I took my 2002 Nissan Xterra to the dealership to have recall work done. There was a recall on the steering column. They did this service and all was good in the world until…
Yesterday I noticed a noise coming from one of my front tires. When I took it to a tire shop they said that my lugs were loose and that my studs were bent and needed to be replaced. Obviously I am fortunate that the tire did not come off while I was driving.
Does anyone know if the dealership would have to take of the tires to perform the steering column recall? I am not in the habit of double checking the tire lugs after leaving the mechanic. If it was not the dealership during the recall, the last oil change/tire rotation was 3300 miles ago. Could the lugs work themselves loose over such a long period of time?
I have never had a lug nut come loose. Neither in the past when I just tighten them up tight, later when I torqued them to spec dry, or in more recent years when I put a dab of antiseize on them and tighten to 80% of spec.
I do much of my own work and am usually the one that tightens the lug nuts.
I am not familiar with the Xterra, but think you would need to remove the tires to replace the steering column on most vehicles.
I agree with thelabdude. I’ve never had lug nuts loosen on their own, and I’ve changed hundreds of tires. Shop workers do forget to tighten them. Call the dealer and see if they’ll pay for repairs. They should.
Once the mechanic at the service center where I get my car worked on forgot to tighten the lug nuts properly. Over the couple of weeks after that I began to notice that something seemed to be wrong with the steering. A friend of my brother (who I was visiting) who had once worked as a mechanic offered to take a look at it and discovered the loose lug nuts. He tightened them. When I told the people at the service center about this, they gave me a certificate for a free oil change to make up for it.
The dealership knows. Call them up, tell them you were there for the steering column recall, and ask if the wheels had to be removed as part of that service. If they say yes, THEN tell them about the damage and ask them to fix it.
Seems unlikely. How long ago did you get the car back from the steering column service?
The steering column goes from the steering wheel towards the steering rack or steering gear. All or most of it is inside the passenger compartment. From what I can see in my repair info, there would be no reason to remove any wheels to extract the steering column on the Xterra. However, it’s not out of the question that the left front wheel might have been removed for access (my info isn’t crystal clear on this aspect). To stretch the point, it’s conceivable the individual mechanic did it that way even though it may not be necessary. [ETA: Meaning, someone over the phone at the dealership may not KNOW for a fact whether a wheel was removed.]
I have heard of cases where lug nuts worked loose after a few thousand miles of driving. It’s not common, and often the shop involved doesn’t believe it could happen, but apparently it sometimes does.
In other words, it’s possible, even if unlikely, that the wheel was removed at the dealership. It’s also possible, though even less likely, that it stems from the tire rotation 3000 miles prior. If I had to bet, I’d lean towards the dealership, but it may take some investigative effort to reach a definite conclusion.
$25 will not cover the cost of parts. The wheel will most likely need to be replaced also.
I have never had a wheel come off but did watch one pass up the pickup it came off of that was just in front of me. I helped him, but the wheel holes were so bad that it had to be replaced and 3 of the 5 studs were snapped off.
That wheel was worked on the day before.
We will all make a mistake. Our desire is that no one suffers from our mistakes
The OP is to be very highly commended for taking the vehicle in at the proper time!
I’ve seen it with alloy wheels that have been in service for a while. If there’s a build up of corrosion around the hub area or on the mounting face, the wheel might not be seated 100% correctly even if the nuts are tightened to spec. Then after driving for a bit, the wheel seats itself leaving loose lug nuts.
Unfortunate situation, sounds like the dealer should take care of the costs for any repairs. Thankfully you avoided losing a wheel at speed. And thankfully you weren’t this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv4m41viy4I athough I suspect in his case the damage was self inflicted.
I had a Honda dealer do a tire rotation on my daughter’s car two days before she was to drive to college, 200 miles away. When she picked up the car she said it was handling badly, and a male friend of hers (who had some mechanical aptitude) discovered one of the wheel’s lug nuts were indeed loose.
I laid into the dealer’s service manager the next day - they refunded the rotation and other minor repair costs, and after threatening to report them to Honda’s national office they threw in six free oil changes. He obviously realized it was a BIG deal.
Maybe the studs were bent due to hitting a big pothole. If that bent the studs (and deformed the wheel) it could have loosened the nuts. Bent studs/wheel could also prevent the nuts from being sufficiently tightened even if the right torque was achieved. Do you remember hitting a pothole or bump?
Thanks for all of the replies…The steering column work was done 1200 miles ago. So far the dealership is agreeing to pay for new stems, but they don’t think that the alignment was impacted by this event. I know that I drove 20 miles at highway speeds with a wobbling wheel. Wouldn’t that knock it out of alignment?
BTW- of course i wouldn’t have driven at all if I had realized that it was loose lugs. I am lucky to be alive!
No, it wouldn’t. Obviously the wheel is not in alignment while it’s wobbling, but that doesn’t cause a change in any of the components that normally determine alignment. Get the wheel properly attached to the hub and its alignment is restored.
Yes, the lug studs. Thanks Gary for the advice about the alignment. That is what the dealer is saying, but his motivation is to end this debacle with the smallest investment possible.
IANAM, but I have done a lot of “shade tree” mechanic work over the years, on my own vehicles and for friends and relatives.
Which tire had the loose lug nuts? If it was the drivers side, then I would have to think that the dealer caused the problem. :mad:
Gary T
:dubious: Say what? Are you sure about this? I’m pretty sure the steering column is definitely ***NOT ***on the passenger side of any vehicle. On some vehicles at least half of the column can be in the engine compartment (under the hood).
thelabdude
This has been my experience, also. On some American made vehicles, it’s not necessary to remove the drivers side wheel to gain access, others it is almost mandatory, it varies with make and the year and model.
Is the Xterra an RWD truck like thing? If so, likely it has a long shaft running to near the front of the engine. There you have a gear box and an arm connected to rods running to the spindle. To remove such a column, you could disconnect the arm in the engine compartment or underneath. I don’t think you would need to mess with the wheels.
FWD car like things? Usually the steering column ends just outside the firewall in a rack. The rack has rods running to arms on the struts. You may well find it easier to remove the wheels to get at the rods.
Note, the above is common, but always is a dangerous word to use anywhere and more so SD.
This is the design on the Xterra. It appears that the steering column is wholly within the passenger compartment, with a joint near the floorboard/firewall (the steering shaft continues from there to the steering gear). The removal instructions do not mention taking off the wheels or doing anything in the engine compartment or underneath.
