Scottish Elises

So,my wheel nuts have decided to loosen all by themselves, luckily i was near home,so could have a proper look at the car.
I initially thought i had a flat (specifically,near-side rear). When i realised i didnt,i was going over what could have possibly broken,when i remembered an old post in a forum i had read.
Iv heard of this happening to a couple of VX220's,but not an S1.
Any ideas?
Short of tightening them until i make the car narrower.

Jay

I have heard of wheel nuts slackening because they have been too tight. Are the threads in decent condition? Might be worth trying a torque wrench to double check it is at correct setting when you tighten them?

Just do them up again.

You know what to listen for now, just be aware of it.
They won't suddenly fall off.

IIRC overtightening is bad...
I think 105 is correct tightness?

scottishselise wrote:I have heard of wheel nuts slackening because they have been too tight. Are the threads in decent condition? Might be worth trying a torque wrench to double check it is at correct setting when you tighten them?

Indeed, not heard of them slackening by being too tight, but I have suffered snapped studs as someone (ie me) was in the habit of growling them up with a 2 foot bar. Scary bit is that they didn't snap straight away, they waited until there was some heat in the hub from heavy braking... Your suggestion about torquing is a very good one

meatball wrote:IIRC overtightening is bad...
I think 105 is correct tightness?

Good effort. For S2

80-85Nm for S1.

Doh, forgot he said S1.

That's OK, Campbell (I don't get to say that very often!!!), it's easy overlooked. In fact sometimes all the better for it

My 2p,

Like any bolt, if you tighten beyond the designed torque they will yield and stretch which makes them weaker, next time you tighten them they stretch more etc. etc. till eventually they shear. Wheel nuts that loosen can be a sign that they are failing (probably through over tightening as some point) - replace them as soon as possible.

Shug wrote:

scottishselise wrote:I have heard of wheel nuts slackening because they have been too tight. Are the threads in decent condition? Might be worth trying a torque wrench to double check it is at correct setting when you tighten them?

Indeed, not heard of them slackening by being too tight, but I have suffered snapped studs as someone (ie me) was in the habit of growling them up with a 2 foot bar. Scary bit is that they didn't snap straight away, they waited until there was some heat in the hub from heavy braking... Your suggestion about torquing is a very good one

Yeah, it used to happy to lorry trailer wheels quite a bit as many were tightened by people standing on them with a bar.
Causes the threads to ever so slightly stretch I believe.
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/tec ... techid=107

Great advice,

Torque wrench it is. I had no idea tightening them too much could cause them to slacken under heat/stress.

I believe the S1, 340 ect used spherical nuts ,if you have after market wheels they may require a taper nut

If you've run any distance with them slack consider replacing the wheel studs as they may be broken. Certainly keep a close eye on them and watch out for suddenly missing wheel nuts. If one of the studs does fail you must replace all four.

Do them up with a torque wrench and check frequently - if they need nipping up all the time they are fcuk. If they don't need nipping up after you've checked 4-5 times and done 1,000 miles in varied conditions then you can probably conclude that they are all OK.

Cheers,
Robin

I was putting new pads in for OP this month and had a bit of difficulty getting the wheel bolts out, end result broken locking socket

Where's best for a new one?

When I get the b@st@rd out I will bin the locking nuts and get 4 more standard ones.

Malcolm

Best tool for getting the old ones out is a dynomec locking wheel nut remover.