SHOREN

Hello,

I was driving home in my JK for lunch today. I live in a small town and my speed was slow, around 40km/h. A loud pop occurs and my car felt wobbly, so I turn to the curb and got off to look, only to find that my driver's side rear wheel had popped off and the rotor was sitting on the inside rim of the wheel. After managing to swop on the spare tire I took the vehicle to a tire place, and the owner there said that the nuts were loose and just popped off and the rim showed signs of that. I just had the vehicle serviced 4 weeks ago, and I know they rotated the tires, so I phoned the dealership that did the service and the person there said that it's more likely that someone was trying to steal my rims and left it loose. I have an aftermarket alarm system with tilt sensor and it's one of the Compustar systems that sends an email and alerts my phone and if someone was trying to steal the rims I would have gotten an alarm. I also live in a rural area where this kind of thing just doesn't happen. But I can't prove that the nuts were not tightened enough during the tire rotation and had gradually loosened over time. So, I'm now left with a rim that I can't use anymore according to the tire place, and I can't get a replacement because its an American Racing rim that has been discontinued, and that means I would have to get a whole new set. ICBC's response was that it wasn't an accident and thus cannot submit a claim based on that. The dealership is not showing any willingness to take responsibility presently.

What would you do if this happened to you? Not to blow it out of proportions but if this happened at speed on a highway deaths could have occurred...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Mr White

iTrader: (1)

On your bill from the dealership that did the rotation is it marked anywhere that they torqued the wheels nuts to a pacific weight? As I believe its the law that they be torqued. Not saying you can do much but its worth a try.

oldfart

I don't know why but jeeps seem to have a thing about wheel nuts coming loose after you take the wheels off and put them back on. Torque them up to the correct figure, check them again after a couple of days, guaranteed some of them will need to be re-torqued, check them again after another couple of days. Once they settle down they're no problem. Before anyone suggests my torque wrench is a piece of crap, I have it verified for accuracy every year. Over tightening nuts is not the answer, all it does is stretch the studs.

robic58

The likelier scenario is that the wheel nuts were in sufficiently torqued at rotation service.
Two questions- a) on the dealer s invoice is it stated anywhere that wheel lugs should be retorqued either after a number of days or a number of kilometers?
b) do you have your invoice from the supplier of your aftermarket wheels.
If your answer to (a) is. NO. And your answer to(b) is YES,then you likely have a good case in small claims court... Name both the dealer and the supplier of the wheels as defendants.

I'll bet you'll get an offer to settle. Worth a try!!!

But, if there's a clear reminder to retorqued the lugs, then the onus shifts on you.and if you don't have the invoice in your name for the wheels,you can't assert precisely the monetary value of your claim...

PEI04GC

yep - check the service reciept. It happened to a friend of mine and he saw the reminder on the bill...... was over his km limit.......couldn't do much then.