Pro tip: check your wheel torque after a tire rotation

Last month I got new tires put on my Ford F-150 at a shop in Austin and drove about 200 miles before I heard a clunking sound. Pulled over and found three lug nuts on the passenger rear were barely finger-tight. Could've lost the whole wheel doing 70 on I-35. Has anyone else had a shop leave their wheels loose like that?

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3 Comments

garcia.casey3mo ago

Yeah that checks out. Nobody double checks anything anymore, it's all rush rush rush.

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samward3mo ago

Started off thinking shops had it covered, no way they'd mess up something that basic. Then same thing happened to me with my Tacoma at a Discount Tire in San Antonio. Found two lugs on the front driver side barely holding on after a rotation. Now I always hit every lug with a torque wrench before I even pull out of the lot. Sucks that we gotta double check paid professionals but it's a 5 minute save versus a totaled truck.

4

evangarcia3mo ago

How often are wheels actually flying off though? I get that loose lugs are bad but it feels like one of those things that gets blown out of proportion because everyone has a story about it. I've been letting tire shops do rotations for over a decade and never had a wheel fall off or even felt a wobble. Maybe I'm just lucky but the odds of catastrophic failure have gotta be pretty low.

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