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

Best to report this and try to protect yourself. It could still escalate.

Maybe the men in black are trying to get rid of your first-hand knowledge of alien probes by making it look like an accident!
 
Larry, I'm glad you're okay. I would definitely file a police report. As someone pointed out, just to have it on record. If this guy is causing problems, it's good to have a trail of "unexplained" phenomena that can be cited should the need arise.
 
Crazy! What kind of person would loosen the lug nuts?

This almost happened to me this morning. I swapped the spiked snow tires/wheels for the standard tires/wheels in my garage on our two cars yesterday and I neglected to fully tighten one of the rear wheels. I was making a funny noise in traffic and I immediately knew what was wrong and stopped to re-tighten before any damage. Scary, but at least I didn't deal with the terror of a wheel coming off.
 
This actually reminds me of a funny story from some years ago.

My friend's wife came home after having a tire blowout while she was driving. She was fine and there was no damage to the car, but she was understandably shaken up a bit. She talked about how it was like driving on three wheels when the tire blew.

My buddy made a joke about how she basically drives on three wheels all the time anyway (a quip about what a bad driver she was).

She, uh, did not find it funny. I left shortly thereafter and was really glad I wasn't him :)
 
Yea, guys can be such a bastion of sensitivity at times, right? It was pretty unnerving when your vehicle catastrophically fails you unexpectedly while driving along and bopping to the radio.
 
When I was your age, we drove 300 miles up steep mountain roads in the snow on 3 wheels, just to get to work. And we liked it.

Whipper snappers these days... No backbone.
 
Sounds freaking creepy. A couple of months ago, when my mom was driving our 2008 Volvo V70, the brake servo (is that the correct english term?) stopped working. Basically, no matter how hard she kicked the brake pedal, the car barely slowed down. Luckily, this happened while driving at a slow speed, and the brakes were only incapacitated for 30 seconds or so. But isn't that a weird thing to happen to a five year old quality car?
 
One time I lost my steering in my (at the time) 1999 Ford E150 while yielding onto a highway from a cloverleaf type situation. I lost steering right where the cloverleaf met the highway. Yea it takes at least a second and a half of turning your wheel in like 10 full circles before it occurs to you that you have no directional control lol. I sailed across 3 lanes of rush hour traffic, mercifully missing speeding cars by inches, and brought the car to a stop in a fairly wide grass median. I'm glad there was no guardrail there as I would have been royally hosed. I crawled under my van, and saw a 3 foot long rod was dangling down from one end. I saw where the other end was supposed to go, stuck it in the hole, and put a screw and a nut through a cotter pin hole, and bent the screw so the nut couldn't come off. I drove away like 5 minutes later. That was the most terrifying 4 seconds I ever had, much scarier than losing the wheel. I can't believe I was able to fix it that fast. Ford Trucks have not changed this design since the 70's, the same thing happened to my Dad with his F150 in the 70's.
 
Murder attempt. I guess I hadn't looked at it in those terms. Yes to the police report and yes to the cameras.

Park inside a garage if you have one. You can try locking lug nuts like you use for high priced custom wheels they have to be loosened with a special lug wrench. Or a big mean Gaurd dog
 
When I was your age, we drove 300 miles up steep mountain roads in the snow on 3 wheels, just to get to work. And we liked it.

Whipper snappers these days... No backbone.

Uphill in both directions,no shoes just some cardboard tied on our feet with catgut because we couldn't afford shoes or rope.

We also had to hunt and kill our dinner on the way home from school with rocks and sticks,cook dinner for my 12 siblings,and milk the dog to get fresh milk.

We had to borrow fire from neighbors because we didn't have matches.Thats the way it was.....and we liked it.

Steve B
 
Park inside a garage if you have one. You can try locking lug nuts like you use for high priced custom wheels they have to be loosened with a special lug wrench. Or a big mean Gaurd dog

One car garage, 3 vehicles, tight squeeze. I do have locking lug nuts because they are custom wheels. The locking lug nuts will vibrate off if the other 7 lugs are loosened or removed. Plus they can be taken off with vice grips if you're really determined. A guard dog, I really don't like living with dogs, they smell and I can't deal with dogs barking and can't be present for each and every bowel movement or squirt break. Maybe car alarms with sensitive vibration sensors that make a lot of noise. Stealthy cameras, but I need to run electric down to the edge of my driveway, PITA but necessary. More lighting, it is dark here.
 
