Unhappy end to my holiday

[briang9]

glad you are both OK Jim, must have been a bit of a brown trouser moment all the same

[The_Laird]

So, here's the full tale.

Shortly after we left Manchester Airport, I noticed a slight vibration that was rattling the rear blinds. It got worse, although it came and went a bit, so I stopped at the services to check tyre pressure, balance weights and wheel bolts. All were fine, but the vibration was still there.

So, I was wondering what else it might be, even wondered if it might be the exhaust (as Mike says, feedback is a bit nondescript from the rear) when 'BANG', the car dipped at the nearside rear, handling became a nightmare and I noticed my prized FE alloy whizzing across the inside lane, over the hard shoulder and over the barrier into the undergrowth.

I was expecting all sorts of carnage after I got the car to a halt on the hard shoulder, but the rear disc keeps the car about an inch off the ground!

So, SWMBO phoned the breakdown people whilst I went off to look for the wheel (in shorts amongst the stinging nettles!). Once I got the wheel back to the car, I could see what had happened....

As my signature says, I have (had!) 20mm spacers on the rear wheels. Now, the spacers bolt to the hub and the wheels bolt to the spacers. So, whilst the wheel bolts were fine, the spacer bolts had come undone. I have my suspicions as to who might have taken them off a few months ago and not torqued them up right, but I'll never be able to prove it.

I'm not sure yet whether anything (bolts or hub) has stripped threads, but as the wheel went back on tight, I think the hub might be OK. But I'll be getting it checked out.

And I'll be getting rid of those spacers and replacing them with the 'long through bolt' kind. The trouble with the ones I have is that you can't check the tightness without removing the wheel - and that's not very often.

Anyway, as I said, it could have been much worse. The stray wheel alone could have caused a lot of damage at that speed, I could have easily clipped another car on the way to the hard shoulder and, as the recovery driver pointed out, I could have flipped or rolled the car.

And I'm sure the Woolies leather renovation kit will will get those stains out of the seat!

[Adrian E]

Are your spacers the H&R Trak+ ones? I recall someone querying if mine had a particular type of insert to the threads on the spacer as some have apparently been known to fail?

I would have a good look at the threads in any case - if they're fine then it suggests they weren't properly torqued. You should, if you follow the instructions in the H&R kit retorque after a certain mileage, just as you should with wheel bolts. That would only be a concern if the brake discs have been removed or the hub as there's no other reason for the spacer to come off when working at the back.

I personally still prefer the design of this type of spacer over the long bolt type as the longer the bolt the more risk they will stretch or otherwise fail. In theory it shouldn't happen as they're not being put under any radial load - the centre bore of the hub and wheel should take that - but so long as 3 out of 5 of the bolts are tight enough then that should be adequate security from an engineering perspective, which suggests all of them were incorrectly torqued.

Adrian

[Norretal]

Sorry to hear of your "incident" Jim, glad the car is okay, and most importantly, that nobody was hurt.

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

Are your spacers the H&R Trak+ ones? I recall someone querying if mine had a particular type of insert to the threads on the spacer as some have apparently been known to fail?

I would have a good look at the threads in any case - if they're fine then it suggests they weren't properly torqued. You should, if you follow the instructions in the H&R kit retorque after a certain mileage, just as you should with wheel bolts. That would only be a concern if the brake discs have been removed or the hub as there's no other reason for the spacer to come off when working at the back.

I personally still prefer the design of this type of spacer over the long bolt type as the longer the bolt the more risk they will stretch or otherwise fail. In theory it shouldn't happen as they're not being put under any radial load - the centre bore of the hub and wheel should take that - but so long as 3 out of 5 of the bolts are tight enough then that should be adequate security from an engineering perspective, which suggests all of them were incorrectly torqued.

Adrian

Hi Adrian

Not sure what type of spacers mine are, but the threads on the spacer definitely did not fail as the wheel was still attached to the spacer. if threads failed, it was either the spacer bolts or the hub. But both seem OK. The wheel bolts do up really tight direct to the hub (spacer now removed) so I think the hub is OK. The spacer bolts look OK too.

My unsubstantiated suspicion is that the spacers might have been removed when I had the discs skimmed 'in situ', as the tool attaches to the hub. This was just a couple of months or so ago, so if the bolts weren't torqued up right (and certainly not re-torqued as I had no idea they'd come off), then that might be the problem.

Still, I'll have it all looked at in detail and take advice from there.

Cheers, Jim

[chucklestinlegs]

As long as your safe Jim

[steamship]

Not the sort of thing you want to happen, let alone on your way home from holiday. Glad to hear that everyone is okay.

[tintin]

Scary stuff, glad you are all ok, and that you didn't have alcantara seats

[notorious]

Jim, Glad your wife and yourself are alive.

Although spacers are safe when used properly I personally avoid using them as they add extra 'unexpected' complexity at service centres, so people simply forget to tighten everything.

>> the rear disc keeps the car about an inch off the ground!

our cars are wonderfully engineered !

[Architex_mA8tey]

Another good reason for upgrading your discs to larger ones. Glad to hear you're all ok Jim, it must have been pretty scary. I do agree with Adrian on the spacers but they do need tightening and torquing on both sets of bolts and it sounds like this wasn't done but like you said proving it may be much harder.
I hope the damage is zero or at least very minor for you.