June 17, 2015 Vol. 12 No. 12

Oh, the irony. How long have I been writing about wheel integrity? About clean fasteners, proper torque values, and all the other maintenance practices that mean wheels are likely to stay attached to truck or trailer. I know, I know, I can get a bit preachy about this. But that’s just because it’s critically important stuff.

And to answer my own question, I’ve been churning out words on the subject for at least 20 or even 25 years.

So imagine my embarrassment when I almost lost a wheel on my own car the other night, at least partly through my own failure. I think. Amidst much noise and an abrupt stop in downtown Toronto, I was left with a rear wheel pointing at a very odd angle and barely attached — by one stud. The other four had disappeared.

This sorry tale began when I finally switched my four winter wheels and tires for their summer brethren in the latter part of May, a very routine job. Turns out the well known independent outfit that did this desperately simple job somehow used non-OEM 17mm studs, not the 19mm that are stock on my car. Same diameter, it seems, but wrong length. No wonder they worked themselves loose.

A few days later I drove a 1300-km round trip to western Michigan but it wasn’t until last Friday night that anything seemed amiss. As I set out from home I heard a noise but couldn’t readily determine the source. Thinking a tire problem, I stopped and checked the rubber. All was well. My screwed-up spine means I don’t bend very well but I wiggled all four wheels side to side as best I could, and still found nothing amiss. All fasteners accounted for. I set out again but didn’t get too much further before I decided I had to stop, and at almost the same instant a minor version of hell broke loose. It all unfolded pretty quickly.

What did I do wrong? Well, there’s no way I would dream that the wrong studs had been used — who would? — but I guess I should have re-torqued and then re-torqued again. Even then, though, those bad studs were still going to be there, waiting to fail me. And if I hadn’t had the car towed to an OEM dealer — which  definitely knew the right stud from the wrong one — I might still be ignorant of the root problem.

The more I think about it, the less I’m sure there’s a lesson here — except maybe the wisdom of being just as diligent with your personal vehicle as you are with your truck.

There is in fact another lesson here, not for vehicle owners but for wheel-service shops and employees: do your job better than the work I’ve just seen.

At the very least this incident offered me graphic, up-close evidence of how easily wheel integrity can be compromised, and it gave me a glimpse of the calamity that can result.

The downside here may be yours in that I’m likely to preach about this even more often.

STILL WITH PERSONAL VEHICLES, I find myself in an interesting position as I search for a new ride. For the first time ever it seems I can spec some very high-tech gizmology on even a fairly modest car, the same electronic options available on heavy trucks.

I write about things like collision-mitigation and lane-guidance and other such systems all the time, of course, when it comes to Freightliners and Peterbilts and Volvos and all the others. But in the four-wheel world these tools have been way out of my reach, offered only on high-end cars that are totally inaccessible on a writer’s pay. Not any more.

Yes, it’s annoying that you have to choose top-of-the-line models to get blind-spot assist and other safety options, but that may be about to change if the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has its way.

NTSB WANTS COLLISION-AVOIDANCE systems and their “life saving benefits” to become standard on all new commercial and passenger vehicles ASAP.

A new National Transportation Safety Board special investigation report, ‘The Use of Forward Collision Avoidance Systems to Prevent and Mitigate Rear-End Crashes,’ stresses that collision-avoidance systems can prevent or lessen the severity of rear-end crashes, saving lives and reducing injuries.