My brother was driving his 98 Explorer...luckily was driving around a slow, sharp corner, and lost his back wheel. All 5 lug nuts are still attached to the studs. Waiting on a pic of the rim damage, but it looks like the rim bolt holes are all stretched out and came over the lugs. He got new Pro-Comp steelies put on about a month..month and a half ago. Replaced Mickey Thompsons. He's going back to the MTs as the Pro-Comps are obviously unsafe on this application...




The rear fender came about 2" away from the fuel lines...that coupled with the shower of sparks from the dragging brake rotor could have been real bad.


We're wondering if it could just a catastrophic rim failure (unlikely since the other 3 rims have similar damage)...lug nuts not properly tightened allowing wheel wobble (He didn't notice any abnormal vibration though). Or the whole lug-centric vs hub-centric rim difference (not sure if that can cause this kind of failure).


Thoughts?


Edit: It's at the body shop now getting assessed...but once it's back, what all would we want to check on the drive train. Axle shaft and studs...Could dropping on the rotor like that damage spider gears or the differential? Is that brake rotor toast or can it be re-used..etc etc?

 

Inspect the rotor. As long as it isn't cracked or warped, I would think it can be reused. Can you post a picture of the wheel? As for the hub centric vs lug centric issue, if a vehicle uses conical lugnuts, it's lug centric. I'll stand by my argument unless someone proves me wrong, in which case I will change my opinion. Post more pics, I wanna see this bad boy.

 

I'm working on getting more pics from him. We're not sure if insurance covers a situation like this...he's tied up doing that today and at the shop so I'll post pics when I get em.

I thought the same thing...but don't Chevys use hub-centric rims on their trucks? I know the blazer's rim sits very snug around the hub ring. Explorers have a very narrow hub ring, much smaller than the opening on both the MT's and the Pro-Comps. From looking around online..Ford switched in '99 to hub-centric on all their trucks, but his Explorer is a '98..

 

My first thought is that it's connected to the lug nuts improperly tightened plus the lug holes being excessively large. Were the nuts factory original or aftermarket?

 

My guess is that the wrong lug nuts were used.

 

I would have to agree with the lug nuts comment... I know in a lot of aftermarket rim aplications different nuts are needed.

I know in my case when I go to buy my rims I'm going to order some hub centric rings to take some stress off of the lugs.

 

same thing happened to me only all of my bolts were sheared off. on our way to school, my brother was driving and we just passed a stop sign and the wheel went rolling past us! it was kind of funny but at the same time not. we didn't wanna pay for a tow so we put new lugs on. im not sure of the term but we had to take a piece of the brake off so we could get the brake drum to fit. slapped the spare on and drove it with no brakes to the mechanic. not a good way to start off the day.

 

crazy, ****ty deals

 

The argument about hub centric vs lug centric...I'm not going there lol. Let's just say that our vehicles are both. I'm with riddle on this one, I think it's due to the lugs not being tight enough. With new wheels, I'll always use a torque wrench on them, and recheck them a couple times after they've been driven.

 

They are the correct lugs for the rim and for the threading on the studs. 4-Wheel Parts, the shop that installed the rims, and who he took them back to this morning to get his MT's put back on, said that they're assessment is that the lugs were too TIGHT. Said they could have drilled into the rims.

They were these type of lugs



I should also mention that I have the exact same lugs and Pro-Comp steelies...and I just crank the heck out of the lugs when I tighten them. Never had any issues with "drilling into the rims" and the rim holes are still just as good as the day I got them 4 years ago.

He had his for just over a month...color me skeptical that they were too tight.