broken ribs

Right rear wheel broke off at the lug nuts while merging onto the expressway. Caused me to slam into a concrete wall. All GM will do is deny responsibility. Anybody else have the same problem?

04 Torch Red Vert

wow that is scary man, sorry to hear

Knob Jockey

Probably a first for this Forum. Did you hit something?

Glad you're OK, or at least I hope you're OK..

Got any pics?

NYC6

A case of untighted lugnuts perhaps?

Garrett W

Dang, just saw a thread about another 08 engine blowing. What is up with 08's? Glad to hear you're alright.

broken ribs

Car turned violently to the right because I was on the gas at the time. Hit the wall at about 70 mph. broke some ribs smashed my hand pretty good but nothing permanent. No damage at all to right rear of car but GM's stance is that it broke off due to impact. right front is smashed to the turn of about 30,000.

broken ribs

only 12000 miles on the car at the time never touched the lug nuts

Robls6

hmmm...

Glennm27

Are you saying the wheel broke or the lug nuts broke?

R&L's C6

Maybe

Need Pics.

Glennm27

Well, after 12000 miles they SHOULD have been touched. Could they have been loose? Sounds like they may have been...

broken ribs

posted a picture of the lug nuts still each holding a small piece of aluminum wheel. didn't hit anything. hope I posted the picture right

broken ribs

images are waiting approval by site administrator

boraxman

Ouch...You are insured? Policy paid up? Hope so.

C-INRED

I'd feel better about this discussion if the OP had some history on this forum prior to this thread, had a screen name other than "broken ribs" and had something in his profile.

Maybe I'm just a skeptic by nature.

mpuzach

So what actually broke? Was it the wheel? You say, "posted a picture of the lug nuts still each holding a small piece of aluminum wheel." That suggests that the lug nuts and the threaded lugs are still intact but that the wheel broke off - is this correct? If so, is it a factory wheel?

matt_lowry123

Wow!!! That almost happened to me when I was younger and I had a crappy 84 Monty Carlo. I changed the oil and forgot to tighten the driver side lug nuts on the front. I hand tighten them and I guess forgot all about them. I started to drive the car and it started to shake so I hit the breaks and pulled over. I then looked down and I could see the tire was hardly hanging on!!

Did the car start acting funny at any point before the wreck? My car felt like I was driving on a bent rim. Has anybody changed your oil in those 12k miles?

Anyways I'm glad nobody got hurt too bad!!

Mark VerMurlen

Were you accelerating in a straight line when this happened? Was any part of the active handling system turned off? Has the car been modified in any way or is it purely stock?

You need to give more details of the circumstances of your crash. We have lots of history and knowledge of the car, not so with the driver. In most 1 car accidents, its driver error at fault and seldom mechanical failure. Convince us there wasn't driver error involved and then we're more likely to discuss the possibility of mechanical failure.

- Mark

WAwatchnut

It does sound like a shattered wheel. That would be the first time I've heard of that happening on a c6 where impact to the wheel wasn't involved. Not saying there's any reason not to believe OPs account, but I can see why GM would be skeptical or suspicious. (BTW - there doesn't need to be any damage to the right rear of car for the wheel to shatter. If a curb was nailed while sliding, the impact would be at the wheel)

To the OP - are you sure the wheel caused the accident? Another (scary) possibility is that active handling could have malfunctioned, causing the brakes to be applied to a specific wheel, which could have caused the car to suddenly veer to one direction. It has happened to others, and there was some activity by the NHSTA underway. I believe there was a recall by GM associated with this (or a TSB at least).

ALD_Z06

Things happen pretty quick under hard acceleration. Sounds like the OP may have lost control and the wheel broke AFTER impact.

Without pics it's hard to tell.

Seems pretty easy to blame GM for possible driver error.