Shop returns car with loose lug nuts. This is what happened

[Dwatted Wabbit]

I always check lug nuts when I get a car back from a tire shop. I also back them off with a torque wrench to see how tight they are, and re-torque as needed.

Trust. But verify.

[WMak70]

Originally Posted by HappyRider

Took my son's Subaru to Tires Plus for something rattling. Got it back later in the day and he drove it back to Baltimore (from Philly). Drives it around for a week and before coming back here tonight calls me and says he hears some noise. Can't really say what or from where. I said don't take a chance and go back but he was too far along. After he gets here I took it for a test drive. Didn't take more than 100 feet before I recognized it must be the lug nuts and sure enough two were missing and the third one was loose and about to fall off. He was very lucky.

Now, I am going to take it back to the shop and I am 100% sure they will deny responsibility. The paper work from last week does show that they inspected the brakes and for that they must have taken the wheels off. BTW, the wheel and the studs are both shot. It is not going to be a cheap fix. How would you approach them and make them pay?

I know this is an old thread, but just in case anyone has a similar problem...........


They may not be at fault. Your first line says you took the car there for "something rattling". That something very well could have been your lug nuts either being loose or not able to hold their torque setting. Lug nuts DO fail, and it is possible that they removed them to inspect, replaced them properly, and then they loosened again because of being defective. That "rattle" you had is the smoking gun to me.

I have seen this happen, especially in the days when everyone was swapping wheels to "mag style" wheels, the studs would stretch from age, rendering them useless. Also, the tapered holes in the wheels can wallow out from age and from loose studs, and no amount of retorquing will cure the problem. I sometimes use wheels from 1940 Fords on the cars I build, and I always put a product called "wheel savers" on each stud before I put a new nut on. They are conical shaped washers that fill the wear back up and let you properly tighten the nut.

I think you had that problem before you went there and they simply thought, by tightening them correctly, that was that. The studs probably went back to their previous problem when your son made that trip home.

I know we sometimes want to blame someone else for things that go wrong, but , in this case, I think there is a possibility there was already a problem with the studs or your wheel.