Do you check lug nut torques after having new tires installed? No? Well, you should....

So I received a call today at 12:16 pm from a family friend with a 2005 Prius. They had just had new tires installed 3 weeks ago. The lady was by herself in the car, about 58 miles from home on Interstate 26, and had started experiencing some vibration in the car/steering wheel. She thought it felt like a tire going flat. She pulled over and took a look but didn't recognize any problems. She got back in the car and attempted to continue home. A few moments down the road the vibration went to "real bad" and she pulled off the next exit into a parking lot and called me.

I was actually goofing off on the forum at the time and had my phone on the table next to me. Didn't recognize the number and not even sure why I answered it, but I'm glad I did. I asked if there were any warning lights on the dash. None. I told her it sounds to me like she had a loose tire and asked if she felt comfortable getting the lug wrench and checking all the tires. She said she try and call me right back. Two minutes later, she calls and says she found the problem. Front driver tire only had 2 lug nuts. Told her I'd load up the Prius and head her way. So...I tossed a replacement tire and rim, tool bag, floor jack, lug wrench, handful of lug nuts and some towels into the Prius and headed out. Google says a 56 minute drive. Yayyyy. Was hoping this would be semi quick and easy.

Got there and ...wow...she was literally moments away from some really bad stuff happening if she had stayed on the highway. Tell me this photo isn't scary!!!


When I first looked at it there was one more lug nut at the top hole. I took it off by hand, spun it less than 2 turns and it fell off. The other lug just spins with the stud, no matter how much pressure we tried to put on it to lock the stud into the hub. I can pull the top of the tire out 8 inches to look behind it. One stud was broken off, one stud appeared to be missing, and the other two pushed back through the hub holes and fell behind the hub while we were trying to loosen the one nut. All the hub stud holes are big enough to drive a truck through. The rim stud holes are all egg shaped and aluminum shavings all over the place. That one lug, with it's '2 turn' brother, even though they were loose and had wobbled out the hub holes, kept that tire on long enough for her to get to safety. Try as I did, there was nothing I could do in a parking lot to get that car moving safely. We called the shop where she had her tires installed and never got answered, just ringing and being put on hold by an auto-answer machine. After trying a couple times, I let the options list go a bit further and a later option provided by the 'auto-answering service' was to arrange towing to the facility. I selected that one, and lo-and-behold, an immediate answer, but from one of those third party call centers. Sigh...after about 40 minutes of communication difficulties, we had a tow truck on the way and they were going to tow it to the installer shop for the mere price of $308. Yayyy. At least that was just going to be added to the bill, instead of requiring immediate payment.

An hour later, the tow driver arrived. Faster than I expected and seemed like a good guy. After a small inspection and discussion, he thought he could probably have it at the shop right at closing time. She and I got in my car and headed back to Columbia. The shop was closing at 5 pm, so we decided to bee line it right there to see if we could get there in time to speak to the desk clerk. Timed it perfect and got there about 4:45pm. Spoke to the clerk, explained everything that happened and that the tow truck was probably 15-20 minutes behind us. Initial impression is they're going to make it right with her. We're going to meet there at 10 am tomorrow to discuss resolution. Personally, I'm hoping they'll cover everything for her. Could you imagine how bad it could have been? 22 year old mother with 9 month old baby wrecked (or worse) due to a tire coming off at highway speed. I hate even thinking about it.

It seems obvious this is an example of lugs that were not torqued. I checked all the other tires and they were good and tight. She's really stressed, especially since this Covid situation got her furloughed a month or two ago. She had been in customer service and understands completely that things happen and mistakes get made. It's all about how you handle correcting the mistake. I really hope they come through for her on this. It's a nationwide, well known facility and I know, if they take care of her, she's going to leave an absolute glowing review for them.

Most places have small print about checking lug torque, but in all honesty, how many people actually do it? Would you really expect a young lady to do it? They waited 3 hours when having the tires installed. Does anyone think she'd go back a week later to wait hours more to have torques checked?

Overall lesson learned? Please check lug nut torques after you have new tires installed!! Even professionals miss something every now and then!

 

For follow-up:

We went back the following day (Monday) and spoke with the Service Manager. Understandably, he wanted to have his senior tech inspect the car to provide his opinion as to what happened, prior to making any promises. I completely understand that, and we left to go live life. A few hours later, I got a semi-panic message that she was informed the repairs would be $700+ in addition to the $308 tow bill. So....I called the facility and spoke with the tech since the manager wasn't available. Appeared to be a misunderstanding between the manager and the tech. The manager had left early due to not feeling well and the tech thought he was just supposed to inspect and provide a quote for repairs. Based on the time we talked, the tech seemed to be a pretty decent guy. Said he would discuss with manager next time he saw him (Wednesday morning). So, today (Wednesday) I messaged the owner around lunchtime to see if she had heard anything. Nothing yet. Left work around 1:45 to swing by the shop to see if there had been resolution. Noticed the car was on jack stands and had a new hub installed. Went into office, he and I walked outside to look at the repairs and talk. All was good to go. I'm happy, he's happy. He called her as I was leaving to let her know it was all being taken care of at no charge, including no charge for the tow. All that was left to do was to get a replacement rim, transfer the new tire to that rim, lock it all down and test drive it. Made me laugh because I told him I would probably get a message from her immediately after the phone call. My phone was beeping before I got out of the parking lot. Had 4 messages before I got home. She's a happy camper and will most likely remain a future customer. She picked up the car around 5 pm and dropped off my spare Gen 2 around 5:30....everyone's happy. The shop was the local Pep Boys........here's my opinion----mistakes happen, it's how you resolve the mistake that makes the difference and truly affects your reputation.