Bad Axle...or loose lugs?

So has anyone had issues with lug nuts not staying tight on the front wheels? I was getting a grinding noise while braking, so I replaced the brakes, the noise went away. A month later I start hearing a rhythmic squeaking from the right front which is followed by the grinding coming back.

This time the noise gets worse fast, so I take it to my local Belle Tire to get their opinion. I'm thinking wheel bearing, they tell me axle, and tell me to replace both as a precautionary measure. I decide to do just the ailing one myself.

So today, I get everything set up to do the deed, sit down, break one lug loose, go to break my next one...and it's loose...check a third and it breaks way too easily. So I think, well lets torque em back down and see what happens. Only one lug was torqued correctly and now the noise is gone.

Now I'm hoping my preferred mechanic is not this inept or corrupt, but has anyone else ran into this issue? I've never had a car that looses it's lug tightness, but it does seem to be related to the issue. I will drive a few days to see if maybe the cold weather is just causing the noise to be reduced before I decide for sure what to do about it.

Are you running aftermarket wheels.. without hubcentric rings? Do you actually torque your lugs down? I know I don't .. but have been working on cars my whole life.. and never had a too loose or too tight lug bolt..

Any wheel spacers? Are the lugs self-centering? Do you have hubcentric rings?

My ski buddies 05 OBXT had this issue over the 120,000 miles he owned it. They had a few shops try and fix it. They traded it on a 2014 OB.

 

He had stock wheels on MOD's.

 

Try moving the wheels around and see if the issue follows.

It is stock rims and yes I used a torque wrench, I will look into that Max if it continues. I think I'm more surprised if it is just the lug nuts, why didn't my mechanic see that?

What are hubcentric rings?

Hubcentric rings are used if you have a wheel that does not have the correct center bore, or if you run spacers. You have stock wheels, so you should be fine unless you or someone added them.

Make sure the wheel and hub by the rotor have no corrosion on them at all, see any white looking stuff, clean it off with wire brush or something. You can get a "false" torque if you have stuff under wheel mating surface. Then they can loosen overtime, you can also play it safe and re torque them after about 150-200 miles.

What about excessive rust on the rotors? When I bought the car, the rotors were pretty rusted, but plenty thick and no warping. But where the wheel mates its pretty rust covered.

What about excessive rust on the rotors? When I bought the car, the rotors were pretty rusted, but plenty thick and no warping. But where the wheel mates its pretty rust covered.

 

Yes that is also bad, the surface that the wheel touches on the rotor needs to be clean.

If you have self-centering lugs, you won't need hubcentric rings, but they're good to have in case your center bore isn't OEM (56.1). Any rust/corrosion build-up on surfaces that mate together (wheel --> rotor --> hub) can cause false torques and result in loosening lugs over time. If you think that's the case, use a dremel + wire wheel attachment to clean off the surfaces and studs.

 

Any wobbling/shaking of the steering wheel at speeds? Or whirring sounds, especially when certain corners are under load (ie, taking a banked off-ramp)? If so, you may have to swap your bearing(s).

I do get some vibration at highway speeds, but I just assumed that was the whole needing a tune issue. No noise now that the lugs are tight.

vibration at highway speeds, if you've had the wheels balanced recently that should not happen.

 

Does the steering wheel shimmy all the time at say 70-75mph ? or does it do it evern now and then at those speeds ?

 

A bad hub/bearing will shimmy sometimes, I found it depends on the pavement.