Missing Lug Nut on Road Trip?
I have a 2005 Honda Accord, each tire has five lug nuts on it. My front left tire (drivers side) has one missing lug nut, I just went to get my tires rotated and they stripped one of the lug nuts and stud. They said they would reimburse me but I'm scheduled to take a road trip tomorrow early, around 330 miles one way. Will I be safe to drive it there without worry or should I not drive the car?
I would get a lug nut as SOON as possible. (They are not expensive.)
A reasonably competent mechanic should be able to replace a stripped wheel stud in just an hour or two. I wouldn't intentionally start out on a road trip knowing you were one lug nut short of a full wheel.
Wow, I'm amazed at how many people on here are getting this wrong. You will be fine. Four out of five lug nuts is sufficient. For years I had one lug nut missing on one of my wheels, and TWO missing on another one. You know what happened? Nothing.
Anything happen on your trip to your car and you need an insurance claim. You may well struggle
Any tire shop I have been to would have replaced the stud when it happened. Go and make them fix it.
Replacing studs is usually fairly easy. Granted it's not your obligation to do it yourself since the mechanic admitted to the fault, however if you are on a time crunch to get on the road, you might be better off doing it yourself. All you need is a couple of new lug nuts and a new stud, jack, jack stands, 5 pound hammer, 1/2" drive foot pound torque wrench and a lug wrench or breaker bar with correct size impact socket, or an electric or pneumatic impact gun. And here's how you do it:
Using a lug wrench, break the existing lug nuts loose on the wheel (but DO NOT remove them yet). A long breaker bar and proper size impact socket will also do the trick if you have those on hand. If you have either a strong electric or pneumatic impact gun you can use, wait until after you have jacked the wheel up before using them.
Jack the wheel up off the ground and support it securely with jack stands. You can usually support the vehicle from one of the large support bolts holding the subframe assembly to the underside of the car or other equivalent strong spot. Then remove the lug nuts and the wheel and set aside.
With the vehicle in neutral, rotate the hub so that the back of the bad stud is not obstructed by the steering knuckle. Using your 5 pound hammer, pound the bad stud out of the hub from the front.
Once the bad stud has been removed, place the vehicle in park and insert your new stud into the splined hole, and using one of the two new lug nuts, thread it onto the stud with the flat side facing the hub. This nut will be sacrificial since it will be distorted beyond safe use after.
Using your lug wrench/breaker bar w/socket, tighten the lug nut all the way against the hub until the new stud firms up, and then using the lug wrench/breaker bar on the nut, pull the new stud splines through the splined hole in the hub until the back of the new stud bottoms out and sits flush against the back of the hub.
Remove the lug nut and discard. Reinstall wheel and lug nuts, replacing the first new lug nut with the second one.
Snug the lug nuts up. Then using your torque wrench, torque the lug nuts to the manufacturer specification which you can find with a Google search for your car.
Lift car and remove jack stands and lower car to the ground.
If all steps were performed correctly, you should be good to go for your trip.
Missing one out of five is not the end of the world. Not good, but not fatal. Get it replaced when you arrive at your destination.
The risk may be very minor, but replacing a stud and lug is usually easy. Go to a tire shop that isn't busy and ask them to do that for you. The Toyota dealer wanted $80 to do ONE for me. I bought the part and did it myself in less than 1/2 hour.
330 miles isn't a road trip. The shop shouldn't have to reimburse you, they should have replaced the stud and replaced the lug nut the same day.
They can just install a new wheel stud and lug nut or pay a competent mechanic to do it. I'd go to a dealership and pay them to do it. Then give the bill to the careless tire rotation shop.
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