So as you can see in my Avatar, i have some 20" Mob rims that i put back on after it got warm enough about 3 weeks ago, well anyways, i was driving today, it was raining and i heard a clicking/grinding noise coming from my left rear tire.

stopped in a parking lot praying that it was not a flat tire (ironically it was a church parking lot) and it wasn't, so i drove about a mile back home.

The rain stopped and i was about to go to my girlfriends house and i still heard the noise, so i was only about a block from home, so i turned around and parked it in my driveway, and looked in every possible spot to see if a rock was in there somewhere...didn't find anything. while i was doing that, my dad came home from work, and he looked too, didn't find anything and he told me to take off the cover to look at the nuts. when i got it off, all of the bolts were just sitting there about to jiggle off of the screw! i could have been driving down the highway and have a wheel pop off and go racing beside me! i do not know how this would have happened because when i changed the tires, i made sure i tightened them and tight as they would turn.

anyone have experiences like these? or know why the bolts would be so loose in only 3 weeks?

 

always use a torque wrench and make sure you tighten lug nuts to at least 85 foot pounds

 

the aluminum heats up and expands, then contracts while cooling down. this causes strain on the lug nuts. the place that put the rims on should have had you come back for a re-torque a day or so after installing the rim. standard practice at my shop.

 

WHENEVER changing wheels you MUST retorque them. I did my aluminum wheels twice.

I installed them, torqued, drove around the block a few time, zig-zagging the wheel pretty hard. retorqued (got about 1/4 turn on most). Drove it to work, retorqued, got a little movement on a couple. Drove home and checked it, all good, they were seated.

Few times on and off and they'll be "at home" on the truck. But it's wise to double check, as you know..

 

I thought ford spec was 100lbs?

 

had it happen the other day they come lose time to time and i check them all the time, it was just one of them days i didnt check them and they came loose. also a dab of the red locktie helps

 

honestly i dont know haha the guy that i know that owns a tire shop torqued mine at 85 when i got rims put on so im going with 85 being minimum maybe more maybe less... maybe just a guideline?

 

85-100 is pretty good. I've never heard of a tight lug nut coming loose. What makes it come loose is the wheel seating and loosening the lug. Once the wheel is set to the car, 50ft/lb will keep it on the car. Though not recommended, just help making a point on it.

just my opinion!

 

ford spec for the ranger/expo/most f-1 fiddy's is 100 ftlbs

 

where could i get some of that? any particular brand?

 

loctite shouldn't be used instead of rechecking/torquing lug nuts...period.

 

I just torque them down with my 24" breaker bar. Ballpark somewhere around that 100 ft/lbs mark.

and locktite is NOT recommended for wheel studs. If anything, some anti-seize should be applied to the studs. Keeps them from corroding, and won't leave you stranded if you needed to change a tire on the side of the road.

 

Studs should have nothing on them, but I like to put a small amount of antisneeze on the end of the stud after I run the lugs on.

 

I use a little bit of anti-seize and I torque them to 90ft lbs.

 

I've never had a problem with rusty studs and I live in Ohio where they use salt like its a religion.

IMO, torque them down good, as others have specified. And within the next 10-25 miles, re-torque the lugs a second time. This is what I do. It gives the wheels a chance to re-seat better, and then I re-torque them.

 

I always hit wheels to 100 ft. lbs. with either a torque stick or a torque wrench.

Like Freddie said drive around a little. Let the tire, brakes, and wheel get warmer and then retorque them down. Also I'd check your wheels once a month.

 

You by chance attend UT??

 

HEH! Not to thread hijack, but I can beat this story no prob.

I was driving up in Temecula with my SVT Focus a couple months ago. I hear a funny grinding noise, and before I have a chance to pull over, BAM - my front drivers side wheel and tire go FLYING OFF my car. My car slams to the ground, landing on the front rotor and i coast off to the side of the road.

The wheel, on the other hand, freakin picks up speed and flies AHEAD of my car, bouncing higher and higher. It ends up hitting TWO cars in the oncoming lane, totalling one of them.

The only damage that the focus sustained was a destroyed rotor, and the wheel/tire hit the fender when it flew off, jacking it up a little. In fact, I JUST got the car back from the bodyshop last week. New rotor, new fender... good as new :)

 

Damn dude, you're supposed to take it easy on those SVT Foci..

 

like i said its going to happen no matter how much you check the nuts i check mine 3 times a week and they still come lose no matter what so just a small dot of locktite helps them hold on longer. im not saying use the hole tube on one wheel then its not coming off lol. are by any means is a tool going to get them off. but with a small dot used the lugs still come off easy with a 4 way are air gun.

 

If your lug nuts are coming loose that often you have bigger problems than you know. Either the lug nut and/studs are worn out, or someone has used the wrong size lug nuts. You may have a metric threaded lug nut on a standard US threaded stud. Either way you need to have it checked out and corrected.

 

x2 Somthing's wrong, lugs do not loosen that much unless something is wrong.

 

no im a senior in High school, but go part time to Wright State University

 

Ahh, cause there is a green truck at my college that has the same wheels as you and I just noticed them about 2 weeks ago. Thought it might have been you.

 

DUDE that actually happened to me i saw my bullet (wheel) roll beside me hit the side of the bridge and took a drive into the water. True story man.