My wheel fell off!!!

[klb76]

be warned this is going to make you sick... it sure does me...

This afternoon my father went to pick up my car at the shop and I started my 2 hour trip home to switch vehicles with him. Well my dad says he has never smiled so wide when he got the good news from the mechanic. Seems my engine has some considerable work done to it and is done very well, then he pulled out of the driveway with the new shifter and not a single vibration from the rear (6 new u-joints) He is driving about 55 mph down a hill, with no warning, the car jerks hard left into the path of two oncoming tractor trailers (3 lane highway) As he struggles for control he notices the wheel/tire flying through the air.... Luckily and this is most important my father wasn't hurt, he managed to dodge the trucks and get to the berm... but my car wasn't so lucky... The wheel and tire went through the rear of the front fender causing some serious fiberglass damage, my wheel cap is smashed, and there is a slight flat spot on the bottem of my rotor... here is the real kicker... my father, a mechanic, and the following police officer believe the car was tampered with... needless to say I am very upset.... hopefully I will be able to get some pictures and then I will ask for advice on how to tackle this problem...

klb :cry :cry :cry

 

[Yoda]

Klb,

Reading this I almost swallowed my heart.. Sorry to hear about your car, but be very thankful for the safety of your father. The car can be fixed or replaced, your father can't!

As for the possible tamper ad you would not believe how ad that makes me. If this incident was someone tampering with the Left Front Wheel, the results could have been very very tragic. What a gutless way to deal with life or anger toward someone else!

Bud Dougherty
Modesto, CA.

 

[MaineShark]

Might have been an aborted attempt to steal the wheel. My brother left work one day, got in his Jeep, and started to drive. The car made a huge racket, and a lot of vibration, from all four corners. After a bit of searching, he noticed that almost all the lugn nuts had been removed - the only ones still on were the lock nuts (one per wheel). Seems pretty likely that someone wanted to steal his wheels (he had just put on some new rims, in place of the original steel wheels - although why someone would do that to a Jeep, is still confusing to me), but couldn't remove the locks, and took off. Perhaps something similar happened here - someone wanted the wheel, but got spooked and took off.

Joe

 

[klb76]

It is certainly possible that some one was attempting to steal the wheel... normally the car would sit in a garage at all times at my mechanic's but my father had him leave it out after hours to pick it up... but decided not to pick it up until the next day... What I thought was really strange was there was no indication of the wheel coming loose (that is also main reason they believe it was tampered with).... Many times I have gotten out of a car to check for vibrations and found loose lug nuts...

Sorry to hear about your car, but be very thankful for the safety of your father. The car can be fixed or replaced, your father can't!

Absolutely... when he told me about it the first thing I thought of was him... He is still shook up about it and is very thankful it was him driving... I don't even like to think of my father getting hurt in my vehicle... Also I am thankful that flying wheel and tire didn't find its way into a windshield... it ended up 600 yards from the scene and the cop said it cleared the power lines... thats scary...

klb

 

[klb76]

PS... That 600 yards includes a really steep hill... so it wasn't like it flew 600 yards or anything...

 

[78SilvAnniv]

How awful!

:eek

I am glad your father is okay. I can't imagine a worse case scenario than having a tire fall off while you are happily driving and then having to wrestle it out of the way of semi's!

How will they be able to determine if the wheel was tamered with? Will you be able to fix your 76?
Heidi

 

[klb76]

Well basically I'm not really even concerned how it happened now... I think they are going to put it into the police report but I doubt that will take care of anything... at least if someone did mess with it they will know how much damage it caused and they might think twice about it Yeah it is definitly fixable, just the damage is going to move up my plans for a paint job and move back my plans for EFI... but I guess it is good luck that I saved up the $1600 for the EFI so I am well on my way to having the funds to fix the problem... I just talked to my mechanic on the phone, we took it straight to his shop on a flat bed... he finished looking it over about 9 and said the only concern he has is the fender... So I am very thankful that more damage wasn't done... After I get over the accident I am gonna start looking for the best way to tackle that fender. After all the lectures from my dad about "That car is gonna be your coffin if you wreck..." he was the one to wreck it... go figure...

klb

 

[billybob]

klb76, as long as there is no frame damage I wouldnt be overly concerned, with the exception of the repair costs. You can pretty much buy complete replacements for all the major corvette places, your insurance should take care of that.

