Scary Day

oldmachdriver · #1 (**permalink**) 05-04-2005, 08:06 PM

After driving my Contemporary home yesterday i heard a clicking noise in the rear of the car. I couldnt find anything wrong at the time. When i went to put the car away I backed it up and I heard a bang and the drivers side rear sagged and i couldnt move it. While the car was at my place of work which is on FT Stewart right next to the MP Station (where i assumed it was safe) some one loosened all the drivers side rear lug nuts. The wheel half popped off the hub. I know they were tight before because when the car was delivered 2 weeks ago I checked them. That wheel was the only one that was messed with. my commute is 23 miles on a 55mph zone. I could have had a serious accident, possibly fatal. this was in poor taste for a joke, my wife thinks its a case of jealousy, maybe so but why would someone do that knowing full well it could get someone hurt. now i will visualy inspect my car a bit more carefully, My wife thinks Faith is a good name for that car....brought me home safe and was kind enough to not let me go anywhere till i was able to fix it. The good news is it didnt damage anything and i was able to get a few lugs back on so i could get her back in the garage...what a day.....

mj_duell · #2 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 05:21 AM

If someone did loosen those lugs, it goes way beyond a joke. I think jealousy may be right, but a person who would loosen lugs is a complete phsyco. I will never take my Cobra to work or any place were it will not be seen by me for any length of time. Not just because of jealousy, but because some people my think I get paid to much and I may end up fired. Be careful.

--Mike

Woodz428 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 05:32 AM

Just a thought, you said that you checked them 2 weeks before. Lugs can and do seat as the aluminum of the wheel gets a little time and if they are new wheels they could have been working loose as the nuts and wheel bedded in to each other,I've seen it happen, not a lot but enough for me to re-check lugs a couple times in the first few hundred miles to avoid exactly this.

Jim Barnett · #4 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 06:33 AM

Woodz428: THANKS for that info!!! Certainly something to watch out for!!!

Oldmachdriver: glad to see that God was watching out for you and that your cobra DID take care of you and that you survived the ordeal without too much trauma!! IF someone did loosen your lugs, "may the fleas of a thousand camels infest their nosehairs!!!"

oldmachdriver · #5 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 04:09 PM

I dont think it was the lugs working its way off, i was just told today that one of my co workers had the exact same thing happen 3 weeks ago to him, he has a custom truck. same tire, his fell off after driving off the post at about 30 mph. Mp's said they will patrol more in that area. makes me sooo mad, they have no idea the evil things id do to them if i caught them.

48 IDA · #6 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 07:06 PM

oldmachdriver,
First of all glad to hear all turned out ok. I am with mj_duell, I never leave my car anywhere that is out of view. You never know what some people will do. There was a thread a while back,where
owners had left there cars and came back to find people in the drivers seat and friends taking pictures. Another owner came out
to find someone prying the Cobra Emblem from his car. Just be
careful, and have fun with you new car.

Don

Fred Douglass · #7 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 07:29 PM

.....three weeks ago, I decided to run my Butler with the smaller mahogany shift-knob. Came out of a bookstore and..... gone! Luckily, I kept the Momo (which I prefer anyway) in the tool-bin in the trunk. Time for a tonneau!

A cobra-cohort had his BRAND-NEW Viper-blue-plus-stripes paint-job keyed!

Envy is certainly the source of most evil of this type. Maybe we should just witness it, follow the pr*cks home and work similar "wonders" on some of their personal property. Sh*tbirds of this feather can only learn from similar, anonymous pr*ckitude!

Michael C Henry · #8 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 09:18 PM

Another example that modern medicine has let too many of the wrong type survive.If they can't have one than they will screw yours up. Can you emagine what would happen if you left your car beside the road while you go to get help or the like? Groups ,cell phones,and spare tires.

302cobra · #9 (**permalink**) 05-05-2005, 09:44 PM

If they cant have one (because they cannot afford it for example, and they really want one), then why don't they work a bit harder and make the money so they can (maybe one day) buy one, instead of fu**ing with somebody elses pride and joy??? IF ONLY IT WERE THAT SIMPLE!!!!!

TampaFla · #10 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 07:35 AM

I'd suspect they worked lose. Had that happen once (felt tight but after driving 35 miles started hearing a clicking sound- apparently one wheel was not fully seated when the lugs were tightened at the tire "dealer" (happens more often than they like to admit - i.e, the guy assigned to tighten lug nuts (in a dealer's shop) is usually the guy who has that at the top of their "skills" list.

