Ever had a wheel fall off?

[blacktruck]

yes,drivers side rear.the tell-tale clunking,then the thud and ride height
change
thankfully I was only three blocks from my house only doing about 15mph

[kirst]

this happend to my boyfriend in his beetle about 10 years ago he was driving to see a friend when he felt his bug go a bit wobbly slowed down to about 25 mph to have a look at the prob when he saw his whhel sail on in front then heard a loud bang then a crunch as he was trying to stop and his beloved bug was sat on its front wing with it all bent up . it turns out that quite a few people had simmilar things happen around the area one noticed there was this noise on the motorway doing 70 mph luckily he stopped and fixed it ,it was a group of youths who thought it was funny to lossen the wheel bolts off cant beleive the mentality of them it was lucky they got caught before someone got really hurt.

[drscope]

Wheels falling off? Several times!

First time I was working for a roofing company driving an old Ford Dump truck. Getting on the Interstate and as I start down the ramp, the left front wheel comes off.

Next one, same roofing company, only this time a Big Chevy Step van. Driving along when one of the guys starts pointing and laughing, "Hey look, somebody lost their wheels!" A second latter the truck starts leaning over while the 2 right rear wheels still stuck together go flying away down the road heading right for a Toyota. Just missed it.

Then once I was towing my 56 beetle autocross car with my 70 bug. Saw a wheel go flying past just before I realized it looked an awful lot like a wide 5. It hit the front bumper of a car parked on the other side of the road and bounced straight up about 50 feet in the air before coming back down and bouncing around in the road. Didn't do any damage to the car, this was in the big chrome bumper days.

Last one 2005 while leading a race at Beaver Run Motorsports park in my Formula Continental the left rear wheel comes off at about 110 mph. Fortunatly the car stayed upright and I was able to steer enough to keep from hitting anything. Everyone behind me got through OK, but the wheel ended up in the next county. New crew member didn't get the wheel onto the drive pins correctly and she came loose. Cost me the race and probably the championship.
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Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch!

[sy_kate]

Years ago while flat towing my husband's vega, (then boyfriend) from Lonepine to the Manzanar Airfield for time trials one of the wheels came of the vega. Spent about an hour looking through the desert for the wheel and finally found it. Put it back on with missing one will stud. As it was the weekend none were available, so we very slowly towed back to Santa Barbara and bought a trailer.

Then another time in a parking lot backing up my triumph spitfire the front A arm broke. I couldn't figure out what happened when sitting in the car and the whole right front end dropped to the ground . Got out and looked to find the front of the car sitting on the tire. Sure glad I wasn't at speed on that one, and that neither time was anyone hurt!!

[coffinator]

i have had this happen but it wasent because of lose lugnuts. My buddy forgot to tichten the set screw in the right front axle nut thing. the whole right front wheel and break drum came off. it was about 1/10 of a mile from out house.

[vdubinit]

I just got my freshly painted 64 bug done and ready to hit the streets .

well thats what I did I got about 2 miles from my house and the r/r whell and drum came off because I forg ot to tighten the axle nut all the way down

It sucked to because it dented the fender
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**WANTED** ONE 4 1/2 EARLY FUCH

[Foxx]

i was towing a friends 66 back for him and one of the fronts fell off, went bounding down the road and into a woods.
after looking for an hour we couldn't find it.
what was funny was there was pair of wide 5 to chevy adapters inside the bug so we put that on and used the spare off my s-10 to get it the rest of the way home.
my friend Danny had to wait until winter to finally find the lost tire.
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Frank
OG JHC
59 panel




Sarcasm is the body's natural defense against stupidity. i seem to use a lot.

[INKandMETAL]

Same story. Took the wheel off to change out the rear shocks (ok so I didn't have any to start), realized that I only had front shocks, put the nuts back on finger tight to call a friend to see if he had a spare pair and forgot about it.

Good thing the fender arch is low enough to keep the tire up in there. You'd be surprised how far you can drive with only 3 wheels.

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[dog_jr911]

ive had it happen once where it almost fell off, it was wobbly.

and ive had it fall off, but was stuck sideways in the fenderwell of my bug. no physical damage to anything. if it wouldve fell, my new discs wouldve shattered, or cracked for sure.

it fell off just as we were wondering, what is that noise? STOP THE CAR!

10 feet before we stopped it fell off. at 10:30 at night. we used a cell phone camera light to find the nuts, and attach the wheel.
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AKA Chris™
ROCKIN a ESP LTD F2E

[Baja Champ SE]

The driver's rear wheel obviously fell off for one of the PO's of my bug because the drum and the shock support both have a nice flat edge to em.
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-1972 Baja Champion SE Super Beetle "Frank the Freak"

SOLD
-1969 Deluxe Bus "Warhaul" aka "Project Whitestock"

Air Speed VW Club of So Cal
Member Since July 2007

[Veedoubleused]

I had a tie rod fail on an 88 jetta. It was in 96 or so and I had owned the car for about a year. It was super clean looking but was starting to cost money. I had just done the head gasket and the transmission was starting to go.
Anyway, I pulled out onto the road over a small gutter and the wheels splayed out. I left the car to call a tow truck and by the time I returned it had been slammed from the back. Write off. There were no injuries so all in all, it was a good thing. The stunned teenager got a good lesson in paying attention that didnt kill her and I got a new car.

