Got two new front tyres on Tuesday then the wheel falls off today whilst traveling down the A1.. coincidence or garage at fault?

I've been driving 37 years and I've NEVER been told verbally or has it been on the invoice to do this....

I've had tyres changed at various local garages and have never been asked to return for a recheck 🤷‍♀️

This exact thing happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. The garage forgot to tighten the screws when changing tyres

Done up by hand isn't a factor unless DIY, realistically.

Do you want me to post a photo of a recent tyre invoice from HiQ?

I'd have thought that was obvious, if the wheel nut is just done up by hand, it will quickly come loose, no pixies required.

I was a company car driver for 35 years, driving around 30k per year, never ever been asked to have anything rechecked or had an invoice saying to do so, it wasn't in any company driver handbook either

Like you say "some" not all.

What made OP's wheels come off then? Why do some dealerships have this warning as a disclaimer? Must be the pixies then...

Several people have tried to explain retorquing in this thread. Here is a link to explain. No, I've never bothered either, but it's best practice to double check:-

www.continental-tyres.co.uk/tyre-knowledge/retorquing-wheels/

Will be a digital torque wrench, beeps when correct value reached.

Wheel nuts correctly tightened will never ever undo by themselves, the torque setting will be typically around 120 newton meters.

Nothing is going to make those come loose.

The garage forgot to tighten them but i suspect they will hide behind paper work.

My tyre fitter always uses 2 people, one does the work and another comes around with a torque wrench and tightens to correct value.

Dh has never been given an invoice or been told to bring the car back and his been to a few different places for his tyres.

Worst place was kwik fit who Locked the breaks on somehow still didn’t get told or have paperwork saying to check after 50miles.

Explain what you mean by electronically.

Sorry, this must be a British thing. Been driving and owning cars since 1994 and changed wheels bolts are tightened with a machine (almost impossible to untighten myself). I had 2 changed in June and have checked my paperwork and nowhere does it say I have to take the car back or check myself after x miles. I would have done 100 km the first day anyway, as my commute was so long. I think it is just shoddy garages trying to get out of their responsibility by adding "clauses". Not first time that abuse of position clauses have been kicked to the kerb...

Well, I think one thing we've learned from this is to go back to the garage to check the wheels aren't going to come off!

I've never been told either. I can't imagine a garage telling you that they might be crap at their job one day so better check like.

never been asked to come back to check wheel nuts-different garages

I’ve never been told this by a garage and I’ve had a car for over 20 years.

Whenever a wheel has been off the hub the torque should always be checked after about 50 miles... standard.

I'd leave out the part when the car was making a funny noise and you could see something was hanging off but still decided to drive to work when telling the insurance....

Any reputable garage will have fixed the nuts electronically and will not require a customer to return after 30 miles ! I have been a driver for 30 years and have never been advised to get wheel nuts checked,ever !

I'm in my 40s and every time I've had the wheels removed by various different garages, the invoice states to check the bolts after X miles. Any article or manufacturer document will also tell you to regularly check the torque of the bolts but 99.9% of the general population will never do it (along with tyre pressure, oil level, etc).

Find it really weird that so many on here seem to leave garages with nothing but a credit card receipt though!

Well obviously it sounds like too big a coincidence so soon after the wheel change for it not to be connected, but when you look underneath the car is there any sign of anything else being broken? Only a few years ago I had a similar experience, i.e. driving along when there was a horrible noise and the car came to an immediate standstill. When I got out to investigate it looked like the wheel had come off. However, on closer inspection the "wishbone" underneath the car had actually broken.

Anyway, just to say glad you were not hurt. That must have been terrifying on a busy road like the A1. At least mine happened at only 30 mph on a relatively minor road on the edge of a town.

I’ve been driving for the same amount of time, DH for over 50 years, neither of us have ever been told to tighten the wheel nuts.

Completely off field but :

Is it possible someone has looked at your car , thought "Oh look two brand new tyres" ( because they are obvious) tried to remove/steal them but got disturbed ?

It’s because of settling. Wheels aren’t being fitted in a clean room, a spec of dirt or rust on the wheel face or a thread that’s not spotlessly clean can lead to a false torque. Even thermal differences can cause it. Correctly torqued wheel fasteners on cars actually aren’t that tight.

Why do you think truck drivers are required to check their wheel nuts daily? A properly torqued nut shouldn’t come loose, right?

This is not something I’d expect to happen often, the point is that it CAN.

This is difficult to advise on because the garage is likely to have put a disclaimer on the receipt-especially if it’s a known tyre place. But….my husband and I have had many wheels off many a time and have never needed to go back and retighten them, if they are tightened properly in the first place they WILL NOT come loose.

You are I’m afraid on shaky ground with it. Because there’s no doubt they haven’t tightened them, but proving it is going to be nigh on impossible and if they have a disclaimer they’ll say it’s your fault anyway

I've never been told that, either. I always get my tyres replaced at a local independent garage.

I go to a local tyre place and am not even given paperwork. It's a legit company. I just pay and go.