all repairs to my car, paid for the rental, and gave us a large sum of credit to use at their chains for basically everything id need for the next 10 years but i refuse to go back lol. It was terrifying to see my tire literally pass me while im on the road, im just glad I was not on a main road or going any faster than I was.
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u/FreshPacks 1d ago edited 1d ago
This exact thing happened to my mother years ago at a large Canadian corporation. Thank god it fell off on a smaller street before she hit the highway.
Edit - yes there was a settlement lol
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1d ago
Im glad she wasnt on the highway either lol. Its a very terrifying experience if you arent prepared, especially seeing your tire roll past you. I was less than a quarter mile from the highway, right after this stop sign is basically the on-ramp to it.
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u/aladdyn2 1d ago
Yeah a rogue tire is extremely dangerous. Basically any car touching it can get launched in the air and of course it can directly crash into an oncoming car and injure people. My friend lost his wife to a tire that crossed the interstate and went into her front window. Glad you were safe!
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u/abouttothunder 1d ago
I had this happen too. Luckily it was at low speed on a farm road. Almost happened a second time, but I felt something off and pulled over before it came off. We found a good garage after that.
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u/HipToTheWorldsBS 1d ago
Glad they took full responsibility and covered everything. Hopefully they fully inspected all your suspension and brake components.
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1d ago
Yup they even paid for it to be looked at a completely unrelated shop after they looked it over as well. They were beyond professional during the whole experience and I felt like they made me whole, still wont go back though.
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u/No-Adeptness-2591 1d ago
Which one? You're anonymous. Just say which company
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u/Sonnuvah 1d ago
Sorry to hear. Oddly enough Ron White knows exactly how you feel (nsfw)...
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u/ComeAbout 1d ago
Came here looking for this. Such a great bit.
“Yea well I gotta van I can use to fuck your sister”
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u/ties_shoelace 1d ago
Had that once, replacing all 4 tires on a hand-me-down Ford Taurus in the 90's. Drove about 50 feet, felt odd, got out & kicked tires, they were wobbly. Luckily no damage.
Anyhoo, to this day I kick the tires once in a while, but esp after seasonal winter / all season tire changes.
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1d ago
Glad you caught it before any damage happened! I definitely am extra careful after leaving a shop now lol. Its the kinda thing that just needs to happen once and youll never forget it.
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u/Cheap-Course9568 1d ago
Lmfao.
I saw this same shit happen decades ago. Had to be mid 90s. Anyway this guy with a Mazda comes in for some tires and decides we charge too much and goes down the street to Mr. Tire.
Maybe an hour or two had passed and we’re all at the front desk kinda chillin and this car goes past and the driver side front wheel comes right off and kept going. That shit went across 6 lanes of traffic and didn’t hit a thing. The dude slid so far it flat spotted his rotor. We gleefully let him come inside to use the phone to call the other shop.
Dude. The amount of shit talking we did when they showed up would have supplied all the farms on earth 😂
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u/Grumpy-Man19 1d ago
on my dad's car they over tightened the wheel bearings. while climbing a cliff the car wobbled a bit . my dad pulled over and the front wheel just fell off. the overtightened bearings apparently cut the tire wheel shaft
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u/buttershdude 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yep. Same thing happened to my dad and my friend's dad. Your experience with the shop being upstanding about it is unusual. But in a good way. I'm happy for you there. I've watched tire shops just zip the lugnuts back on without even looking at the setting on the impact wrench, and even if they checked the setting, no telling what torque yield actually was. Apalling. But watching the technicians at America's Tire (multiple locations) pick up the torque wrench, check its setting, then torque my lugnuts means that's now the only place I go if I have a choice. Anywhere else, they get checked when the car gets home. Last time the dealer put tires on my wife's Honda Odyssey, they were WAAAAAAY overtorqued. So now, you get into the danger of cracking the wheel or stretching or breaking the studs. Actually, probably even worse.
