Valhallo
Well-known member
A couple of days ago now I got sick of my dirty slotted aluminum rims and figured I'd really take the time to fix the problem right. I had tried using hard cleaners before, but with no effect. I jacked the wheel up with a crappy scissor jack (our hydrolic is broken) to take it off for my Saturday restoration of it, and of course I forgot to loosen the lug nuts while it was still on the ground. Even after the 100 times I've removed a wheel I forgot. I wedged one of my ramps under the tire to keep it from spinning while I removed the lugs, but to make sure I didn't forget again I just went ahead and removed the lugs on the other front tire while it was still on the ground. Considering it was my first time, I was alright with the result of sanding it all the way from 240 to 1200 grit and then polishing with emery.
After finishing that wheel and getting it back on the car it was late, so I called it a day and figured I'd work on the other front wheel in the morning. That next Sunday morning my dad asked for help running a shock collar fence for our new dog that refuses to be trained. To run the fence we had to trench underground, so I was off to Home Depot to get a manual edger.
In the Mustang.
I got 1/4 mile from the house when going around the roundabout I noticed that turning left it sounded like something was just barely scraping every time the wheel rotated. I Immediately pulled over into a parking lot to take a look. I new it was coming from the front left, so I started looking around in there. I tugged on steering, suspension and anything else I could see as a possible culprit on the underside of the car. When I found nothing loose or disconnected I thought that maybe I had installed the wheel bearing cover incorrectly under the wheel and it was scraping. The best course of action in my mind was to get it back home real nice and slow.
Almost home and the sound worsened. No longer did it sound like a light scraping, but a smacking, and not just on left turns. I pulled over once again and checked, but still found no problem. Literally 1.5 blocks from home I thought I would just get it there keeping it well under 10mph and jack it up in the garage to figure out what the problem was.
I didn't make the 1.5 blocks.
My left tire shot off the car while I was doing 7ish mph, but it shot straight back into the fender. I put on my hazards, gathered up all the lugs out of the road, found my tire at the bottom of the hill and sat on the curb trying to figure out what in the hell just happened when I remember loosening all the lugnuts on both wheels thinking that was what I would do that morning. I had not tightened the left lug nuts before leaving.
All but one of the lugnuts I found in the road were trash, but the lugs themselves were fine. I jacked the front driver side up, put the wheel back on and stole one lug nut from each of the other tires, making 4 per wheel. Got it home real nice and slow, but it was not a pleasant experience with less than relieving results.
The insurance guy will be coming at somepoint to assess the situation and damage. I haven't even looked at it much. I just get damn sad going out into the garage right now.
I can be beyond a dumbass sometimes.
After finishing that wheel and getting it back on the car it was late, so I called it a day and figured I'd work on the other front wheel in the morning. That next Sunday morning my dad asked for help running a shock collar fence for our new dog that refuses to be trained. To run the fence we had to trench underground, so I was off to Home Depot to get a manual edger.
In the Mustang.
I got 1/4 mile from the house when going around the roundabout I noticed that turning left it sounded like something was just barely scraping every time the wheel rotated. I Immediately pulled over into a parking lot to take a look. I new it was coming from the front left, so I started looking around in there. I tugged on steering, suspension and anything else I could see as a possible culprit on the underside of the car. When I found nothing loose or disconnected I thought that maybe I had installed the wheel bearing cover incorrectly under the wheel and it was scraping. The best course of action in my mind was to get it back home real nice and slow.
Almost home and the sound worsened. No longer did it sound like a light scraping, but a smacking, and not just on left turns. I pulled over once again and checked, but still found no problem. Literally 1.5 blocks from home I thought I would just get it there keeping it well under 10mph and jack it up in the garage to figure out what the problem was.
I didn't make the 1.5 blocks.
My left tire shot off the car while I was doing 7ish mph, but it shot straight back into the fender. I put on my hazards, gathered up all the lugs out of the road, found my tire at the bottom of the hill and sat on the curb trying to figure out what in the hell just happened when I remember loosening all the lugnuts on both wheels thinking that was what I would do that morning. I had not tightened the left lug nuts before leaving.
All but one of the lugnuts I found in the road were trash, but the lugs themselves were fine. I jacked the front driver side up, put the wheel back on and stole one lug nut from each of the other tires, making 4 per wheel. Got it home real nice and slow, but it was not a pleasant experience with less than relieving results.
The insurance guy will be coming at somepoint to assess the situation and damage. I haven't even looked at it much. I just get damn sad going out into the garage right now.
I can be beyond a dumbass sometimes.
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