Now the coffin statement, your in a US made 3500 +lbs car, most of which is the frame and engine. I dont think you could feel safer. Hit almost anything (rice cars come to mind) and you'll tear right through them. You'll damage the hell outta the fiberglass but you'll be safe.

The General made a nice safe sports car as far as I'm concerned, also which was demonstrated by the fact your father is still with us. Glad he's ok, but I would point that fact out to him

Bill

 

[Jack]

3500 +lbs car, most of which is the frame and engine. I dont think you could feel safer. Hit almost anything (rice cars come to mind) and you'll tear right through them. You'll damage the hell outta the fiberglass but you'll be safe.Bill

klb:
Sad to hear of this ... but heartened to know your Dad & others unhurt. I hope this incident, along with police suspicions, will be published in your local newspaper & local TV news ... perhaps that may prompt an informant. At the wheel-thief (bottomfeeder)level, I wonder if a relatively small reward might get a result?

Bill:
With all due respect, I disagree. Compare where your head, torso & C3's perimeter frame are ... relative to bumper & frame height of most popular vehicles sold in past decade. Compare door construction also. Hard to find a C3 in a junkyard nowadays. Back when they were current, there were a lot of em in the yards to ponder ... most with a bad hit had major cabin intrusion/collapse ... secondary fires were common too.

JACK:gap

 

[GerryLP]

What a relief!!!

KLB,

I am so glad that your father was not hurt. That was some kind of mishap!!! You are a lucky person!

As for the fender repair you'll find that there are many replacement brands for fenders. GM is good; however, they tend to design the replacement fenders so that they must be glued to another piece of body surface. I wonder if replacing the front clip (right fender, left fender and front nose area) as a one piece unit would be cheaper in the long run. These are available from many vendors and some meet specifications from GM.

My car was hit on the left front fender and wheel back in 1985. My insurance paid for it all ($$$$4,500$$$), but the work of joining the fenders left visible seams (by me at least) at the joining areas. Back then the price of a complete front clip was significantly lower than the labor and parts for replacing, joining, and painting of the damaged area. The labor was astronomic (Chevy dealer).

Another option is to take your vehicle to an experienced vette body worker or even a boat repair yard. They know fiberglass and techniques to join panels very well.

 

[billybob]

Jack,

The lower aspect would make the vette into a ramp

Actually I was comparing the height of the bumpers on the vette to that of my SUV, I still think the vette would have a chance in a head on or a from behind, side impact on the other hand.. ouch.

The front frame actually curves upwards. The nose of the vette would be gone but the frame is quie a bit higher under the covers.

When I put it up on jack stands I had the sides at 12" and the front was around 17".

Just my observations, as I dont think I've seen any good looking cars in a junkyard that have been hit from the side.

Bill

 

[klb76]

your insurance should take care of that.

Wouldn't that be nice... haha... at 19 I couldn't get anyone to cover me, so my insurance is only liability at a HIGH cost.... so no insurance help there...

will be published in your local newspaper & local TV news

It will be in the local paper, but as far as TV... in our town of 2500 we consider ourselves lucky to have cable let alone our own station!

I wonder if replacing the front clip (right fender, left fender and front nose area) as a one piece unit would be cheaper in the long run.

I am looking at about 1000$ there for a one peice unit plus shipping... I think I am gonna try to tackle the problem myself first... I consider myself really good at fiberglass work, if I'm not happy with the result I am definitly gonna go for the full front end because I don't want to be able to tell there was a repair...

The lower aspect would make the vette into a ramp

Isn't this all too commen? I hope I never get into an accident but if I do I definitly feel safer in a C3 then I would many other cars, if nothing else the weight of the car causes enough momentum to deliver the force instead of taking it...

and finally,

I am so glad that your father was not hurt. That was some kind of mishap!!! You are a lucky person!

That is the truth, I am definitly lucky nobody was hurt!!!

klb

 

[JohnnyD]

I am so glad to hear that no one was hurt! The Guardian Angels on shift that day made sure of that. I wish you nothing but the best in your future repairs and that whoever was responsible will get their just due.

