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posted on February 17th, 2014 at 07:41 PM
Decent people...even to a dickhead
On my way home this evening in the buggy on the Cooroy/Noosa road my rear passenger wheel decides it's time to part company with the rest of the bug
(I'm the dickhead in question btw as I used the rattle gun on Saturday and didn't finish off with the wheelbrace!). The guy following me just
didn't even stop even though he would have seen where my wheel went, I was too busy keeping the car under control (it was at 100 kph! But a young
surfy guy stopped to see if I needed any help and started looking with me and then shortly after a young mother and her son pulled up in their troopie
and also helped. The surfy guy had to leave but this mum and her son who didn't know me at all, just loved the buggy though, stayed for ages looking,
going into the overgrown grass and bushes but to no avail. They were there for over an hour helping a stranger. The police passed by twice without
stopping the first time and only stopped the second time when a friend of the mum stopped in a hotted up Commodore!! Anyway I had to put this in
writing as ther are some decent people out there. BTW does anyone have a spare wide 5 15x8 rim they don't want
greedy53
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posted on February 18th, 2014 at 05:54 PM
the trouble is usually we only hear about the dickheads it's nice to get a good guy a slap on the back
vlad01
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posted on February 21st, 2014 at 10:31 PM
My niece and I last year were heading home from Melbourne on the Calder after picking up a nos bonnet and few bits. Then 500m up a head I saw a VS
wagon start bellowing huge clouds of smoke and huge trail of fluid of some kind had spread across the whole lane.
I said crap pull over, that car is on fire!
So my niece pulls over the car as it pulled over to the side. I grabbed the water from the back of the ute and ran over to the car. As the guy was
getting out I told to to quickly pop the bonnet. I opened it and the whole right side of the engine bay was on fire. I managed to put it out in time
before it set the whole lot on fire.
What happen is the auto dip stock lock did not want to hold and the dip stick ejected and few liters of auto fluid was pumped out onto the exhaust
manifold and set the lot on fire.
After getting the fire out and assessing the damage. We told him we would help him out, that I am an expert on these cars and had parts to fix it on
the spot. He did not have RACV and was about 150k from home.
We were only 20min from home so I went home, loaded my holden with a set of ignition leads, some tranny fluid, water and degreaser to wash all the
fluid away, rags and something to hold down the dip stick. We left the ute at home as it was loaded with my parts.
We set off and got there. He was over the moon that we actually came back as promised.
I degreased, washed and dried the engine and bay. fitted the new leads and all had burned completely away. Filled his auto, was about 3-4L lost in a
space of 20sec all over the road. I strapped down and duct taped the dip stick to stop it coming out and told him to replace it once he got home.
Got the car going and I followed him to the next servo to make sure nothing caught fire again.
He was so over the moon about the kind help, offered us money and all. but I didn't accept as I was only helping out. He said that while he was
waiting there no one pulled over in the 45min we were gone and some drivers gave him the finger. He said he just did not expect anyone to be so
kind.
Some times its just good to help, especially when you know you can.
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
Craig Torrens
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 07:27 AM
Quote:
Originally
posted by greedy53
the trouble is usually we only hear about the dickheads it's nice to get a good guy a slap on the back
Did you hear about the Dickhead on the Cooroy/Noosa road the other evening, apparently he lost his wheel because he didn't tighten it up
A.k.a.: Greg Mackie
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 08:30 AM
Quote:
Originally
posted by Craig Torrens
Did you hear about the Dickhead on the Cooroy/Noosa road the other evening, apparently he lost his wheel because he didn't tighten it up
No....did someone really do that? I bet he hopes nobody finds out.
Has the wayward wheel turned up yet?
I'd rather wear a Beetle out by racing it than by polishing it!
ancientbugger
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 11:19 AM
I'm just wondering if Vlad would like to pop up to the Sunshine Coast as he seems to be the right person to find my wheel
DylanTheDubber
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 11:55 AM
the worst time for a wheel to fly off the car is in a slammed black R31 nissan skyline with a turbo RB25 engine in it locked diff and straight thru
3" exhaust and where the wheel so happens to fall off is right as your driving past a police car that has pulled someone over on the side of the
road. i coped a $220 fine and in the description of reason of fine it just says "front left wheel came off" not to mention 3 points off my licence
and hundreds of dollars damage to the car the wheel hit and it wasnt even my car. my mate borrowed my car for the day and i was left with it.
From Dylan
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 12:02 PM
Wow ancientbugger, this may make you feel better, reading your post certainly made me feel a bit better...
