What type of attorney?
Would make a difference

quote:

Originally posted by sigmoid:
What type of attorney?
Would make a difference

OP says she works for public defenders. “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you.” So, maybe that kinda client, and a lot of people end up in prison. Could be someone who got pissed that they wound up in the can.

5 of the eight front lug nuts were stripped

That is the sign of another kind of problem... maintenance or mechanic.

quote:

Originally posted by CharlieSW:
That is the sign of another kind of problem... maintenance or mechanic.

And they all managed to what? Unthread themselves, strip the threads in the process and land ten feet from the car? And that’s a maintenance problem? No, I still think a human was involved in those coming off. Anyone ever hear of a nut stripping itself falling off? Because I haven’t.

Maybe it's possible they all striped themselves coming off the car all at once, or even over a period of time, and land in nearly the same spot. I just don't think it's likely enough to warrant serious consideration.

The only incident of lug nuts coming off by themselves that I know of is something that happened to me. After rotating my tires I put grease on the studs (I now know this is not a good thing) and torqued all the nuts to the spec. in the manual. Fortunately a friend was driving behind me as we were on the road later on and got my attention to pull over about the time I noticed a bit of a shimmy in the vehicle. My friend had seen two of my tires start to wobble pretty badly and knew I didn't have much more time before they came off.

None of the lug nuts had come completely off, but there were a few that were a thread or two shy of falling off. We tightened all the nuts there on the side of the road, drove home and degreased every stud and nut, re-torqued everything, then let my friend choose wherever he wanted to eat 'cause it sure as hell was going to be my treat.

Other than that one time, I have never heard from friends, family, or others about lug nuts unscrewing themelves. Plus, if the nuts on the OP's car were stripped that means they would have been cross-threaded first, and those with experience know undoing a cross-threaded bolt or nut is as difficult, or more so, than removing something that has seized.

Put me down as being in the camp that the OP's friend's incident is an intentional act.

If the lug nuts were over tightened to the point of stripping threads and the wheel came loose and 4 lug nuts popped off (say, backing out or pulling in to park and wheels turned sharply) high leverage could account for that.

So, can OP shed light on that?

My earlier takeaway was it was "found" like this.

(But my ex had incidences several times of sidewall damage to tires and always try to tell me the tire shop said they were "defects".

Yeah. Tell that to the guy without 50 years of professional aircraft, drag racing, auto and motorcycle wheel and tire teardown, inspect and rebuild experience.

Not mentioning all the wheels rashed, bent or cracked at the time each of said, mysterious "defect" occured.

Gibbs Rule 39: No such thing as a coincidence

Lug nuts found in drive way car was backed out and driven very slowly to residential stop sign about 50 yards from house . Wheel was steel on hub but she stopped due to rubbing sounds. Car was towed to her house. I put new lug nub on and drove to a nearby tire store. They examined it and found lug nuts stripped and lugs damaged replaced 4 lugs and 5 nuts. Front tires replaced about 8 8 months before. I used the car as a daily driver till December and intermittently since then with no problem

I am going to speculate they were overtightened at one point, or they were loose.

Overtightening will lead to "stripping failure" as the lug nuts are forced away from the wheel due to driving and encountered side loads on turns, curves.

If loose, similar forces will result in them stripping (as the threads are forced to "jump", and then the resulting damage reduces ability to hold the wheel).

Lug nuts "clamp" the wheel to the hub, and do not "carry" any other appreciable load except for tensile load to facilitate clamping.

Worn studs, worn lug nuts, or lubricated/anti-seize, over torqueing or under torqueing will result can result in the same outcome.

Once the clamping is lost, all the forces are transferred to the studs, and the nuts, which are not designed nor expected to carry those forces/loading.

And the action is much like a zip tie failing and "ratcheting" backwards against the mechanism. "Ripppp".

if the lug nuts were "dropped" as she backed out along the path, that could fit.

If they were in a small pile, next to where the car was sitting, then, shenanigans. (them damned squirrels)

She didn't go Sears did she?

quote:

Originally posted by CharlieSW:
That is the sign of another kind of problem... maintenance or mechanic.

Let me expand on my previous reply -- I have worked on my cars since I was a kid -- more than 50 years now. Many imported cars have specific torque specs for their lug nuts and I have had had a couple of collector cars where the lugs, nuts and wheels were damaged by over tightening with air impact wrenches. It has become one thing that I check on cars I acquire. Not to say that somebody wasn't messing around with the wheels in this situation.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:



Yeah. Tell that to the guy without 50 years of professional aircraft, drag racing, auto and motorcycle wheel and tire teardown, inspect and rebuild experience.

Wow, you're old!

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:



Yeah. Tell that to the guy without 50 years of professional aircraft, drag racing, auto and motorcycle wheel and tire teardown, inspect and rebuild experience.

Wow, you're old!

He's been doing it since he was two.

LOL