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Question

How long would it take for a wheel to fall off if the lug nuts were hand tight by hand tight i mean threaded all the way down by hand. Would the driver know or would it just fall off unexpectedly?

Submitted: 28 days and 2 hours ago.
Category: Car
Value: $9
Status: CLOSED

Accepted Answer

Greetings from Mikey at Just Answer!

 

There would be a lot of factors to make a judgment with certainty nearly impossible, like how many turns, front or back wheel, weight of vehicle, temperature, speed of driving, tightness of the nut on the threads, lubricant present and on and on.

 

People that have experienced this type of problem have reported hearing a rumbling noise and vibration prior to the wheel coming off. In most cases a driver would feel shaking or hear a rumbling or rattling noise before the wheel come off. The bigger the vehicle the less likely the driver would be to feel it.

 

From real work experience I have seen this a few times.

 

A lady picked up her Subaru Forester from the dealer and a front wheel came off in about 1.5 miles of low speed driving.

 

A Ford van with 8-lug wheels made it 5 miles at highway speed before the rear wheel came off.

 

A postal truck (LLV) went nearly half a day (4 hours) and 12 miles of low speed driving before the wheel fell off.

 

Generally speaking I would think if wheel nuts where left on finger tight the time it would take for the wheel to come off would be very soon, a day or two at most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Expert: Mikey
Pos. Feedback: 98.2 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 10/24/2009

ASE Certified Master Technician

25yrs experience auto and truck emissions and repair.

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