I had the buggy at my sons place ready to take it to the mechanics round the corner, changed my mind about the mechanics so asked son to drive it to
my place, because I hadn't tightened the wheel nuts properly (I only had one of those cheap socket sets with me at the time, 3/8 drive and all so I
used that to tighten the wheel nuts) on the way to my place the LH rear wheel departed the car in an 80 zone, son rang up, though at the volume of his
tirade I could have heard him at my place he needed help to get the
wheel back on and "bring some f#@^&*#":n wheel nuts and a f&*^#n jack with ya" by the time I got there he had managed to get the the wheel
back on and we only needed to put the nuts on, told him I would follow him home, on the way home he rang me to advise me "the brakes are bloody
shithouse" yeah well it is 1964 technoledgy son. I let said pride and joy sit in the garage for a few days before I decided to check for damage so
took the wheel off, took me a few seconds to realise there was no brake drum so I rang dick head son to ask him if he had ever had or worked on a car
with drum brakes, "sure the Sooz had druuummmz,,,,,,,,, f*&#@K there was no drum on the bloody thing when I put the wheel back on" says the now
enlightened one. Amazingly I went back to the spot where the wheel had come off and after about 5 minutes I found the drum in some reeds at the edge
of a creek, lucky it was painted bright red, son still hasn't lived it down, thought he would have known that you need a brake drum on before the
wheel.
I dream of a day when a chicken can cross a road without being asked for it's motive!
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 02:37 PM
Quote:
Originally
posted by DylanTheDubber
the worst time for a wheel to fly off the car is in a slammed black R31 nissan skyline with a turbo RB25 engine in it locked diff and straight thru
3" exhaust and where the wheel so happens to fall off is right as your driving past a police car that has pulled someone over on the side of the
road. i coped a $220 fine and in the description of reason of fine it just says "front left wheel came off" not to mention 3 points off my licence
and hundreds of dollars damage to the car the wheel hit and it wasnt even my car. my mate borrowed my car for the day and i was left with it.
From Dylan
wow that sucks. how do you get finned for something beyond your knowledge and control? damn cops these days.
I once forgot to tighten my font left wheel and when I was on the way back from town with my brother and his friend I noticed some clunking noise from
the front left.
pulled over and pushed everything around. nothing loose that I could feel or see. got home still nothing obvious until I jacked up the front to find
the front left wheel nuts were loose lol. oops lol
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
karmann141
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posted on February 22nd, 2014 at 09:19 PM
Quote:
Originally
posted by ancientbugger
On my way home this evening in the buggy on the Cooroy/Noosa road my rear passenger wheel decides it's time to part company with the rest of the bug
(I'm the dickhead in question btw as I used the rattle gun on Saturday and didn't finish off with the wheelbrace!). The guy following me just
didn't even stop even though he would have seen where my wheel went, I was too busy keeping the car under control (it was at 100 kph!:
A wheel coming off at 100kph would have ended up several hundred metres in the bush if i didn't hit anything. Vey lucky no-one was injured or killed.
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Originally
posted by DylanTheDubber
the worst time for a wheel to fly off the car is in a slammed black R31 nissan skyline with a turbo RB25 engine in it locked diff and straight thru
3" exhaust and where the wheel so happens to fall off is right as your driving past a police car that has pulled someone over on the side of the
road. i coped a $220 fine and in the description of reason of fine it just says "front left wheel came off" not to mention 3 points off my licence
and hundreds of dollars damage to the car the wheel hit and it wasnt even my car. my mate borrowed my car for the day and i was left with it.
From Dylan
wow that sucks. how do you get finned for something beyond your knowledge and control? damn cops these days.
It's the responsibilty of the driver to make sure the car they are operating is roadworthy.
Is a wheel coming off something beyond your control? mmmm maybe....
It's pretty rare that they just instantly fall off with no warning.
Usually as the wheel bolts start looseninng off you would start to notice vibrations, wobbles, clunks etc.
Youtube is full of videos of runaway tyres.
Going through a windscreen of a car can easily kill someone.
The one that sticks in my mind is this poor bastard just minding his own buisness.
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posted on February 23rd, 2014 at 10:03 AM
wheels can come off without warning, not due to loose wheel nuts but faulty suspension component a lot of the time because aftermarket parts do not
meet adequate design standards.
I have seen it happen heaps, more often that loose wheel nuts. Mostly with aftermarket ball joints these days.
I am trying to address this exact issue right now with my current build. I can not get get aftermarket joints to hold in place.
