I decided to drive my Firebird for the first time this year. (Was parked for the winter on jackstands and have been doing bodywork, etc. and got it put together enough to drive finally.)

Unfortunately, I forgot one little detail... to tighten the lugnuts.

So yeah. My car's parked on route 201 now, since the rear wheel started coming off.

I'm so P.O.'ed at myself for forgetting to do that, I feel like such a complete idiot...

I hope I didn't do any damage to the car... I don't think I did but still... I worry. It happened at 12:30 A.M. or so, so it was dark out.

This is all after discovering that my tranny is shifting horribly. I'm getting very discouraged.

GRRRRR.

 

That sucks man. If I had my car up for the winter, I'd make a list of things not to forget to do before driving it and leave it on the steering wheel so I won't forget. Hopefully its okay though

 

Dont feel to bad! im the idiot that f*ck up my door ya know!
hope every thing goz well!

 

lol... hey now at least you're saying you're the one that did it... lol, just pickin' on ya bro.

I think I just got into too much of a rush and got excited... first time driving since like Ocotber or November, ya know...

But GRR, I still feel like such a moron.

:: waits for someone else to agree with me, as it's bound to happen... ::

 

hope nothing is wrong man, good luck and dont take it too hard on your self.

 

I'll try...lol, interesting new sig pic.

 

Could be worse, once I was backing up onto my ramps and hit the gas a little to hard and went all the way over the back of them

Luckily it was on a gravel driveway so it didn't completely bend the car..

As for damage.. check your studs.. I had a tire shop forget to tighten one of my wheels once.. it ate through all the wheels studs in very short order.

 

I'm getting nervous. I'm afraid to go look at my car tomorrow (when it's daylight). I seriously don't think I did any damage but I still have that nagging nervous feeling...

 

Man that really sux, hope everything is ok. Everyone makes mistakes. Its ok ask long as you learn. Ive done some really stupid things before too

 

you may not have any problems.. but make sure your wheel studs are in order before you mount those rims again.

 

hate to see that happen to another 3rd gen, but at least you got stopped before it fell all the way off, that and you didn't wreck it. Could've been a whole lot worse. Count your blessings, learn from your mistakes, and move on.

 

Very true I am lucky it didn't fall all the way off and I didn't wreck it, etc.

Just got a phone call from the police dept. asking about the car. At least they're calling me instead of ticketing it.

 

why did you leave it? Did ya not have the jack and tire iron in the car?

 

1. It was 1:00 A.M.
2. It was dark.
3. It's on the side of a busy road.
4. No jack/tire iron in the car. Was just taking it for a spin around the block, first time I've driven it all year.
5. I'd rather inspect it in the daytime before driving it again.

It did suck having to walk home though. Oh well, at least it wasn't FREEZING...

 

Dont blame you. I was just going to suggest that if it was just lost lug nuts, then you could have gotten one off each other rim. That would have gotten ya home. I guess I would have left it too.

You should be ok. Worst thing would be having to replace a wheel stud or two. I would also check the rim for damage.

 

You'll not only have to check to make sure the studs are straight and not bent, but also that the lug nuts didn't eat into the base of the soft aluminum wheel. If the nut did dig in majorly, the wheel will probably need to be replaced. If it's only minor, you can fix it with a bit of sand paper. If it's not fixed, the lug may work itself loose, even when properly tightened because of the loss of the flare surface area against the wheel/lug nut. Worse case is that the nuts can work themselves through the wheel entirely!!! (happened to a friend's Olds 442 way back in '90) Just be sure to check them regularly once you get it tightened back on just to make sure you aren't going to have any problems.

I did something similar to what you did by the lug nuts loose this winter and got lucky that I only went a couple of blocks down the 25 MPH street before remembering that I didn't tighten them to spec (they weren't making any noise luckily).

 

Actually, I plan on getting new rims anyway (my stockers are quite trashy looking), and new lugnuts, so that stuff isn't an issue. If it's damaged, oh well, getting replaced anyway. I guess the wheel studs are the only real issue for me at this point.

Yeah I understand what you're saying about lost lugs, bluegrassz, but as you see that wasn't really the problem. hehe

Yeah I'm just driving down the road and I hear a thump thump thump, and I'm like "what in the world is.....OH CRAP" :: clunk, clunk.... ::

whoops.

I brought the digital camera with me so I'll take pics when I go to take care of the car.

 

I have to agree that feeling SUCKS.....

When someone tried stealing my rims, they STOLE the 4 lugnuts on each rim, that weren't locking ones...

So i tried driving the car with only 1 lugnut on each wheel....

The second i took off from the parking space, it made that clunk noise, luckily, I was only moved about 20 feet otherwise there could have been a major problem....

Damn thief, who steals lugnuts..

BTW, it didn't damage my rims.....if that makes you feel better.....

 

Ouch, reminds me of the time i forgot to put the u-joint straps on for the driveshaft. Well i put them on and got the bolt starter, but they werent even hand tight. Driveshaft tunnel will never be the same....

