[HamishT]

Hi - my local tyre dealer always gets me to sign a declaration after a wheel change. It says I acknowledge that I have been asked to return after 50-100 miles to have the wheel nut tightness re-tested. Do other members find this is the case? My car servicing dealer does not ask for this when he has the wheels off.

Thanks for reading this and I'll be interested in any feedback. Maybe my tyre dealer is just over-cautious!!

[smudger]

The only time I've been asked to bring my car back, after it's been repaired, was many years ago when I had a cylinder head done, but never to get wheel nuts torqued?.................................Maybe it's just their way of keeping their customers, or maybe to get more money out of you?

[Santa]

I think it's a backside covering thing. They know perfectly well that hardly anyone comes back, but if a wheel came off and you tried to make them responsible. they would use it as a get-out clause.

[Motman]

Known in the trade as a CYA event especially as many of them don't torque them up in the first place!

[Santa]

I had to look that acronym up - very apt.

[Snowball]

Once I am sure that the wheel nuts on my car alloys are correctly torqued, I have never found them to have loosened off. However, on my caravan, which also has alloy wheels, I do check them before every trip and have often found that they require a little tightening. There have been reported detachment of alloy wheels on caravans, and much speculation about the cause has been written on caravanning forums.
I have formed my own opinion, and concluded that the repetitive "sway" of caravans due to road camber causes a sideways movement that puts a compressive stress on the alloy where it is bolted to the wheel nuts, and that this can generate a gradual slackening of the bolts if they are not regularly checked and re-torqued.
I may, or may not, be right, but I cannot find any other logical explanation.

[wagolynn]

I wonder, do the caravan brakes get hot, every time the driver eases off the throttle the van brakes will come on or at least rub a bit.

If this is true, I am not sure, then by the end of a journey the drums, and therefore the wheels will be hot.

Just a thought.

[Santa]

When I was towing, I would always check the wheels to see if they were hot. Hot wheels = binding brake = possible fires. They were never more than hand hot, even after a long descent.