Wheel bolts loose after short journeys

[Ront]

Hi guys,

washing the car the other day I noticed I was missing a wheel bolt from the front passanger side, and one other was very loose. The other 2 on that wheel were fine, as was the rest of the wheels.

I put it down to me not doing them tight enough and replaced the missing bolt.

After a few days of driving (short journeys, no more than 20 miles) I checked again and the same 2 where very loose again.

Is there likely to be an issue here? Or should I just shove some threadlock in there? I'm having it MOT'd in a weeks time so hopefully it's nothing too expensive as funds are short!

 

[Terry172]

Sounds like the thread hole has enlarged enough to allow the bolt to work/rattle loose. Not sure what you can do about it though, hopefully some one on here can help you out but IMO I wouldn't use threadlock on a wheel bolt.

 

[Ront]

Cheers for the reply, yeah I wasn't sure about the threadlock idea.

Anyone else had any similar problems?

 

[Jonff]

Sounds like the thread hole has enlarged enough to allow the bolt to work/rattle loose. Not sure what you can do about it though, hopefully some one on here can help you out but IMO I wouldn't use threadlock on a wheel bolt.

If that's the case I'd imagine you'd need a new wheel or you'll just have to periodically tighten the nuts in question. I wouldn't put thread lock on the nuts though.

 

[Darren85]

Had this happen on an old Punto some years back, ended up having to get the bolt holes in the hub welded and re tapped, although that was a mega bodge tbh!

 

[Luker1990]

I would imagine that maybe you had cross threaded the bolts (or something like this) at one point, therefore causing damage to the hub. If there is damage to the thread in the hub, i would always repalce the hub itself. As said you maybe able to get it welded and retapped, however i have never heard of that and personally would not want to do that.

I have replaced quite a few hubs at work because of people not tightening bolts correctly / putting the wrong wheel bolts in for the spare wheels.

I am not sure what it would be like to change the hubs on the Renault, but i know that doing it on Mercedes is a pain in the arse.

If you dont know what you are looking at, i would take it to someone who does, as the last thing you what is the wheel falling off!

Hope that has been of some help!

 

[Ront]

Thanks that's very helpful, cheers lads.

How much should I be paying for a hub roughly? There's a couple on eBay for around £40 which doesn't seem too bad. And how much to fit it roughly? I'm not afraid to do it, i'd just rather pay someone who's done it a hundred times before to for peace of mind.

 

[The Boosh!]

Thanks that's very helpful, cheers lads.

How much should I be paying for a hub roughly? There's a couple on eBay for around £40 which doesn't seem too bad. And how much to fit it roughly? I'm not afraid to do it, i'd just rather pay someone who's done it a hundred times before to for peace of mind.

I have a hub knocking around somewhere (with the abs lead) that you can have for 20 + P&P. Its off a clio DCI but they are all the same...

Will see if I can dig it out.

 

[DannoTheGreat]

new hub time buddy

 

[Ront]

I have a hub knocking around somewhere (with the abs lead) that you can have for 20 + P&P. Its off a clio DCI but they are all the same...

Will see if I can dig it out.

That'd be great if you can. Car is a '53 1.2 16V but if they're the same as the DCi's I'd gladly have it off ya.

 

[The Boosh!]

Yeh they are the same, I bought mine for my 1.2 16v but it turned out I didn't need it in the end. Will let you know by tomorrow.

 

[W111ALG]

Helicoil time!!

 

[Ront]

Yeh they are the same, I bought mine for my 1.2 16v but it turned out I didn't need it in the end. Will let you know by tomorrow.

Excellent! Thanks a lot for that mate.