advice please

[racy7]

Had a nasty experience with my newly acquired S4 over the weekend.
Simply put the front left wheel fell off! OK So the obvious cause has to be that I had not tightened the spinner sufficiently ( I use a spin it off tool with 70lb/ft) Not yet had the chance to examine the car (it is with a recovery yard at the moment) and I would like to know what the collective advice of you all is? has this happened to anyone else? should I convert to conventional bolted on wheels?

[Keith Scarfe]

use a spin it off tool with 70lb/ft

70!!!! It is supposed to be 200 isn't it? I think that maybe the problem.

[SADLOTUS]

Hi racy7 Newby,

Newly aquired.... mmm, has it had work done to it?.....check that the hubs and spinners are on the correct sides.

They should tighten towards the front of the car. i.e. Clockwide on RHS, anti-clockwise on LHS.

Paul

[rgh0]

You also need to ensure the wheel is seated properly on the hub and has not jammed on the drive pegs when tightening the spinner. I have almost lost a wheel in this circumstance when i tightened to correct torque but the wheel then freed itself from thte jammed drive peg and came loose

cheers
Rohan

[elansprint]

Had exactly the same problem with the front right coming back from a Lotus open day strange thing is there was no warnig noises or vibration it is exciting at 80mph in the fast lane of the A14. Mind you you should have seen the face of the woman in the Saab behind trying to avoid my wheel as it bounced off the crash barrier. Fortunately i managed to pull over & it rolled to a standstill on the edge of the disc without any damage to the car but i have now drilled one of the drive pegs & the spinner & lock wired it to be sure
Ian

[r.agnew]

Ian - can you post a photo of that mod ?

[mac5777]

Racy, all of the others have posted a "must do" check list. My right rear wheel at a low speed made sounds and vibrated to finger loose. I beat the spinner back to tight with a rock and a board. Down the road the same thing happened again. I did not hit it hard enough the first time. My wife asked "don't you guys need a hammer in the car?" Ya Ya! Later I saw information that 160 to 180 ft.lbs of torque was required and never could find that information source again. The manual says 200 to 220 is correct for the hex nut spinners and I assume that it is correct for the three eared spinners as well.
If you use Ian's spin it off tool or mine, make sure that you use 200 ft/lbs of torque at a minimum. Our tools allow a torque wrench to be used and know that the wheels are on and will stay on. Do check them from time to time.

Sarto

[MintSprint]

use a spin it off tool with 70lb/ft

70!!!! It is supposed to be 200 isn't it? I think that maybe the problem.

Yep, 70 lb.ft ought to guarantee your wheels drop off sooner or later, for sure!

It might also be worth checking to ensure that the thread for the spinner are clean and dry. A surprising number of people grease or oil the threads and I nearly lost a wheel on my first Elan because the previous owner had done this.

If eveything's in good order (drive pegs and drive peg holes, threads and spinners) and properly tightened, you shouldn't have any problems with knock-offs, so there should be no need to convert to bolt on wheels.

[racy7]

thanks for all the advice guys
I am now feeling stupid for not having researched on here before for the correct lb/ft for the spinners

[Chris-72-Sprint]

Glad I read this thread.

The previous owner of my sprint put lashings of copper grease on all the threads.

We used the car for a few hundred miles before the strip down

Chris