 

dont give up man i get discouraged sometimes when **** aint goin right in fact if you look at the blacked out front runners post you can see on the drivers side bumper where my mom ran over mine with her truck in front of my house no damage just no paint but i started sanding down the spot to patch it and got threw the primer to find another layer of paint the problem is in a few spots its all the way down to the rubber can you say BLACKMAIL

 

LMAO, you drove with 1 lugnut on each wheel

 

My car had been wrecked before I got it and we drove it home and around for a while without any problems....This was be4 I had fixed the suspension so it had vibrations still...I drove it to work and noticed a little worse vibration. Then I made a run to the store for another employee... came to the stop sign it started vibrating HORRIBLE...Made it to the store and got out to find 3 lug nuts gone and 2 studs gone...With the lugnuts coming loose it took off 2 studs at the same time. Tightened the other 2 and limped it home at 5 mph, Got the ol mini-van an got back to work!

 

I had a wheel come off on the highway because the mechanic forgot to tighten the lugs. It was pretty scarry, but I actually coasted to a stop on 3 wheels.... ran and got the other one and robbed one lug off of each remaining wheel, put it back on and drove home.

 

I did the same thing after I installed my lowering springs.
Only had one tire iron and my friend tightened his side and I finger tightened my side, went over to his side to help and totally forgot about my side.
Pulled out of the garage, drove down the road about 2 miles driving about 30mph when all of a sudden I hear a grinding sound from the rear. I thought my exhaust fell off and was scraping the ground. Then out of the corner of my eye as I start to slow down, I see my drivers side rear wheel come bouncing past me. The car was still level until I stopped, then the drivers side rear settled down. No damage to the car, just scraped the rotor and the shock mount. Called my brother up to bring me a jack and tire iron and I started to walk down the road to see if I could find the lug nuts, my buddy ran about 1/4 mile down the road to get my wheel. At 9pm in the dark I was able to find 4 of my lugnuts since they where chrome.
The wheel was fine but the rotor did scrape the inside of it when the wheel came off.

 

wow so your not the first one to do this.

The other day I left the rubber oil seal which is supposed to go on the valve cover, on the air cleaner. Their was no track practice so I decided to drive my 82 a bit. I opened to hood to check something and I see it and I'm like ohh crap. I'll be changing the oil saturday.

 

Ok everybody next time we work on our cars when we think we are done take a deep breath and say,"Did I forget anything?"

I am hoping in the excitement to get my car back on the road I don't do something really dumb like leave out the oil At least I filled up the 10bolt today..

 

Atleast our cars are lower to the ground...There was 5 of us riding in my friends suburban. We were coming right into Va Beach. Then his lock nut on his front hub backed off and the whole hub and tire combo fell off the front. Now with 8 inches of lift and 38.5 Super Swampers on a Surburban, That was one hell of a ride.She slammed down quick in a shower of sparks and we were 2 lanes from the shoulder...Not Fun!

 

u want to hear real stupid this was my first time driveing a car in the winter so i figuer u use the ice scrapper for you hole car not just the windows now i got scratches all over the noes of my car. i really hope a buff gets them out. ya man but dont feel so bad we all do stupid things

 

lol, no offense to anyone but now I don't feel so bad about this happening, lol...

I can't believe you guys talking about the car staying level until you stop... that's awesome. Zeph, you just ran and threw the wheel back on and drove home, LOL. Like it was standard procedure.

Quote:

the whole hub and tire combo fell off the front. Now with 8 inches of lift and 38.5 Super Swampers on a Surburban, That was one hell of a ride.She slammed down quick in a shower of sparks and we were 2 lanes from the shoulder...Not Fun!

Ack, no kidding! Probably pretty scary too....

Maybe I should've named this thread "What's the stupidest thing you've ever done in your thirdgen" but I think that thread has existed before.

 

Actually, we proceeded to head to a restaurant to get some food.
I usually buy my friends dinner for helping with the car, and they do the same.
I put another lug nut on the next day.

 

Yeah I do that sometimes too, buy a meal for whoever's helping me and vice versa.

 

dont feel too bad i did that once... i was doing my front brakes and i guess i forgot to retighten all the lugs after i snugged them... guess i was just too giddy... its the scariest sound to hear the clank clank of your tire wobbling... lucky enough i didnt do any damage.

 

Ok I got something funny for you guys.

last summer will working on the car i forgot visegrips, a flathead screw driver and the floorjack 3 feet extension lever pipe in my engine bay

As I drove to work , the car was making weird ratelling sounds, then I heard a big clunk, looked at the mirroir and saw a screwdriver flying into the air, didn't stop for it !!,then found the ratchet and extension when I came back home

 

My left rear wheel came off at 55 mph. Still to this day don't know how or why. I lucked out with only having to buy five lug nuts and studs.

 

In my first car, a '76 Toyota Corolla, I lost the left rear wheel at about 45mph at 2am. My dad went to put it back on the next day (I had to work) and said the wheel was about a mile up the road.

 

Eek... I'm glad I only lost mine going 35, 30 or so MPH...

 

Hey, man - let's not talk about all the stupid, careless things I've done, we don't have time. Look at it this way - you probably won't make that mistake again. Besides, if repairs involve a few lugs/nuts, maybe a wheel, that's still what I consider a relatively cheap lesson.

 

Very very true

 

I was doing my front shocks, so I repacked my wheel bearings while I was in there. I also got an alignment that day,thank goodness! The mechanic had to tighten my brake caliper bolts because I only put them on finger tight and forgot about them. The next day I had to go on a 500 mile road trip and that would not have been fun finding out my calipers weren't tight enough and to have them come off!

I now double and triple check any bolt I touch on any car I work on.

-Jesse