Vehicles are usually designed at the same time as their specific wheels and tires to achieve optimum safety in the intended use of the vehicle. The tires designed for a light truck differ markedly from those designed for a compact car.
The Houston wheel hub defect lawyers at Denena Points, PC note that wheels and tires are generally marked with their sizes and load capacities because these numbers play key roles in ensuring your safety on the road. Wheels and tires must match before mounting onto a vehicle.
Over the life of your car or truck, you may need to replace the tires, the rims, even entire wheel hubs and assemblies. Instructions for mounting new rims or wheels include details about the types and numbers of fasteners required, lug nut attachments, torque requirements, and advice regarding how proper torque should be achieved and what tools should or should not be used to mount a wheel. Failure to follow the manufacturer’s installation procedures can lead to metal fatigue and breaking of stud bolts, and result in the wheels coming off while your car or truck is in motion.
Achieving the proper torque when installing wheel parts is necessary to achieve the clamping effect required to keep the wheel securely in place on the vehicle. A proper clamp load is created by using proper torque to secure the wheel nuts and lug nuts in place. Proper torque and clamp load means that the wheel studs will only stretch within their natural elastic limit of a few thousandths of an inch rather than overstretching, bending, and finally breaking.
Our Houston wheel hub defect lawyers emphasize that the load that a wheel system fastened with proper torque can support is far greater than the load a stud bolt can support without being properly torqued. Controlling the torque is the key to controlling the clamp load.
Sometimes a wheel is assembled using an air wrench or inadequate impact wrench. The great majority of air wrenches can’t be calibrated to torque. And using an impact wrench can cause the wheels to have 3 to 5 times the specified torque, which will overstress the wheel hub components. On the other hand, a cheap or worn out impact wrench or one with a low air pressure supply can lead to undertorquing and loose lug nuts. Improper torqueing alters the clamp load and bolt torque relationship, resulting in a “soft joint” leading to wheel system failure.
Once attachment holes have become misshapen from stress forces, for instance by loose lug nuts, and rims and hubs have become bent, proper mating of new wheel parts can no longer be achieved. The effects of loose lug nuts can’t simply be repaired. The entire wheel assembly, including the hub, must be replaced. And “tacking” the studs back on would form yet more loose connections leading to further metal fatigue, wheel damage, and heightened risk of injury or death in a wheel runoff accident. At the factory, rims and studs are hydraulically pressed in from the rear to form a secure wheel mounting with proper clamping. A press is generally the best way to securely mount a new wheel assembly.
When you’re having work done on your vehicle and its wheel assemblies, our Houston wheel hub defect lawyers urge you to make sure mechanics don’t cut corners. Cheap work can lead to wheels coming off as your vehicle is on the road. This can lead to serious accidents, including rollovers, one of the most dangerous types of crash.
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