Lugs coming loose. Don't know why.
 

OK its happened to me twice already. my lugs are coming loose on the drivers side wheel. first time the screws were stripped so i changed them and put the lugs back on and it rode perfect for a couple days. now its happened again. i have big wheels on my max (dont knock me down). can it be the wheel or something else? i doubt is someone playing tricks on me. any help would be appreciated.

same thing happen to me a month ago.. still dont know why it happened... i always tighten my lugs real good... i've been checking it every week or so since then.... never happened again

its weird dude. its never happened and it really shouldnt be happening. im starting to think its my wheel. the first time it happened i had a wheel lock on one of the screws and it broke off. its weird.

you dont have a spacer or anything do you on the fronts ? did you pre-tighten before it was on the ground? just bring out the torque wrench and properly torque them if they come off again i bet someone is screwing with u

thats what i thought when it happened to me...lol

make sure you aren;t tightening the wheel down onto something (like a screw head or some piece of metal between the hub and the back of the wheel).
That would cause the wheel to wobble basically as you drove. and it would not take much. You prolly wouldn't even notice it till the lugs came loose. It would also mess up the threads on the studs most likely.

nah all i had was a hub ring and that thing broke off (it was plastic). first time it happened the wheel came off and i had to replace all the studs. i do pre tighten them before they're on the ground (is this good or bad?) and now ive changed the back ones to the front to make sure its not the car. well see what happens.

So you don't have hub rings any longer?

Get some metal hub rings for your wheels.
Call up DiscountTireDirect 800-589-6789

DTD also sells them through eBay if you prefer that way.

some off them are still on but i dont know whether theyre cracked or not. i didnt really notice any difference with the hubrings on since my wheels are lug centric anyway.

Not having the rings, even if you are lugcentric, can lead to premature loosening of the lugnuts.

How tight are you torquing the lugs?

Overtorquing the lugnuts will stretch the lugs and cause the stuff to come loose. It's not hard to do if you lubed the threads with anti-seize and aren't using a torque wrench.

If you think that's happened, put in new lugs and this time use 75 ft-lb. No more. Every time it comes back from a shop, retorque all corners back to 75.

Dave

got ya. so i should be using a torque wrench. ill try this out today.

DO NOT USE ANTI-SEIZE ON LUG NUTS!!!! Without the wheel on the hub you should be able to put your lug nuts on by hand, if you can't then you should clean up the threads if you can see anything on the threads or replace the bad wheel studs and/or lug nuts. Putting any oil, grease or anti-seize on the treads can cause you to over torque the lugs and it is easier for the wheel to work loose. You can remove any oil or grease with brake clean. Nissan recommended lug nut torque is less than 85ft/lbs which is what the wheel studs and OEM lug nuts are designed for.

If you use a little copper anti-seize and torque to 75 ft-lb, you're putting a less pretension in the lugs than when the typical garage just monkeys every lugnut they see to 100ft-lb+. But you definitely need a torque wrench and should stay on the low side of the torque range (75 not 85).

Dave