so last Friday I have the oil changed and the tires rotated, checked the double wrench service etc, and only drove the car back from the shop and Sat nite out to a movie, then work and back on Monday, total 40 miles, and then today. This afternoon coming home my tail is flopping around a bit weird noises from the back etc. Hmmm. Check it over, everything seems ok. So tonight I go out and pull the caps and sure enough the lugnuts on the left rear are all almost off, the fronts aren't arm tight. jeez. To think I hit a hundred on one spot that the wheels had the potential of coming off was not a comfortable feeling at all. So please, check your lug nuts just to be sure. Planning on taking my wife in the Cross on T Day about 400 miles round trip. It is going to be very very cold here and to think what might have happened is just wrong. very very wrong. Glad I checked. Have a great Thanksgiving guys and girls!

 

was this negligence on the shops part?! If so you certainly are taking it well. Id personally would be raising a big stink about the fact that i could of been killed or my XF destroyed.

 

I will be tomorrow. Stuff happens, I get it, I'm just glad I found it so quickly. We'll deal with the shop tomorrow.

 

Make sure that the inside diameter of the wheel(s) affected are not chewed up and the bolts have not damaged the holes they go into, including the spherical seats.

 

Guess the best they could do would be refunding some cash. Like onehundred80 said, please make sure something isnt jacked up before you leave there or they most likely wont own up to it later on. Good luck and glad youre still around for thanksgiving

 

Glad to hear you caught the problem early.

Onehundred80 makes a great point, look real hard for collateral damage.
And do not hold your tongue with the shop.

 

On a related note...

I took my rear tires off last night and carried them to the tire shop and had two Hancooks put on. I noticed that the lug bolts were really not all that tight. They have never been off the car in the 1 1/2 years I've owned it... they were not loose, but my point is, I could turn them with the wrench in the trunk without standing on the wrench like I always had to with my Ranger.

Are our lug bolts supposed to be considerably less tight than other vehicles?

 

thanks Greg, Green and 180. I do appreciate your thoughts Green. I'll check that. But do appreciate your comments Greg. Hope to see you soon. have a great Thanksgiving everybody

 

I torque mine to 85 ft-lbs, same as my Audi. It takes a strong pull to break them loose but I certainly don't have to "stand on it".

 

I'd be amazed if there is no damage, good luck!

 

I have had this happen to me once but it was my own error and I was rushing to get something done. So whenever I'm swapping rims I make sure to check all the way around the car twice then after I drive about 50 miles or so I check all around the car again just to make sure.

 

You should always re-tourqe after 100mi. 85ftlbs here too.

 

I have always 'torqued' my lugs by feel...seating them tight and then putting some body weight on the wrench to seat....

Recently I started using my torque wrench to see what the difference was... setting the wrench at 81 ft/lbs.. I was quite surprised that when I went to remove the bolts they could be loosened without the usual strong leg pull I was used to from manual torquing.... I was probably hitting more like 100 ft/lbs or so....


More is not always better......

 

Since there have been some differing numbers posted on here for ft lbs of torque, I thought I would post the information from the Service Manual.

Screenshot2010-11-24at10110PM.png

Note: Never use oil or grease on the wheel bolts.
1. Position the wheel properly on the mounting surface.
2. Install all wheel bolts finger tight.
3. Gradually tighten all wheel bolts in the sequence shown. Tighten the wheel bolts to 110 N·m (81 ft. lbs.).

 

When a wheel get so lose that it is flopping around there is a real chance you have cracks int he lug bolts. I have seen this happen. I would have them replace the bolts if possible.

 

I have to agree...once that wheel is moving around that much, it has had to have moved up and down on the threads, right where they need to seat...I too once upon a time ran over 100 mph home in the Camaro, with a cracked head, was peeved and just wanted to get it home, and was tearing the motor down anyway...so I didn't care about damage. Long story short, I hit my driveway, nailed it, and threw the right rear wheel off through the yard, slamming down on the driveway...30 miles with speeds over 100...turned out, someone had loosened all my lug nuts while it was sitting at the gas station...I assume they were trying to steal my cragars...you just never know...

 

I've seen the opposite problem on my other cars. After getting new tires or annual safety inspections I've found the lug nuts are on too tight from the techs using air impact wrenches. This can warp the brake rotors.

 

Yeah, That one I did see before. So I called the shop, and there was an audible gasp on the other end, with a profusion of I am so sorrys. Since I'll be putting her up this next week, he said to bring it down in the spring and we'd have a look at her for any damage. Good enough for me, it's documented. I'm pretty easy going. Nothing happened and no damages so we'll see how it goes. I don't go off on people making mistakes, **** happens and it wasn't intended. He said he'll be bringing this up with the tech. I'll bet he will.

 

Well there is at least one person that trusts a dealership to have written down a problem for future reference.
They are hoping you will forget by then, I am sure they will have.

I have had trouble with the nuts on our 300, it seems a common problem that they freeze onto the wheel and stud for some reason. The hex part of the nut is only half the normal length but you cannot see that as they have a stainless steel cap permanently fixed to the nut for cosmetic reasons. It does not take much to twist of the stainless steel cap, I know as I did it.
I let the dealership change my snow tires and let them take of the frozen nut.
I am going to get different nuts for this car.
Strange thing about it the wrench supplied with the car fits the jack but does not fit the nuts after they have have had the stainless steel cap distorted by being taken off.
So you get a flat on the road, remove everything from the trunk, try to loosen the nuts and it does not fit. WTF.

 

and everybody wins...

It's all good.. and from here it just gets better. Glad all went well for you.