10 replies to this topic

[cojo]

hi peps,
my mums mini is suffering from an reoccuring problem of wheel nuts coming loose. In december her rear wheel actually came of her mini and bounced over a hedge, luckily she was fine and no one got injured,at the start of the january she had to stop on a motorway after hearing "knocking noises" and discovered more loose wheel nuts, and today my dad had to yet again tighten some wheel nuts.
We dont know if someone is trying to steal her 13" alleycats wheels ( they have locking nuts on them) or wheather its a combination of the vibrations from her 1310 engine and very stiff suspension. just wanted to get other peoples views / experiences / advice as someone could get seriously hurt. thanks in advance for any replies

[danny2009]

put some locktite on them that should hold them on

[icklemini]

right nuts for the wheels?

torqued up right??

[minidaves]

sounds like the seat in the wheel is damaged for the wheel nuts, or has already been pointed out correct nuts? or tourqued correctly, and do not use loctite.

dave

[Ouster]

put some locktite on them that should hold them on

[998dave]

put some locktite on them that should hold them on

Do not do this, it's not the correct way, it's fixing the symptom not the cause!

I'd suspect wrong nuts for the wheels, or they're not being tightened properly.

Did the nuts come with the wheels?
How are you tightening them?
Is there any damage on the threads?
Are the studs properly seated within their flanges?

Is it always the same wheel, or different ones?

Dave

[icklemini]

have also seen problems on painted wheels - when the paint gets hot (due to heat conduction from the brakes), the paint melts away and the nut looses its torque...

a few racers have been caught out like that

[T.Harper]

Likely that the chamfer of the nut does not match that in the wheel. Phone minispares stating wheel type and they can source a set for you

[Big_Adam]

Aye, they can come undone if not done up correctly.

I always use the "URGH! Ah, that will do" system for wheel nuts. Right up until my wheel tried to come off at 70mph. Bad noises and a pull over later I found that 3 wheel nuts could be undone by finger and the wheel was trying to make a run for it.

Good thing I was 15miles from home with no tools.



On another note, payphones don't take money anymore.

[Dan]

Are the studs properly seated within their flanges?

That was my first thought.



Classic Big Adam there!

Edited by Dan, 23 January 2009 - 01:13 AM.

[998dave]

Is it always the same wheel, or different ones?

That's why I asked this one, if it's always a different wheel then I'd be looking at jacking the whole car up, all four wheels off, check studs in flanges, and go round individually reseating studs fitting wheels and torquing wheel nuts!

D