Took me 45 minutes to change a tire because of one stripped lug nut

Pulled over on I-35 near Austin after hearing that flapping sound and thought it'd be a quick 15 minute swap. Turns out the previous owner must've used an impact gun on the last rotation because the front passenger lug nut was completely rounded off. Had to call my buddy to bring a bolt extractor set from his garage before I could even get the spare on. Anyone else run into this nightmare with a basic roadside repair?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathan9017d ago

I mean, that sounds about right for an I-35 shoulder situation, honestly. But here's what I'm wondering - did you actually check if that lug nut was cross-threaded or just over-torqued before you started cranking on it? Because I've had that happen twice now, and both times it turned out the previous guy just hammered it on with an impact and didn't bother to hand-thread it first. A lot of people don't realize that if you force a lug nut on crooked, it'll strip way easier than if it was just too tight. Maybe it's just me but I always try to wiggle it by hand a bit before I grab the breaker bar, just to see if it's seated right. That stripped nut might've been a sign of a bigger problem with the whole wheel setup, you know?

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the_ruby7d ago

Wait, hang on - you wiggle it by hand before using the breaker bar? That's actually genius and I can't believe I never thought of that.

karen_sanchez497d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of something I read in a car forum a while back. Some old school mechanic was saying you should always do the hand wiggle test because stripped lug nuts are basically the universe telling you something's wrong with the stud or the wheel alignment. He said if you ignore that and just crank away, you're basically asking for a wheel to come off at highway speeds. Which is terrifying but also makes total sense. I think people get so used to just zipping things on with power tools they forget the basics. Your point about the whole setup being messed up is probably spot on. It's like how a check engine light is annoying but it's trying to save your butt, a stripped nut is the wheel equivalent.