Ever have an entire back wheel come off while driving fast?

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
I just joined that club this morning. Someone loosened my lugs last night in my driveway, [that has a story behind it] I'm guessing all 8, on the driver side rear. I was in my Ace Electric work van, driving to my job today, doing about 45 on a rural main road. I had been driving for about 45 minutes when it came off. There was a guy right behind me who saw the whole thing, he pulled over behind me to make sure I was OK, which I was.

Amazingly, the tire projectile came close to, but totally missed 3 possible targets, a mailbox and 2 lights mounted on top of stone bases, flanking this person's long driveway. It was a small horse farm. It hit their wood fence but it did no damage, a tree might have slowed it down. I didn't see the whole thing, I just caught it out of the corner of my eye. I was busy trying to control my vehicle and get it off the road. For myself, it was one hell of a feeling to have a heavily loaded van lose a back wheel at 45 mph. I had to compensate immediately by turning hard right to keep it from flipping, but I managed to get it off the road and onto the shoulder driving on my hub. Wow, what a feeling. It could have been disastrous had there been oncoming traffic. Amazingly, the only damage was to my vehicle.

It was pretty intense, but it doesn't compare to the time I completely lost steering on my van while doing about 50 on a highway. That was truly terrifying. But that's another story for another day.
 
Man...rough neighborhood fooling with wheels. Hope you did a police report. Glad you hung in.
 
Something similar happened to me when I was younger. My family and I were on vacation, 7 of us, travelling 90kph on country roads in a brand new 1967 Volkswagen Beetle with a roofrack. The car had just been to the dealer for its 1000km checkup. 30 minutes into the highway and the roofrack flew off. Three hours into the 5 hour trip the rear right tire fell off. Thank heavens our driver uncle stayed calm and got us safely to stop, the tire didn't hit anyone/anything, and nothing on the car was damaged. We were only able to retrieve 4 of the 5 wheel bolts, but and we reached our destination. The day before we left for home, one of the tailpipes was missing, either falling off without us knowing or getting stolen. We got home from that vacation safe and sound though.That Beetle stayed with us for 20 more rather uneventful years before we sold it.
 
Uneventful is good when it comes to cars/travel lol.
 
I've never lost a wheel but I certainly have skidded on black ice doing 65 before. I'd been driving about eight months and must have been mostly out of control for 250 yards. I held it straight (just) and managed to slow the car down enough to pull up six or seven yards behind a car at the back of some slow moving traffic - which is why I braked in the first place.

I only had the panic about five minutes later.

Unsatisfied customer Larry? You live in the land of litigation. Sue! For 'mental anguish' or somesuch. Glad you're ok mate.
 
I had something like that happen once, Larry. About 14 years ago, I was driving on I-25 in Denver at night. I was doing about 65 and something just shot across the road and hit my rear tire and it just blew up. I really don't know how I stopped, but I did. I got out to look at it with cars whizzing by at 65 and it was just shredded. To this day, I have no idea what it was. I thought I saw something streak across the lane, but I have no clue what it could have been. A cop pulled up behind me and kept his lights on until I could change the tire.
 
Something similar happened to me when I was younger. My family and I were on vacation, 7 of us, travelling 90kph on country roads in a brand new 1967 Volkswagen Beetle with a roofrack. The car had just been to the dealer for its 1000km checkup. 30 minutes into the highway and the roofrack flew off. Three hours into the 5 hour trip the rear right tire fell off. Thank heavens our driver uncle stayed calm and got us safely to stop, the tire didn't hit anyone/anything, and nothing on the car was damaged. We were only able to retrieve 4 of the 5 wheel bolts, but and we reached our destination. The day before we left for home, one of the tailpipes was missing, either falling off without us knowing or getting stolen. We got home from that vacation safe and sound though.That Beetle stayed with us for 20 more rather uneventful years before we sold it.

7 people in a 1967 Volkswagon Beetle? That I would love to see! Like that circus act with the clowns piling in the small car!
 
No unsatisfied customers Dunc, perish the thought...The back story is...My wife was pressured by the Feds to testify against her former boss/boyfriend, who was preparing fraudulent income tax returns. This was right before I met her. In 2008, he went to jail for 4 years as a result of her testimony. Well, he got out last year. Since then funny things have been happening to us. We think this is his doing ultimately. To put a finer point on it, we think he is hiring someone to screw with us, because he's the type who won't get his hands dirty. He's in his 50's now. Hard to get someone striking from the shadow's.

Any tips greatly appreciated on how to handle this.
 
That's scary, Larry - that was basically a murder attempt!
Yes! The fact that you managed to wrestle the vehicle to a stop is irrelevant. Someone tried to kill you, & that should be taken very seriously by the authorities. Furthermore, you should at least have this recorded so that you have historical evidence should there be further attempts on your life!

Even worse, you could potentially have been carrying a Guru kit. Now that is a heinous crime transcending all others!!!!!! GBH (Guru bodily harm), he should go down for that. Does this ex boss piece of dirt have children? Have them presented with a free set of bagpipes ;)
 
Larry, This is totally serious at this point. Thank God you're ok but this needs to be reported to the police. Grea is totally on-point, this demonstrates "depraved indifference" at the very least.

I would also recommend cameras on your property with motion detection and IR.

Lord knows you and yours have dealt with enough in the past few months, this is outrageous.

God Bless.
 
Holy crap! No, not ever and I hope it stays that way.

Glad you're fine Larry.

That's scary, Larry - that was basically a murder attempt!

Agreed!

Yes! The fact that you managed to wrestle the vehicle to a stop is irrelevant. Someone tried to kill you, & that should be taken very seriously by the authorities. Furthermore, you should at least have this recorded so that you have historical evidence should there be further attempts on your life!

Even worse, you could potentially have been carrying a Guru kit. Now that is a heinous crime transcending all others!!!!!! GBH (Guru bodily harm), he should go down for that. Does this ex boss piece of dirt have children? Have them presented with a free set of bagpipes ;)

Indeed! Especially the part about the Guru kit......
 
Murder attempt. I guess I hadn't looked at it in those terms. Yes to the police report and yes to the cameras.
 
Yes! The fact that you managed to wrestle the vehicle to a stop is irrelevant. Someone tried to kill you, & that should be taken very seriously by the authorities. Furthermore, you should at least have this recorded so that you have historical evidence should there be further attempts on your life!

Even worse, you could potentially have been carrying a Guru kit. Now that is a heinous crime transcending all others!!!!!! GBH (Guru bodily harm), he should go down for that. Does this ex boss piece of dirt have children? Have them presented with a free set of bagpipes ;)

Or give them some drums that you no longer need! That'll serve him right!
 
Wow Larry,I didn't realize you were going that fast.

That was certainly attempted homicide in the first degree,since it was premeditated and reckless endangerment.Both are unfortuneately tough to prove without forensic evidence or a witness.

I got blown off the road on route 80 west, comming back from Penn State one night.It was snowing and very windy.I actually slid sideways down a steep enbankment,but was able to keep the truck from flipping.I wound up at the edge of the east bound roadway,facing the wrong direction.

The wind that blows through those Kittatinny mountains is literally a killer.

Glad you're ok.Be careful my friend.:)

Steve B
 
And I noticed as soon as I left my house, after I got going about 35 that the road sounded louder than usual. I thought, is this just me, or is the road rough there? Then I turned on the radio and that was it. I can't believe I never felt a wobble. Never a dull moment with my wife lol.
 
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