So is this wheel toast?

Some of you may know it from the "why do I have a gearbox full of neutrals" and "toyota's clearcoat sucks" threads, this is my shitbox (one of them).



After the clutch splosion a few months ago, it has mostly been a pretty well behaved shitbox until today. Driving down a local freeway at a high rate of speed as I do when suddenly I feel an unnerving vibration and movement from the rear end, almost like I had sudden onset four wheel steering that I am pretty sure is NOT an option on Tacomas. I consult the Toyota TPMS to see if I have a tire going down (oh wait, that shit doesn't ever work)

Stuck between a K-rail and a moran in a Prius (naturally), I drop my speed and make my way to the nearest offramp to assess my new feature that my truck has developed.

Pull into a parking lot, walk around, kick the tires... "That looks fine, that looks good, nothing to see here, WTactualF?!?!?!" (note gap between drum and wheel)





Tacomas are apparently now 4 lug, and not very tight 4 lug at that. One lug has (as the kids say) yeeted itself outta there, taking the threaded part of the stud with it. The other 4 are stupendously loose and were trying to follow their friend who is now likely embedded in the windshield of a Tesla.

After cancelling the day's appointments, jacking the truck up and realizing that although I have a Milwaukee impact and a socket set with me, I lack a 19mm socket needed for the adapter thingy for the cool kid tuner lugnuts, I get the wheel off the ground and tighten the remaining 4 lugnuts with the factory lug wrench like a peasant.

After stopping 3 times in the 20 mile trip home to re-tighten lugnuts (again, with peasant wrench) and enjoying PCH at a very slow, safe pace, I limp the shitbox into the shitbox hanger.

Jack it up, grab the proper 19mm socket and remove the wheel (fighting one hopelessly stripped nut/stud). Find that this wheel now has a variable/oval bolt pattern.

Sadness....



Look everybody! Lug ovals!





A replacement wheel has been located and is inbound (apparently they are discontinued and I got 1 of 3 left in the country). While they aren't Volks, they weren't cheap either. I would sure hate to doom this wheel if it is decent enough to run, at least to use as a spare or something better then repurposing it an extension cord holder in the shop.

This wheel safe to use in any capacity or should I just forget that idea?

Also, how the hell could this happen?

Last time the wheels were off (abt 4,000 miles ago when I got new tires), I double checked the folks at the tire shop's work with my torque wrench, getting a satisfying click out of each and every lugnut. Rechecked the other 3 wheels after I got home too, all were fine. Truck has not been out of my sight in any bad neighborhoods so I doubt somebody was trying to pilfer my wheels.
Lugnuts are Gorilla brand, bought with the wheels (so "good" China, not Amazon China I assume).

 

That is a head scratcher...

Yes, IMO the wheel is toast, or at least I wouldn't use it.

 

This happened to me with my six lug. One day my steering wheel was was vibrating a lot more than usual and I heard a strange noise coming from my corners. When I went to diagnose the problem I found out that the lug nuts I had on there were loose as hell and had broken into pieces. Those were cheap lug nuts that came with my wheels and I replaced them with the OEM nuts.

Although a few of the holes on my wheels have been bored for more displacement such as yours the wheels themselves are still working good for me and I haven’t had any more issues apart from being paranoid about it happening again.

 

centric hub adapter needed maybe?
i always torque wheels to 90 to 100 lbs ever since i had a wheel come off when i was younger lol
also every 500 miles lugs should be checked to make sure they are tight but nobody ever does.

 

I know the feeling I was lucky and it didn't ruin my wheel(cheap T4R ones). I apparently didn't torque down the lugs after the lift. Expensive lesson learned

I really dig the xrunner

 

Damn, that sucks. Well my grandpa always said, better to lose a wheel nut than your real nut!

 

I think you could have a couple things going on...

The torque spec is for hubcentric/oem lugs. For a given torque value, hubcentric lugs have more clamping force than tapered. Most of the torque applied in tapered lugs is used to overcome lug-to-seat friction.

Bolt circle of wheel might not coincidence with the wheel studs, giving an interference fit at your lugs and lug seats.
Maybe check wheel stud radial runout.

 

Good lord that was a lot of effort to read lol. But OP I would personally forget that rim exists, unless you are desperate for a matching spare (and a matching situation).

 

Dang that sucks. Well at least you were able to find a replacement instead of being stuck with running an oddball or having to buy 4 new.

My first guess would have been tire shop doofus. But you checked torque so that’s out.

Second guess is attempted theft but I don’t see evident gouges.

My third guess is debris between the wheel and drum. Like a little pebble that could have eventually crumbled. But I don’t see a mark there it would have made.

Are you the original owner? Perhaps at some point they were over torqued. You could pull the other wheels to see if the studs look stretched. I had to replace some and got arp studs. They were much better than oem, denser and noticeably heavier.

 

it seems more like a stud/Nut issue or Wheel issue. A quick search of TSW Wheel Issues and it looks like a lot of people have issues with them (mostly on BMW or Fords). Maybe just a bad quality wheel (blame Quality Inspector C) How long have you had the wheels? Were they preowned? The studs could have been stretched with someone at a tire shop using to much torque putting them on at some point.

personally i would forget the wheel and get another to match. After driving that distance and having to pull over multiple times to retorque the wheels back on on your way home.

 

We had a rash of wheel nut loosenings in town a while back. Several people ended up in your situation (and worse.) My wife's CRV was one in a similar situation as yours. Never heard if the police solved the problem but it seems to have stopped. Possibility anyway. Please don't use that wheel.

 

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Replace all the studs!!

 

Have had the wheels for about 5 years, they were purchased new, just got their 2nd set of tires abt a year ago. They do have hub centric adapters on them, the one on that wheel got a bit chewed up, not sure if it was cause or effect though.

 

Am replacing all the studs on that corner and ordered a full replacement set of lugnuts.

 

Use that for your spare. I had similar thing happen to me twice. Both times same tire (drivers rear)

 

So you know I’d the wheels are lug or hub centric?
And what type of lug nuts are you using?

It is possible you have miss matched wheel/lugs?

 

Wheels are lug centric (tapered seats), lugnuts appear to be the correct taper for the wheels. There seems to be an adequate amount of thread engagement on the lugnuts too.
I do have hub centric rings in the wheels to make up the difference in centerbore.

 

Damn that sucks. Happened to me once, tire shop didn't torque the nuts down tight enough and one backed out.
Gotta say your truck looks GOOD

 

Lug centric wheels are not necessarily manufactured to have the bolt circle coincide with the hub circle. When you force it to act like a hubcentric with hub spacers, it can set up the interference in the photo I posted previously.