Sure could have been worse.

[concept1car]

I found a '63 sunroof beetle up in Flagstaff, bought it & started towing it back to Phoenix. Contrary to popular belief, it does snow in Arizona... Sometimes a lot! I could hardly see on the highway, but sparks caught my eye in the rearview mirror. The Drivers side rear wheel had fallen off! I got out & started walking back down the road looking for it in the middle of a snow storm. I was freezing & I walked for what felt like forever before giving up. As I got back to my vehicle, a truck pulled up. they were driving the other direction, saw my car and then a few MILES down the road, found the wheel/tire!!! I got it back on & secured it with speaker wire (all I could find). It got me all the way back home, but the rear drum was grinded flat!

[Veedoubleused]

[TinglyBill]

this happened to me the other day. bolted up my freshly painted wheels, drove around 200 miles to university and then about 10 miles from home on my way back the back passengers side wheels comes off. was just lucky it didnt happen on the motorway!!

lots of people have SINCE told me to re torque youre wheel bolts regularly after painting.

[Volksmeister]

About 3 years ago i left for work in my'58 baja, at about 30 mph i felt a funny wobble, and before i knew it the LR wheel went flying past me, the drum hit the pavement, totally reminded me of that scene in the Love Bug where Herbie looses some wheels (still my favorite movie). i stopped to to find a flat spot on the drum and a long scrape mark on the road. there was a guy coming the other directoin, he stopped and said that that was the coolest thing he had ever seen. i had not seen where the wheel went, be he had, so he went looking for it in the woods, goodthing it was white! i walked back to the house and grabbed the jack and stuff. it is really tough to get a jack under a car that is sitting on the ground. a female cop stopped by and said, flat tire huh? i just nodded, the she went on to ask me if the car ran, had brakes, and was safe. i stood up and told her that this was my daily driver and everything worked fine (damn cops). i walked up and down the road looking for lug bolts, and finally made it home and to work.......... 1.5 hrs. late. the night before i had that wheel off my baja for some reason, i put the car back on the ground with the lug bolts only hand tight. my brother came down to talk to me in the middle of my project, so i forgot to tighten the bolts. oops, i still blame it on him......

[kirst]

[Da TOW'D]

Back in the 60's we had a '64 sunroof beetle with chrome "Porsche" wheels and huge Firestone tires.
Koni shocks on all corners and had the rear decambered .
We did a lot of autocrosses and rallyes back then.

Doing some hot driving on the dirt road in the mountains, letting the rear hang out and really enjoying the view. I hear a nasty sound from the right rear and then see a chrome rim and tire go bouncing ahead of me.
when I stopped I saw that the center was still bolted to the drum but the outer half of the rim and tire still with air in it went over a cliff.
I hiked down and recovered the tire and later had it welded back together.
The bug looked funny from the rear with one huge rubber on one side and the stock spare tire Continental 5.60X15 on the other.
I was very thankful that it wasn't me that went over the cliff.
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'57 type 1 Blackberry
'58 SC Ruf
'62 type 3 Notch
'92 Eurovan Willy DD
and NUTS

[HerrrKafer]

My friend and I were towing his '67 to my house for assembly after paint. I checked all the lug nuts before we left because, well, he's had wheels fall off before. I was following him and 2 miles down the road I see the front left drop down and big time sparks.

Seems I checked all the lug nuts on the wheels but not the ones holding the wheel adapters to the drums. Reason #217 not to use adapters.
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Evan H.

[low oval]

about 30 years ago I was leaving a vw shop in santa fe springs when i heard a knocking noise coming from the front of the car. i turned around to take it back to the shop, got up to speed when I saw the left front tire start rolling into the oncoming traffic. at that moment my car veered right missing the car next to me, and i slid up a driveway and on to the sidewalk just missing two cars that were parked. The shop said there air gun must have broke. months later i heard the same noise on 395 and pulled over to find a wheel with loose lugs.

[Joel]

ok well it wasnt a vw but heres what happened to me
i manage a farm and was out slashing in a big john deere 6400 tractor identical to this one
i was just going along slashing past where id already been and i saw a shiny bolt on the ground
thought nothing of if as theres bolts from old machinary around the farm everywhere
about 15 mins later i heard and felt abig clunk and next thing im looking at nothing but sky out the windscreen
the back wheel had fallen off
and thats a big arse wheel aboutt 5 1/2 foot high and for those that dont know tractor tyres have 3/4 water and 1/4 air in them so all up this wheel by itself weigghs nearly as much as a beetle
i had to drop the front bucket right down to get it level enought to even get out the cab

a freind of mine has had a bug back wheel come off
the inspectors took his drums off to check his brakes and didnt do it back up to spec or put a split pin back in it
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Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle