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

[Browndoor25]

So I got two new front tyres fitted on Tuesday then on Saturday I noticed a weird noise, like the wind getting under the car and flapping plastic or something, I asked my husband to look and he said some of the plastic is slightly loose but that it’s not anything to worry about. I was going to get in booked in on Monday anyway. I was driving to work today and it was getting worse which I thought was odd then suddenly there’s a bang and the front passenger wheel is off.

Thankfully nobody has been hurt which is the main thing! I’m not car savvy at all but never had any issues with the wheels before in the whole time I’ve had the car. Could it be the garage not fixing the wheel properly when they changed the tyres?

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/

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.

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?

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

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

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

I'm a bit confused - when people say it should be checked after 50 miles, do they mean the driver should check, or that the garage should? If the former then I've never done it but I can see how it's a reasonable precaution. If you're supposed to go back to the garage then wouldn't tyre changing places have a constant stream of people coming back for their check?!

Always checked the torque on mine the day after a garage has had the wheels off. I just thought it was something everyone knew they had to do.

• During the initial driving period after a tire change, the lug nuts can settle and slightly loosen due to vehicle weight, rotational forces, and temperature changes. Retorquing ensures they are tightened to the correct specifications.

But they can still come lose even if they have been correctly tightened with a state of the art digital wrench
When it’s fitted the 2 metal surfaces will never be 100% perfect so when the cars used the metal expands and contracts due to heat they can move and find a new level hence lose bolts
also there can be grease dirt and rust that again can loosen bolts

it’s funny that most tyre suppliers ,retailers like kwik fit and motoring organisations like RAC and AA
all recognise this can happen yet the mechanics of mumsnet say it can’t

I think it one of those things that can happen it’s extremely rare and OP is one of the unlucky ones caught out

@MoreDangerousThanAWomanScorned free at tyre shop (where you had the job done) you pull in, guy comes out, 10 minutes later your done. You stay in the car and drive off. After saying thank you of course.
All shops around here leave you a note saying at mileage XYZ (based on odometer reading) retorque required.
Even when dh changes tyres we noted the mileage and rechecked.

Jesus this thread is a prime example of how thick people can be.

I just told this to DH - he never heard about it either, we found invoice and email from our local Kwik fit and nothing.

Meaning?

I had a tyre replaced a couple of weeks ago , no mention of re-visit
I have the paper invoice in front of me
I have the email "How Did We Do" surveys
No mention.

Been driving now 40 years and never at any time have I been told this , I;ve had tyres from independent tyre fitters , main dealers , Kwik Fit .
Never heard this .

I find it incredibly hard to believe that they could go from correctly fitted to the wheel coming off in five days. If that's the case then they need a better system, because obviously it's dangerous. What about the people who live more than 15 miles from the garage, or those that get a new tyre fitted at the side of the motorway. It's not always possible to check in that time frame.

I’ve had 3 tyres changed recently and my paperwork doesn’t say this

I’m having some work done on the car at my usual garage next week (not the one where the tyres were changed), so I’ll ask them to check I think.

This is what confused me. I have a couple of times had to spend all day waiting in a tyre shop and wheels were on and off all the time but I didn't see a single person just getting them checked, ever - surely there should be as many people coming by for checks as there are getting work done in the first place? Maybe I've just been very oblivious to it but I am very surprised by this!

Interesting that this is international. Tyre shops tried introducing this in Germany as well, but the courts heard technical experts and told them to get lost. A correctly torqued wheel does not come loose in short intervals (which is why you might want to check it yearly and why rules are different for commercial vehicles), if it does it is the fault of the tyre shop and they can't give themselves a "get out of jail free card" by shoving the responsibility for checking their work on the customer.

Most wheels are 5 bolt, are you saying that all 5 can come lose?

Like i said, never been asked for this to be done or seen in on an invoice & one of partners friend runs a trye fitting business.

We had a fleet of 350 cars.. was never in the driver handbook either.

They -some- advise it to be done, to remove themselves of the responsibility of an incorrectly fitted wheel.

In anycase, if tthe wheel needs re checking after 50mles, why keep checking daily? your reasons can happen at any time....

We had a similar issue after getting new tires. Kept hearing a strange noise so took it to a different garage (we were on holiday) and they said that the locking wheel nut had not been put on and the others were all tightened incorrectly. It damaged the wheel which had to be replaced. The first thing they asked was 'You haven't taken it to somewhere like Kwik fit have you?'.

Kwik fit took it very seriously and came out to see the car once we were home. They then refunded the cost of the tires and paid for the work the other garage had done.

I didn’t know this either.

I would request a replacement receipt before you tell them the issue or try hard to find it before bin day!

I just had a tyre replaced and received absolutely no paperwork because it is a company car and the paper work is not mine, no warning was given to me either.

Well husband phoned them up and the manager tried the whole ‘should have returned to get them checked’ line. So some awful person sent them a lovely email explaining that if this wasn’t put right, they can expect to be on every Facebook group within thirty miles of here. Hate Facebook, but it has its uses. They phoned me less than an hour later asking which garage the car was at and offering to fix it asap.