W211 E Class estate. My wheel has literally fallen off.

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Upon thorough inspection this morning, I think this is what happened;

The wheel that came off had been over-tightened by the garage.

When I took this off (which nearly killed me) and replaced it with another wheel, I cross-threaded it or didn't tighten the bolts up enough.

When this wheel fell off, it damaged the inner lip of the wheel itself meaning it could never be fitted flush again to the hub. So no matter how many times I tightened it, it was always wobbly.

I've put another wheel on the car, checked all the bolts and am off for a test drive in a minute.

If I don't return, I'm in a hedge, but thank you for all your inputs. Much appreciated.
 
upon thorough inspection this morning, i think this is what happened;

the wheel that came off had been over-tightened by the garage.

When i took this off (which nearly killed me) and replaced it with another wheel, i cross-threaded it or didn't tighten the bolts up enough.

When this wheel fell off, it damaged the inner lip of the wheel itself meaning it could never be fitted flush again to the hub. So no matter how many times i tightened it, it was always wobbly.

I've put another wheel on the car, checked all the bolts and am off for a test drive in a minute.

If i don't return, i'm in a hedge, but thank you for all your inputs. Much appreciated.

bingo!!
 


Got to the garage ok. Here's a pic of the alloy wheel where you can see the opening has been sort of rounded off and couldn't grip the hub. I'm still amazed that it would spew 5 tightened bolts out onto the road 3 times though. I should have paid more attention in the Physics lesson.
 
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I shall have to bin the other three too. The alloy has disintegrated.

I found the cause, so that's the main thing.
 
Great that you've found the issue and the only costs are metal not human.

Sympathy that it has become a dear do.

Greatly impressed at the way folk on here rally round to help another member in need.
 
....is it possible that the wheel does not sit properly on the hub? Misaligned etc?

EDIT: Sorry, just saw your later posts and the photo.
 
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Which wheels are those? A mis-fit looks to have 'gouged cheese'.

Not sure what they're called but they are the 5-spokes.

Very SOFT 5-spokes.
 
Great that you've found the issue and the only costs are metal not human.

Thanks. It's too scary to think about, especially when I'm running the family around. But there was an audible warning fortunately and as soon as we heard that, we pulled over.

What we didn't expect was for it to happen another two times.

"Did you tighten the nuts up with your fingers, Dad?"
 

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