Got new tyres fitted, nuts came off vehicle, wheel nearly followed... Comeback?

Newcarneeded

My mother recently had two new tyres fitted to her car. I rang around for her, got quotes, and went with a good price from someone I'd been to before and got two 15 inch tyres for €185 fitted and balanced.

This was in advance of an impending NCT so the service was booked for a few days later. Mum drove home and noticed a noise coming from one of the wheels which had a new tyre on it. She had driven 12 miles or so home on the tyre and it only became apparent two days later when she was going to the shops. She does next to no mileage anyway, trips to the shops etc, so she just didn't drive the car until she was bringing it to the main dealer for the service.

Today on her way to the dealer, no less than three people come up to her in traffic, getting out of their cars to come over and knock on the window and say to her that her wheel is about to come off. You can picture it, the wheel rotating in that sort of eliptical figure of eight type motion just before it comes off.

She's absolutely panicked- she is in her sixties after all - and phones my dad who comes out and finds there's 3 nuts missing from a 5 nut wheel. He tightened them up and drove on towards the nearest tyre merchant who happened to be the guy that changed the tyres in the first instance.

He angled the wing mirror down so he could keep an eye on the wheel and kept the speed down to 20. Even still he stopped two or three times to re tighten the nuts, jacking up the car each time to do so Limping the car to the garage.

The tyre merchant, who seemed reputable did not want to know. He pointed my mother to her receipt which apparently stated that you should check your tyres after eighty miles. To which she replied justifiably that she had driven less than 20miles on the car since the job had been done.

He didn't have replacement nuts to fit so he tightened what was on the wheel and sent her on her way to the main dealer for the service.

I think it's gross negligence. How can 3 of five nuts part company from a wheel less than 20 miles of driving later? She was understandably furious considering if the wheel was that close to coming off, what if she was on the M1 at 120kph when it did part company? What if there were workers at the side of the road? I'm certain a wheel parting company from a car at any sort of speed is a lethal weapon. Not to mention what would have happened with her car if the wheel did come off? She was in big trouble as was anyone else who would have been driving in her immediate vicinity.

Does anyone else agree that the tyre merchant must have been negligent for this situation to arise? Has anyone had a similar experience to this? The attitude of the shop was astonishing too. I thought it was a potentially fatal situation and was speechless when she said that wheel had almost come off, I actually thought the handbrakes shoes or brake pads were grinding at the wheel and needed replacing. Couldn't believe that the bolts had come off and the wheel had come so close to parting company too.

What do you think?

Wishbone Ash

I find that the tyre people I use record the mileage displayed when changing tyres - useful for any comeback.

bushy...

If they are nuts ( instead of bolts some cars are fitted with ) you should replace the studs on the wheel hub . They may now be fatigued and may fail later on.Its not a huge job anyway.

gurramok

Isn't there a duty of care by the fitter to the consumer on this?
Thought the consumer would have a right to proper compensation from the fitter especially as it was stressful, maybe by way of at least acknowledging the problem and fixing it

zilog_jones

This is certainly at least in breach of the Sales of Goods and Supply of Services Act, if not several other things. That alone can be used to take them to a small claims court.

ninty9er

My friend recentlyhad a similar experience at 100km/h....had a bearing repllaced and the new one crumbled 2 days later...he also missed a very important meetin due to this and could have been seriously injured or killed!!!!!!!

The guy who changed the bearing was genuinely horrified and replaced it and supplied a replacement car for nothing....rightly so

Henry Ford III

The tyre fitter's work was clearly substandard.

If he's fobbed you off go legal. He could have killed innocent people with that degree of negligence.

I'd also report this incident to the Gardai.

ffocused

A few years ago i had new tyres fitted and the locknut fell off afterwards, i didnt notice it until the next day and went back to the garage and they gave me a new set of locknuts straight away.
Now i always check that my nuts are nice and tight after every service/wheel change.

Henry Ford III

ffocused wrote:

...Now I always check that my nuts are nice and tight after every service....

Me too

sundodger5

Let me put it to you this way if you got a puncture and changed the wheel would it come loose????
probably not.....
you are an amateur and they are the professionals...
they ain't got a leg to stand on.
regards from ex manager of a tyre depot.

BostonB

Newcarneeded wrote:

...my dad who comes out and finds there's 3 nuts missing from a 5 nut wheel. He tightened them up and drove on towards the nearest tyre merchant who happened to be the guy that changed the tyres in the first instance.

He angled the wing mirror down so he could keep an eye on the wheel and kept the speed down to 20. Even still he stopped two or three times to re tighten the nuts, jacking up the car each time to do so Limping the car to the garage....

This used to be an old puzzle that came up a lot. What do you do when changing a wheel if you loose all the bolts.

You take one from each of the other wheels. So on this car you'd have 4 bolts on every wheel. You'd get away with 3. But two isn't enough, and dangerous.

Lots of tyre places don't do this properly. You should always check it afterwards. For example, I had to change a wheel yesterday because of puncture, and when I took the bolts off it looks like they've never had any grease on them. Which would explain why on the service history at one point the car need new bolts because they broke some changing a wheel in the past. they obviously binded to the hub. They must have not done it when they fitted the new bolts! Dealers are consistently bad at least. I was taught to put a dab of grease on them. Often place use air wrenches to change wheels and don't use them properly. In a star pattern for example, and with the wheel flat against the hub. http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/4199895.html

Whats waiting 80 miles all about? 8 feet maybe. If its done properly once the car weight is on the wheel a problem would be obvious almost straight away I'd assume. Maybe a mile or so. But not 80!

bushy...

I'm not sure if advising people to lubricate them is a great idea ( boards liability etc) , if someone used say an oil with lots of epl in it like hypoid oil the nuts may end up way overtorqued .

Andrewf20

bushy... wrote:

I'm not sure if advising people to lubricate them is a great idea ( boards liability etc) , if someone used say an oil with lots of epl in it like hypoid oil the nuts may end up way overtorqued .

I agree. There should be no need to lube wheel nuts.

slipss

Andrewf20 wrote:

I agree. There should be no need to lube wheel nuts.

Just to clarify, BostonB said "grease", not lube or oil. He means copper grease I'm sure, and idealy the studs the nuts go on, or the threads on the bolts should always have copper grease applied when removed and refitted.

peasant

The tyre merchant, who seemed reputable did not want to know. He pointed my mother to her receipt which apparently stated that you should check your tyres after eighty miles.

At that point I would have fitted that tyre merchant a new collar ...made out of the wobbly wheel.

slipss

Newcarneeded, yes the tyre fitting place was massively negligent and should have been down on thier knees begging forgiveness and offering you your money back without you having to ask. Whoever put the wheel back on, just spun the nuts on and never tightened them, probably got distracted and forgot to do it, let alone tourqued them. If you persued it they will obviously claim they did a perfect job and that someone must have came up to your car and loosened them after you left, (for sh1ts and giggles presumably), but thats a very weak defense. The fact that on the reciept it says you should check your wheels after 80 miles could be interpreted as a garauntee that they are safe for the next 80 miles, although obviously just the fact that they are a licensed business is a garauntee that they will do the job they are paid to do. I'd demand my money back, or your mothers money back, whatever. I don't know much about litigious matters so I don't know if you would have a case in court, but if they refuse to make reparations you could at least post the name and location of the place so everyone knows to avoid them.