Tire Kingdom could have KILLED me

[canes4life]

So Thursday afternoon I get off work and head straight to Tire Kingdom to get my wheels (19 in" ruff racing 278) rotated and balanced for my trip up to Orlando on Friday. I paid $220 which gives me unlimited balancing for 3 years and they also check my pressures. Everything is peachy as I head on up Friday morning but I begin to hear a small rattle on Saturday. Sunday night rolls around and I begin my journey back, and around Ft Drum I notice the rattle has become a large thumping. I pull into the service plaza around 7:30 and a mechanic (slightly annoyed since he's about end his shift) takes a quick look of the tires and brakes while the car is grounded. He tells me he sees nothing and I should be fine to continue at a reduced speed. An hour later the thumping continues until a large pop is heard and I am now riding on a car with ONLY 3 WHEELS!!!! My driver sides front wheel broke off and ended jumping the median missing several cars (THANKFULLY) only to be lost in the forest of shrubs on the northbound lane. 30 min later AAA shows up and checks the lugs on the back left and notices they are all BARELY hand tightened. The little sh*t heads at tire kingdom (8495 sw 132 st, right off of US1 in Miami) never tightened my lugs!!! So now my fender is dented from the wheel popping off, my wheel/tire sensor/tire are all lost and who knows what other under carriage damage might be ahead. Now I'm having to deal with Bi*ch *** insurance adjusters who have yet to apologize for my inconvenience and only seem to piss me off further . Tire Kingdom will pay for their negligence and all my expenses and lost wages. Someone could have been hurt and worse killed.... NEVER trust someone with your car, ALWAYS CHECK THEIR WORK. I WAS NAIVE PLEASE DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE!! And if anyone is wondering, the car actually handled really well on just 3 wheels. THANK YOU NISSAN!!!
Modified by canes4life at 11:02 PM 10/14/2008

[Team STILLEN]

Holy crap! Glad you're ok.. I just similarly went through something similar with my G35.. heard something funny.. pulled over to check, rolling a rear wheel on 1 friggin lugnut.. towed it back to work, the guys replaced the wheel studs, and in taking off the other rear, one broke there too. Replaced those as well. I site this to another shop I let touch the car when STILLEN was booked up, and them over-tightening the lugs.. probably just slamming the air wrench instead of using the torque wrench..

People.. take care in who is working on your car! Unfortunately there are those that just don't give an F..

My worst fear now is what canes4life just went through.. that sucks!

[canes4life]

People.. take care in who is working on your car! Unfortunately there are those that just don't give an F..

WELL SAID!!

[jdeb101]

That is insane man! Glad noone got seriously hurt. I had a somewhat similar, but not as bad experience a few years ago in my old car. Got some new tires put on at BJ's Wholesale Club and the idiots that worked there messed up the valve stems. I was driving on the highway the next day and a noise from my tires is getting louder and louder. I pull over and 3 tires almost completely flat. I was pissed and will never go back to that place for tires no matter how much cheaper they are!

[blackwell17]

I used to work at a Dodge/Chrysler dealership that is 5 star and let a car go out like this. I literally watched the lady drive off and when she took a turn on to the next road I watched her rim/tire roll down the road. I was a porter at the time and still remember the look on the mechanics face when I told him what happened to the car he had just worked on!!

[adidas2go]

Jesus! Glad both of your guys are ok

[Infantry1327]

WOW, dude that sucks. My tire guy told me that my wheels require 100lbs of torque after they have been hand/air tightened. I would sue the crap out of them if i was you.

[BlackNWhite]

Woah!

How the hell did it handle well with only 3 wheels? You'ld think that it would lean into the empty spot and you would just drive into the ground.

[dldjros69]

Glad you both are ok. what a horror story.

[dangeris]

Wow, I'd be definitely be seeking retribution against tire kingdom. Thank God that you made out OK.

[LinkNuc]

Wal-Mart all the way for me, they take the car for a short spin and then recheck/tourque the lugs, ok here comes the flamers. Honest to goodness Wal-Mart has always treated me well.

[adidas2go]

WOW, dude that sucks. My tire guy told me that my wheels require 100lbs of torque after they have been hand/air tightened. I would sue the crap out of them if i was you.

Thats still way to much. If your guy is air tightening them, their most likely already over 100 ft/lbs of tq. 70-80 ft pounds is the recommended amount after a hand tighten.

The best method is to hand tighten your lugs in a star pattern, while its jacked in the air. This ensures its properly seated on the hub before you lower it. Then, when its on the ground, put a hand torque wrench on it, again in a star pattern, till you reach 75 ft/lbs of tq.

[LongBeachCoupe]

Im speechless.

[Infantry1327]

Thats still way to much. If your guy is air tightening them, their most likely already over 100 ft/lbs of tq. 70-80 ft pounds is the recommended amount after a hand tighten.

The best method is to hand tighten your lugs in a star pattern, while its jacked in the air. This ensures its properly seated on the hub before you lower it. Then, when its on the ground, put a hand torque wrench on it, again in a star pattern, till you reach 75 ft/lbs of tq.

Yea I always used to do about 80 lbs but Zennetti recommended that I do 100 lbs for my wheels. So Blah

[Mr. Music]

That's freakin' crazy dude! I'm glad that you and everybody else that could have gotten hurt are alright. Whats with the tire shops here in Miami though? They all suck.

[08altima35]

rattle and large thumping and you wait until you can stop at a service plaza. then after being told everything was cool and to proceed at a slower speed you didn't check it out for yourself. all it would really take was one look. I'm sure some of the lug nuts were already gone.

[canes4life]

Well to 08altima35, Hindsight is 20/20. But have you ever been on Florida's Turnpike? Where else besides the service plaza would you expect me to get off?? That was the closest and it was already 8:30. Plus the mechanic checked the wheel, push and pulled, checked the brake clips and brakes. No lugs were missing, but the rim was "floating" and could have only been diagnosed by lifting the car.

[Forrest80]

Got my tires/wheels mounted and sensor put in at Big O tires. They told me they hand torque the lugs then told me come back in 75 miles so they can do it again.

I was little confused by the 75 mile thing but now it makes sence.

[domdada]

Good thing you are ok. My little sister just went through this a week or so ago. I took her car to Belle Tire to get a new set of tires that her car needed badly....this was suppose to be her 21st b-day gift. About 10 days later, I get a call from her in the morning saying that her car was making a loud noise and vibrating bad. So she turned around to come back home so I can take a look at what's the problem...and BAM!! The front of the car dropped because her front drivers side rim came off. She was lucky that she was still in the subdivision and not on the highway when this happened.

Basically, the worker working on the car didn't use a torque wrench to torque the Lugs.....he just used the air ratchet. I called Belle Tire when this happened, They paid for the towing, they repaired and paid for all the damages and paid for a rental car. I didn't bother going through the insurance. They kissed my a** though because I could have filed a lawsuit against them for negligence and they didn't want that to happen.

Here's a couple pics of the car....


Modified by domdada at 10:24 AM 10/16/2008

[Forrest80]

would have went through insurance/law suite.

Where i work we have regulations and policys that are put in place and NEED TO BE FOLLOWED.

Your sister could be dead, why? becuase they are not ensuring saftey.

Law suite would have made sure they implimented a strict policy about checking there work like maybe a second person ensuring all lug nuts are torqued before every car leaves the lot? A few seconds could save some ones life.

[canes4life]

Well domdada, I am going through exactly what you did except they really aren't kissing my They are acting if I am inconveniencing them more than anything. Here are a few of my pics, not as bad as yours...

[Mr. Music]

How is everything coming along?Listen to this... two days after you posted this thread, I was driving along and I hear some funny noises from an old Ford F250 two lanes to my left. Sure enough, I look left and I see sparks from the truck and a wheel flying across the opposite lanes of the roadway. I thought of you and hit the gas to get the hell away from the truck before something else happened. The first thing I did when I got home was check all of my lugs, lol.

[canes4life]

I'm glad to hear you nor your ride were hurt, cuz your car is looking hot! As for my situation, well its not really going.... Freaking insurance company is taking their sweet little time and all I have to show for a week of suffering is a CRAPPY little corolla rental. If this continues I will get an attorney and sue for much more than what I want. I just want my car back

[milkacaduke]

car with 3 wheels = bad

seriously, thank god ur ok, i've heard stories about freeway spin outs because of this issue.

get tire kindom to kiss ur untill it shines!!