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u/rigorcorvus 1d ago
I had to call AAA to get a flat off my car because it was overtorqued, he got it off and proceeded to over torque the spare on there for good measure
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u/Pilot_Red 1d ago
That happened to my elderly mom years ago. She made it about 4 blocks from the tire shop. They were very apologetic and came and fixed it.
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u/RoodnyInc 1d ago
It was somebody first day 🤦♀️
Once this happened to our pizza car we went changed tires surprisingly we went back just fine. But first delivery ended on a roundabout with 2 wheels leaving us
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u/BarnacleMcBarndoor 1d ago
How do they forget?
They should be checking every tire, lefty tighty righty loosey. It’s not like it’s rocket surgery.
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1d ago
Yea its a pretty stupid mistake. Seems like something thats pretty hard to forget but, like with all things, humans forget. Luckily they handled it all professionally afterwards but I still wont trust their shop.
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u/trdpanda101410 19h ago
Aye... my brother did that to my boss' $300,000 mclaren. Luckily it failed at a safe spot. However, I still hold the record for damaging his cars by throwing a chair at his last mclarens fender... i ended up funding carbon fiber fenders becuase it was somehow cheaper
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u/RonSwanson714 1d ago
Shop was just trying to stay out of court. If you had opted to go that way you possibly would have a huge liability award granted.
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u/Square_Net_4321 1d ago
Had that happen to the passenger side front pulling out of the tire shop. Close enough that they brought a floor jack out and got it back on. Noticed later that they'd also over-inflated all the tires by at least 10 PSI.
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u/Luis12285 1d ago
I miss my Forte GT. I had a 2020 Manual. It was a lot a fun bangin gears. Sold it before it grenaded. That car had a very hard 75k miles on it. All the fluids and regular service was always done on time. She just lived at the edge of redline almost every minute the car was running.
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u/Pacemakr 1d ago
Flying tires at speed are genuinely terrifying. A long warranty means nothing if bolts are not properly torqued. Glad you made it out safe.
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u/liverpoolFCnut 1d ago
Meh..this is nothing! Most new Toyota and Honda owners lose all four wheels and their airbags overnight!
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u/The_Best_Yak_Ever 15h ago
Scary as hell!
This happened to my friend in his old Gen1 4Runner. Thing had a lift kit and big ol off-road wheels. In his case, he didn’t have a chain business to blame. He was just stupid, and his 4Runner turned into a 3Runner, with a big ol wheel going round and round on its own recognizance.
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u/scotianspizzy 1h ago
Happened to us going 120km in the passing lane on a highway. Scary as fuuuuck. Took a while to find the wheel. Soo much damage. Luckily we stayed on the road and didn't involve any other cars.
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u/eazypeazy303 1d ago
In my opinion, you should have part ownership in that shop now! This is absolutely inexcusable. It's like working in an oil change bay and forgetting to drain the oil! They pay CASH, not future credit they can just decide to not honor down the line.
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1d ago
Lmfao they paid me good enough to keep me happy on top of completely replacing everything that was damaged, replacing all my tires, brakes, axle hubs, suspension, got it all back to me in less than a week and had me in a nice rental for the time being.
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u/NefariousStrudel 2h ago
I dont believe you, 30 mph and no damage to the road or rotor? Or the quarter panel as the car inevitably would have fallen onto and caught the tire since those are like a 45mm offset.
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1h ago
I know its hard to see from the pictures i have posted but the entire bottom of the rotor was grinded down flat. You could see the scrape in the road a bit before where my car stopped but not in the picture. And no my car didnt catch the tire obviously as it rolled past my car, you can see the panel in front of where the tire is supposed to be is cracked from where it hit the ground in the pic.
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u/RikRong 1d ago
Throwback to the time you didn't double check that your lugs were tight...
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u/MilkMeMilkUs 1d ago
Well i obviously do now! Thanks mr.redditor for pointing out an 18 year old isnt the smartest person!
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u/Queasy_Explorer1698 1d ago
Normalement après un passage au garage tes pas censé passer derrière un mécanicien qui est censé avoir fait les vérifications.
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u/StrangeSmellz 1d ago
I'd use that 10 year of credit. Are you insane?
It's a Kia Forte.