Troubleshooter: How – and why – to keep your nuts nice and tight

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Take a walk through any busy parking lot and look down at vehicles’ wheels and you’ll be surprised at the number of autos with one or more wheel nuts missing.

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Whether it was caused by a failure to get them re-torqued after a service that entailed wheel removal; or a DIY-tire-swap gone wrong; or just plain wear, tear and corrosion, missing just one of these little fasteners puts everyone at risk.

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Troubleshooter: How – and why – to keep your nuts nice and tight Back to video

Think about it: with one of five wheel nuts missing, a wheel has lost 20 per cent of its clamping force, meaning all it takes is a hard turn or pothole slam to loosen the rest of the nuts, leading to disaster.

Commercial truck drivers have lived with strict regulations on wheel nuts for years, requiring them (among other things) to complete a walkaround inspection before every trip to visually inspect wheels and other components. Their rig’s use of small plastic coloured wheel nut caps (with indicator arrows) make it simple to visually detect if one or more nuts have shifted position on the threaded wheel studs.

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Those laws came into effect due to the lethal consequences for other drivers and passengers when larger tire-wheel assemblies come off on the highway. But passenger vehicle and light truck wheels are no less capable of causing such mayhem.

Following a commercial driver’s walkaround check is a sound idea, considering how little time it takes on the average personal vehicle, and now much it can save in aggravation and inconvenience due to pinpointing problems early and before we hit the road. We need to be checking lights and other exterior items, along with wheels and their nuts.

Wheel nuts need to be re-torqued (with a properly calibrated wrench) after 100 km or so of driving after a wheel has been removed and reinstalled. There are no exceptions to this rule. If the wheel was taken off at a service facility, they should not charge you for this service. If they do, you need to look for another provider.

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Capped wheel nuts should be inspected regularly at every oil change, especially on older vehicles. These are the ultra-cheap factory fasteners that use a pressed-on thin metal cap to give the wheel nut the look of a chromed unit. I and others have railed against them before due to their tendency to develop cracks and swelling, rendering a standard wheel wrench ineffective when trying to get them off. If you’re got them on your ride, replace them with a quality solid metal nut. Your knuckles will thank you.

Of course when it comes to wheel nuts, about the only thing worse than losing one (or more) is not being able to get them, or the wheel, off. If you’re a low-distance driver and can actually go more than a year without a wheel removal, get them removed annually anyway. The ability of alloy wheels to seize onto the vehicle’s hubs is amazing.

Linebacker-sized techs wielding 40-lb hammers have failed to get some wheels off. Good techs will take the time to clean hub surfaces of any corrosion before bolting the wheels back on, and then will give you a friendly and written reminder to return after 100 km for a re-torque.