Johnny

 

[klb76]

Anyone have any favorite brands of fiberglass? I usually expect 10% shrinkage but that is just using regular "autozone" fiberglass? I was hoping maybe there was a brand out there that wouldn't shrink over time? I've also heard that "gel-coat" is a good material to work with to make corvette repairs. but I have no experience with polyester resins.... I could try it out on some old fiberglass slabs I have tho if it is worthwhile...

Thanks
klb

 

[BigRed]

If Im not mistaken your insurance WILL cover this because it was an attempt at THEFT! Due to vandalism or Theft this accident happened not as a result of your driving therefore collision insurance wouldn't apply.

With my Insurance company your rate would not change either. Because it wasn't your fault. Running a claim on theft or fire doesn't hurt your rate. The only thing they can hit you on is to raise your deducatable for the next claim.

My Insurance is State Farm BTW so this policy MAY not apply but it just might (Im about 90% sure)

If I were you Id have a police report stating that this was indeed a vandalist act and submit it to your insurance company. If you have a claim you'll get this done no charge ever to you minus the deductable. As long as you can prove this deemed not your fault I think your golden.

 

[klb76]

Alright I am gonna make everyone jealous... since the accident I have been worried to death about how I am gonna fix my car... and tonight I called my dad to see what his ideas were. I basically decided that there was too much damage and I was gonna have to by a new front end, I didn't wanna just buy a fender then have a seam. So I called him and asked what he thought and he says... "you can do that if you want, but if I were you I would stick with the original fender" and I promptly said "didn't you see the fender?" (slightly offended)... his next response was, "If you can tell where any of the damage is I will buy the whole front end for you".... I am one happy guy, he basically made a new fender for my out of fiberglass already, fixed the small chip on my door, and the place where the seam was splitting on the nose of the car! He even cleaned up the little bit of overspray that was on the rocker panel from the last owner. He was a body man for about 8 years in his early 20's and I swear he misses it... I hate body work but he must love it. I think he might have been feeling a little guilty too because I was pretty upset... I am gonna make sure he sticks to his end of the bet but I know he wouldn't make that bet if I was gonna be able to tell. He says if I come home wednesday he will have it ready to drive again, and we can start looking for a paint job!!!! (this part I am gonna have to bite the bullet on, but I only paid about 150$ for the repairs considering I was planning on $1500) WHOOO HOOO!!!

klb

PS I told him no test drives until I get home!!! you know, for his own safety!

 

[78SilvAnniv]

Great news!

That is wonderful to hear, klb!...Now, what color?
Heidi

 

[klb76]

I am definitly sticking with yellow... Originally I was going to switch to black, but the color has grown on me. It would be like having a new car if i switched the color, and I like sticking out! I still have a lot of work before I get to the painting though

klb

 

[vmrod]

me too....

I had my rear passenger wheel fall off too at highway speeds. The first thing that happened was the leaf spring mounting nut (to trailing arm) came loose. My car squatted down and the rear shock mount rubbed the concrete. I was stranded. My wife came and brought some tools and a jack. I was able to replace the nut with one I found along the interstate. (I had to walk 1/2 mile to make the call.)

The car now fixed, I tanked up and headed home. About 5 miles later, the car squats again, but this time I see my wheel fly past me! Each time, the car handled amazingly well, and I was able to control it both times with no fear of losing control.

My guess is that when the car hit the concrete from the leafspring nut, it cracked the stud bolts. After driving a little more on Louisiana highways the studs broke and the wheel went flying.

If the mechanic removed the wheel, it's possible that the pneumatic lug wrench could have weakened an old stud.

 

[klb76]

I was able to replace the nut with one I found along the interstate. (I had to walk 1/2 mile to make the call.)

Well how about that? Sounds like bittersweet luck to me.... I wish the mechanic had taken the wheel off, (maybe I would get some restitution) but he didn't have any work on the front end at all and would have had no reason to. I had the wheel off about 1500 miles ago, but I know those nuts were on there good and tight... I will check the studs out though, that would really be something if it happened again because of that... Were you lucky enough to have no body damage when your wheel came off?

klb