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MattyEssex



Member Since: 23 Jul 2021
Location: Essex
Posts: 77

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Indus Silver
Wheel Bolts coming loose
Replaced all wheels recently with Sawtooths, (not genuine Land Rover ones)

On Saturday my wife, family and family friends had a very scary experience. They were flagged down on a roundabout to be told that the rear wheel was wobbling, upon inspection three of the five bolt had gone !!! How the other two didn’t sheer off and what could have happened given the speed they were travelling with 6 in the car two adults and 4 kids (3 not even my family)…..

I replaced the missing ones, with a bit of reconfiguration with the others on the car and some locking wheel nuts i had (ordered too many and hadn’t got round to returning luckily).

I dropped it in at the local garage yesterday to check nothing had bent (it hadn’t) and was told the reason the bolts are coming loose is to do with the glossy coated wheels - the bolts have a plastic washer and the paint is in the recess where the bolt tightens to the wheel and because of this the bolts work loose.

At the side of the road I did check all the others and they did mostly all need tightening.

Has anyone else experienced this, my thought it to get the paint taken off on that contact area?
Post #962212 19th Aug 2022 6:18am
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Caterham



Member Since: 06 Nov 2008
Location: Birmingham
Posts: 6300

England 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey
not a nice experience.
in my younger and even more naive years I swapped from steel wheels to alloy wheels. clearly the alloy wheels are thicker than steel effectively making the wheel bolts too short.
I didn't give this any consideration until a wheel fell off while turning right at some traffic lights Shocked

I can't see the wheel recesses having paint in them is the issue as there's enough examples of that out there on new cars - the plastics washers however Shocked

plastic washers - thats a new one on me a sounds problematic ?


Last edited by Caterham on 19th Aug 2022 7:35am. Edited 1 time in total
Post #962213 19th Aug 2022 6:43am
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17450

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
What vehicle, what wheels and where did the wheel nuts come from?

Are you talking about a Defender (which doesn't have bolts, it has nuts)? If so, no standard wheel nuts for the classic Defender have "plastic washers".

I have never heads of a standard wheel with standard wheelnuts which have been correctly tightened coming loose on a Defender or Series Land-Rover. It possibly has happened, but it is such a rare event it is simply not on the problem radar.
Post #962216 19th Aug 2022 7:24am
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Cariadycwm



Member Since: 16 Mar 2018
Location: Llangors
Posts: 5

Wales 1999 Defender 90 Td5 HT Alpine White
Had a few hairy issues with a VW T4 previously, changing steel to alloy, with nuts loosening and wheel coming off!! Used the wrong wheel bolts. Embarassed
Alloy wheels require tapered seat bolts.
Steel wheels require radius bolts.
I'm assuming your Sawtooth's are alloy.
Post #962218 19th Aug 2022 7:47am
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donmacn



Member Since: 06 Nov 2017
Location: Nth Scotland
Posts: 1845

 
Hate to be pedantic, but can we try and use the right terminology?

I can't post images here, but on most (all?) Land Rovers - certainly my Defender and Range Rover - there are threaded studs on the hub, the wheel is "lifted onto these" and then "nuts" are used to hold the wheel in place.

It can be very confusing to understand someone's issue/question if the wrong words are used.

I have had a wheel come off, because the wheel nuts weren't properly tightened. In hindsight I know why this happened, but in 20 years or more of LR driving that was a first. Donald

1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong
(The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html )
2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8

in the past..
RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi
1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box
1993 Discovery 300Tdi

not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper...
Post #962238 19th Aug 2022 11:02am
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hank



Member Since: 12 Sep 2016
Location: South Wales
Posts: 2301

Wales 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Not heard of plastic washers on wheel nuts before, worrying! > 110 XS Double Cab
Post #962240 19th Aug 2022 11:53am
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Cariadycwm



Member Since: 16 Mar 2018
Location: Llangors
Posts: 5

Wales 1999 Defender 90 Td5 HT Alpine White
I correct my terminology, the bolts on my VW T4, were not the correct alloy seat bolts and constantly came loose until correct alloy bolts were fitted.

In the case of a Landrover my understanding is that depending on the shape of the seat and wheel manufacturers recommendations, correct alloy nuts may need to be used with alloy wheels on the threaded studs.
Post #962246 19th Aug 2022 1:52pm
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donmacn



Member Since: 06 Nov 2017
Location: Nth Scotland
Posts: 1845

 
^^
I think this is right - the original steel wheels, and matching nuts had corresponding/matching tapers which fitted together.

I've seen alloy nuts which also had this type of taper, and I think would be OK to use on steel wheels (a steel spare for example). There are other alloy nuts which have a flat end, and this wouldn't engage properly with the steel wheel.

Pictures would make that clearer - sorry I can't do that at the moment.

I prefer the tapered alloy nuts as it also helps them to slot into the wheel if it isn't precisely aligned. The flat faced ones aren't so forgiving.

There might well be other subtleties here that I don't know about. Donald

1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong
(The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html )
2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8

in the past..
RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi
1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box
1993 Discovery 300Tdi

not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper...
Post #962252 19th Aug 2022 3:05pm
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