I spotted the issue right way when I tried fitting them. Researched the issue to find heaps of people crashed there cars after fitting these joints.
Heaps of this sort of stuff happens all the time.
I find that unfair that you get finned for something that is the responsibility of the owner of the car, not that of the driver is he/she is
unaware.
its like hiring a car, its wheel suddenly comes off killing someone and you get in trouble.
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
ancientbugger
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posted on February 23rd, 2014 at 10:28 AM
I am 57 and have been driving since I was 16 and this is the first time I have ever been guilty of this, my wife says to me "Didn't you see where it
went (the wheel)" I said I was too occupied at the time trying to keep from losing control. I had a spare set of rims but with low profile tyres on
so I put those on the back so I could at least use the car but one went straight down and you could hear it leaking from the split valve! So I took
the wheel to a tyre place yesterday and a guy said I'll do that it'll only take 5 minutes! Well 45 minutes later and 3 blokes swearing it was
finally done, $10 the bloke says, it was worth $50 just for the entertainment but would you believe I went out earlier and the damn things flat! I
just don't have the balls to take it back
BTW The wheel coming off at speed down the Noosa - Cooroy Road could only have killed the odd roo/cat/bird hiding in the bush and it couldn't really
go too far as it is thick tall grass and scrubby trees. The problem is that the wheel could be a foot in front of you and you'd never see it.
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posted on February 23rd, 2014 at 01:21 PM
Quote:
Originally
posted by ancientbugger
BTW The wheel coming off at speed down the Noosa - Cooroy Road could only have killed the odd roo/cat/bird hiding in the bush and it couldn't really
go too far as it is thick tall grass and scrubby trees. The problem is that the wheel could be a foot in front of you and you'd never see it.
I know the Noosa-Cooroy road well and it's just a bit of luck where the wheel came off. Obviously it was the left rear and went straight into the
bush. If it was right rear it could have gone into on coming traffic. If it was one of the front wheels I dare say you would have crashed. I'm
amused by how lightly a wheel coming off is being treated - it should never happen.
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posted on February 23rd, 2014 at 07:10 PM
I've always regarded wheel separation as an infallible sign that you're in a "developing" country. I've seen it happen near me in Fiji, South
Africa and Brazil. In the latter case it was coming at me in the opposite direction with a combined approach speed somewhere North of 150 kph - I
dodged it more by luck than skill. When mechanics and car owners are less experienced with cars in general, mistakes in fitting, tightening and
torquing are more common. There is no moral to my story; this obviously also happens in Australia, so I guess we are a 3rd-world country.
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posted on February 24th, 2014 at 09:39 AM
I always torque the wheel nuts then mark them with a small paint pen so you know they are tight, i never use a wheel brace only a torque wrench. also
never lubricate a wheel nut of stud, this can lead to over torqueing.
beetleboyjeff
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posted on February 24th, 2014 at 12:38 PM
I don't think you can always blame the driver/owner for a wheel coming off.
About 2 years ago, I was working in Inverell, and drove to Sydney on a Friday night to go to the Nationals. On my way back to Inverell up the New
England Hwy, I had a wheel bearing seize, which heated up the stub axle which then broke off. The loose wheel, hub, & disk then broke off the
caliper bracket and the whole lot left the car.
I ground to a halt, and after a good hours search by the NRMA towie and myself, we couldn't locate the wheel, hub, and rotor.
I went back the next day, and found it about 400 or 500m up the road from where I had ground to a halt.
I was doing about 700km per weekend at the time, and had done about 1,000km that weekend until the incident, so I was constantly checking the car. I
had also cleaned it up for the car show at the Nationals, so had had the wheels off to clean them before I left and had not detected any problem with
the bearing.
Right up until the incident, I had not detected any noise, vibration, wobble, or anything. It was right out of the blue.
Just sayin' - things happen.
From your ole' mate Jeff
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posted on February 24th, 2014 at 01:09 PM
That's a bit different to loosing your Nuts There are
exceptions.
I guess this post has ended up focussing on the "Dickhead" side instead of the "Good Samaritan" side of the post as I think was initially
intended.
1961 K Ghia - Porsche 5 sp, EJ20T, Brembo's, Dble A arm susp
1974 L Bug - Porsche 944 brakes, Boxster 16's
1974 Bay Camper - EJ20, twin radiators, Boxster 16x7's
Half Beetle trailer with Boxster 16x7's
2011 Tiguan TDI 4Motion
2010 LR Discovery 4 TDV