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.

Humor at time like this??!!??!! You're just a ...... funny guy. Good one!

Larry, sorry I'm late to read this but I'm glad you're ok. We need you around! I'd suggest a private investigator if you really think someone is after you. My brother has been one for 20 years. Too bad you're not closer. Be careful out there. I better get that book to you sooner than later :)
 
Hey all I wanted to update this thread because I came across a pretty simple and effective solution, not just for me, but to anyone who wants to protect anything that sits outside at night like cars, boats, whatever.

I was relating this whole sabotage story to my local electrical counter guy just today. So he says, "You know what you do?" Use battery powered baby monitors.

I thought that was friggin brilliant.

I could secure them to the undersides of my vehicle somehow, hidden, turn them on at night, and have the receiver on my nightstand. If I hear suspicious sounds, I could be there in seconds and catch the worm in the act. It would wake me up for sure. I should easily be able to tell if it's human or wildlife by the sound. I live on a cul de sac, so it's very quiet.

I'm a little mad at myself for not thinking of it, but what a great solution, right?
 
I'll think positive and hope there isn't someone out there to get you. You're a nice guy, Larry.
 
Thanks Larry. I never screwed anyone, I don't roll like that. No one is out to get me personally, but there is someone who wants to make my wife's life miserable. Which includes me by default.

Hopefully he shot himself in the foot, because as stated earlier, this guy used to prepare tax returns. Well someone filed a return for my wife's 18 YO son who just died in January from a Christmas morning car wreck. This guy had ALL that information about my stepson, he's the only one who could have done it, or paid someone to do it for him after providing the information. The Feds do not look kindly on someone preparing fraudulent tax returns, and also screwing with a government witness (which would mean my wife). So he is under heavy suspicion right now. How that will pan out....we are hoping this guy puts himself back in jail for filing the fraudulent return for a dead 18 YO kid. He had to time it just right too, the filing of the tax return. Just after he died, but before the government updated the records.

Baby monitors will be a great thing as far as me knowing what's going on in my driveway.
 
Thanks Larry. I never screwed anyone, I don't roll like that. No one is out to get me personally, but there is someone who wants to make my wife's life miserable. Which includes me by default.

Hopefully he shot himself in the foot, because as stated earlier, this guy used to prepare tax returns. Well someone filed a return for my wife's 18 YO son who just died in January from a Christmas morning car wreck. This guy had ALL that information about my stepson, he's the only one who could have done it, or paid someone to do it for him after providing the information. The Feds do not look kindly on someone preparing fraudulent tax returns, and also screwing with a government witness (which would mean my wife). So he is under heavy suspicion right now. How that will pan out....we are hoping this guy puts himself back in jail for filing the fraudulent return for a dead 18 YO kid. He had to time it just right too, the filing of the tax return. Just after he died, but before the government updated the records.

Baby monitors will be a great thing as far as me knowing what's going on in my driveway.

Crap like this is what people write books about Larry... Yow.....

Let me tell you, we just retired our Fisher Price Baby Monitors after an obscene amount of use of 4.5 years. Amazing items!!!!!
 
If putting a proper security camera at the driveway is not possible how about a game camera. They take a picture when a built in motion sensor detects something moving. They are completely self contained. Hunters use them to keep an eye on the game animals when they aren't on the property. You will want one with an IR flash and some have movie capability if you desire that. They will run a around $100 US on up. I think between the baby monitors and a game camera for evidence of wrong doing you could make a case pretty easily if someone were to try something again.

Apparently, you just aren't professional enough to drive on three wheels: (Skip to 0:17)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fJP1d2Fo-w
 
I just joined that club this morning. Someone loosened my lugs last night in my driveway,...

Sweet freaking Jesus, what a story! I’m so glad you’re okay!

I like the ideas about cameras and audio monitors and motion detectors and stuff. You can also get fake cameras, so if you put a few up in places where they’re easy to spot, it should be a deterrent. But I guess it makes a difference whether you’re trying to prevent more assholism or record proof of it.
 
Back
Top