Has the price of lugnuts suddenly skyrocketed?

By adamg on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 12:02pm

Cambridge Police report a city resident discovered the hard way yesterday morning that somebody had stolen all the lugnuts off his 2005 Acura, "when he attempted to back out of driveway causing several of tires to dislodge from vehicle and wedge into the wheel well."

Same thing happened in Brookline last month.

Neighborhoods:

Cambridge

Topics:

Driving

Crime

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Comments

When I was a kid there was a

By ShadyMilkMan on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 12:24pm.

When I was a kid there was a rash of people stuffing things into people gas tanks, like sugar and other granual substances leading to a rash of gas tank locks. I wonder if the same will happen with lug nuts?

It seems to me like its one of those nasty things people with no class do to people that they dont like. Like putting bologne on someones paint job, sugar in their tank, or a potato in their exhaust pipe. Quick, easy and cheap.

Everyone involved is just lucky that the tires came off immediatly and not when he was merging onto a highway. The lugnut theives could have been facing manslaughter charges if caught, and the driver could have been killed. At least bologne just ruins a paint job.

sugar doesn't dissolve in gasolene

By Brett on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 12:35pm.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/sugar.asp

All it'll do is clog the fuel filter(s).

Also, the locking caps were probably more to prevent theft. Every time the economy get bad, sales of locking fuel caps go up. I remember in the 80's, it was practically a standard feature to have a locking cap or gas flap.

You still get clogged

By ShadyMilkMan on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 1:56pm.

You still get clogged filters and as your snopes article says you may have to replace the tank, which is a few hundred dollars, if it is alot of sugar. I never said or implied it would ruin the engine. If youve ever driven a car on the highway that just stalled out in the middle lane youd know what I mean.

I was a kid in the mid to late 80's, gas wasnt that bad, it was definitly a scare in my area concerning tank contamination problems. I also recall at the time people stealing the little tire valve covers. It was mostly a rash of young punks in the 80's.

gang, or maybe not actually stolen?

By Brett on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 12:31pm.

Could be a gang initiation prank? Or maybe this person pissed off someone else? I remember reading recently that Steve Garfield found all four of his tires flat one day- air had been drained out of all the tires (I'm guessing someone mangled or removed the valve cores; they spin right out with a tool you can buy at any auto parts store.)

It is very easy for bolts or nuts to work their way loose on their own if they're not torqued properly (and then if they're alloy wheels, they need to be retorqued again. After changing wheels, I'd check them with a torque wrench after driving a mile, then again after driving ten, then again after a couple of days of driving, just to be sure. Don't forget that you're supposed to do it in an opposite-corner pattern on vehicles with an odd # of bolts/nuts per wheel, and you do it progressively- don't tighten each bolt completely in one go. (I'm not a professional, not responsible for maiming/death/destruction, etc etc.)

A lot of lazy shops/mechanics use "torque sticks" on their impact guns which are designed to sacrificially twist past a certain torque, but they're only good for something like 10-20%, and you HAVE to finish off with a properly calibrated torque wrench. Instead, a lot of them will just get a torque stick 10-20% too high, and call it a day. That's who you have to thank for your flat tire being impossible to remove, or your warped brake rotors. Oh yeah, and over-torqing the bolts overstretches them, making them less elastic.