If somebody wanted to kill the owner or wreck the car there's lots easier, better and far faster ways (particularly considering where it was parked).

oldmachdriver · #11 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 08:04 AM

I thought maybe they did work loose, but after it happend to another guy in my building within 2 weeks, im beggining to think not. The youth center is just around the corner, and I think someone thinks they are being funny. I checked those rims, and they were all tight 2 weeks ago, and i only drove the car no more than 50 miles so far. well i bought locking lugs, it wouldnt stop someone but it may deter or slow them down.....

TampaFla · #12 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 08:56 AM

I would recommend that you check all the lugs again (all the wheels) after you've gotten a few hundred miles on the car. Just in case...

C4 Cross Fire · #13 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 10:23 AM

I think you're nuts--no way ALL of the lug nuts on one wheel worked themselves loose. No way. NO WAY. Period.

I had an absolutely perfect '67 Chevelle back in '85 that this happened to--I discovered the problem after passing another car on a gradually-curving two lane road at about 85 MPH. I heard a very fast-sounding thunk, thunk, thunk noise accompanied by a progressively louder shudder.

Face it--there are just simply some sick, selfish, stupid ba$tards out there.

BTW--if you think the MP station is a safe place to park your Cobra, think again. If you know MPs like I know MPs, you know that that's possibly the WORST place to expect your car to be left alone. --And I can say that because I was one--I became a retired MP last Sunday!

oldmachdriver · #14 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 10:30 AM

thing is i can see it there....lol....all i have to do is look right and i see it right there 40 ft away...thats why i want it parked there if i take it here again....i agree about it being on purpose.....no other wheel is loose...and of course the other sergeant i work with who had the same thing happen of the same side tire....within two weeks. i think it was a case of jealousy, or just plain cruelty. I still shudder to think of what could have happened to me if that tire would have collapsed fully at 70 mph. The road i drive is narrow and trees on both sides....not the way i wanna go....

TampaFla · #15 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 03:58 PM

Most (I'd say 70%) who work in tire shops simply tighten (usually using an air gun) the 1st lug then the one next to it and the one next to that... few know (or care since it's faster) to alternate and even fewer know to tighten them in stages. A good tip-off is when you pick up a car with custom wheels and no one even warns you to check the lugs once you're "run the tires" a bit. No way to tell whether it's the dealer's fault or a vandal (at least that's what we were told to tell the complaining customer many years ago).

If you both had "new" wheels, I'd wonder about it...

oldmachdriver · #16 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 04:13 PM

no this kit i have is at least 10 years old......and the truck in question had new wheels but they were on the vehicle for a few months....

oldmachdriver · #17 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 04:16 PM

but that is a good and valid point...

Woodz428 · #18 (**permalink**) 05-07-2005, 08:10 AM

C4 cross fire said

Quote:

I think you're nuts--no way ALL of the lug nuts on one wheel worked themselves loose. No way. NO WAY. Period.

I'm not saying that it unequivacally was wheels loosening up, but if you believe that it in NO way could have , you haven't seen a lot. Lugs do loosen, especially after new rims are installed....not all wheels are subject to it ,but enough that it is something to pay attention to. I have also seen wheels that weren't quite true or balanced properly have a similar problem. Saying that it in NO WAY could happen is being extremely naive. I do believe that people are stupid and do things to cars that they are jealous of, that's why I like to have mine within view when I'm somewhere unfamiliar.

oldmachdriver · #19 (**permalink**) 05-07-2005, 11:17 AM

now im having other issues with that wheel....one of the studs is apparently broken and the hub it is attached has some damage...this is a contemporary set up with a jag IRS. is it safe to assume these are jag hubs?....one lug nut stud is broken and the others dont look good...when the wheel popped off it damaged some of the studs...I am new to this so im not sure how to go about tgetting the right parts....or should i just bring it to a shop that knows how to deal with Jags?....it be easy for me if it was a ford mustang with factory components.....just not sure how to deal with these kits....

Woodz428 · #20 (**permalink**) 05-07-2005, 12:04 PM

I wouuldn't assume anything when it comes to kits, they all have their procedures. I would suggest contacting the company, but the easiest would be to drive one of the studs out and take it to a parts house (or wheel house) and match it up.