Audi woes - new wheel, rotor, front panel

[Eric_R_Kissell at whirlpool.com]

Tony "films at crazyralph.com" wrote:
>Noticed a hard shimmy in the wheel and a knocking sound and less than
>30 seconds later I was sliding down the highway minus my front left tire.

Am I the only person who brings a torque wrench with them to the tire shop
and hand tightens my lug bolts before driving away?

I have experienced two annoyances that both could turn into something more
sinister.

1. Over tightened bolts: On one car I purchase the wheel bolts were so
tight that I broke three wrenches before I got them broken loose the first
time, including a 6-point 1/2" socket on a breaker bar and the lug wrench
from the Audi tool kit. This could have been a serious problem if I had
need to change a flat at the side of the road. Also, wheel bolts that are
not torqued correctly can fail catastrophically due to fatigue, or so I
learned in my ASM (American Society of Materials) failure analysis course
several years ago.

2. Under tightened  bolts: Well, your story is the typical case. I always
worry that it could happen to me in the middle of a mountain curve and in
my nightmare there is a Peterbilt involved somehow and I end up going off a
cliff. OK, I live in NW Ohio, where we have no mountain curves, or
mountains, or big hills, really, but I have driven in the mountains in many
other places. My uncle lost a wheel on the PA turnpike several years ago,
but luckily it was a straight section. Of course he had quite a long walk
to retrieve his lost wheel, but the damage to his car (VW Squareback) was
minimal. Naturally, the Squareback was not traveling with quite the pace I
usually find myself enjoying with my Audis.

Seriously, I would recommend that everyone check the torque of the wheel
bolts on his car before driving it away from the shop. Even just checking
the tightness by feel without a torque wrench would identify loose bolts.
You might not get them to exactly 75 ft-lbs, but one grunt is better than
loose.

Eric Kissell
1991 200q 20v Avant, Koni Sports (yellow), 2.4 Bar (MRC), eBay Surprise
1989 200q 10v Avant, Boge Turbogas, 1.8 Bar (qlcc) - FOR SALE
1986 5000cstq Sedan, Bilsteins, 1.8 Bar (SJM)