aye well i was going round the roundabout to join the motorway when i heard a clunk as i straightend up hmmmm that was odd, didnt have time to stop as i was picking my mum up from work, so i carried on as i wasnt expecting the wheel to come off, i continued down the motorway and my steering whell had a slight judder, must need balancing i continued and had to over take a few cars i was not speeding at any point thank god, i was now in the outside lane and the judder got worse, hmmmm i need to pull over then just as i turned to pull back into the inside lane, whats that *BANG* ahhh i suppose thats my wheel, i manganed to keep control of the car keeping it to the outside lane and got it up as close to the barrier as possible jumped out of the car and legged it to the hard shoulder, i managed to get the hazards on too.
there was a unmarked police car behind me so they pulled over i was like oh noes im in deep shiz, but they just made sure i was ok got me in the car asked for my details rang the highway agency who then drove it on its disc to the hard shoulder and then they wre on there way, this was a nightmare my breakdown cover had run out i didnt renew cos i had no money, so had to pay to rejpoin the rac to get them out, then had to get a flat bed, i was very lucky no one else was involved and there no damage done to the car,
this was not very long ago, i had just had the vts a few months, however it was entirely my fault as much as i hate to say it
i was working on the car a few weeks ago after work nothing huge just putting on my front bumper and removing the standard air box for my new filter, so i zipped the wheel on with the gun, got the car off the ramp, then started to fit my air filter, by this time it was at least 7 in the evening, i had a long drive home from work so was stupidly rushing trying to fit a silly air filter, i guess i was excited about the silicone hoses
and in my rush i locked up the garage and completly forgot to torque up the wheel, then is came off a few weeks later at the worst possible time
well ive learnt from that, i couldnt understand why, i always torqued up wheels always, even when doing a intermediate service i would check the wheel where at the correct torque but on my own car i just forgot in this instance
so a lesson never rush work on a car! double check EVERYTHING