New tires installed, 1 was not torqued down

I purchased 4 tires online and had them shipped to my Subaru dealer for installation. I had a 4 wheel alignment and the new tires installed, this was one week ago.

 

Last night I hear a noise from the driver rear tire. I put the car on a jack to inspect and discover the tire has not been torqued down. The first lug nut I checked I could spin freely with my hand. All of the bolts were just loosely in place.

Tires have 500 miles on them now and my question is what if any problems should I be concerned about. I plan to call the service manager in the morning to discuss this and the fact that all tires were over-inflated but I'm wondering what if any problems this may have created.

 

Thanks for any advice.

Probably none since you caught it. Check the wheels to make sure the lug holes are still round and not ovaled out. Make sure the lugs tourque properly. Make sure the hub and the back of the wheel does not have any corrosion build up. If torqued properly with buildup on the hub, particles can rattle out causing the wheel to come loose. If so clean it all with a wire brush. I find many subarus are over torqued throughout the service life which in theory can cause the studs to stretch. Upon torquing properly, the wheels come loose (don't ask me how I know this).

Note to self...check your lug torque when you get the car home. Personally I have yet to allow myself to trust any tire shop to properly torque a set of lugs. Usually they are over torqued, but on a rare occasion they are not tightened, which usually happens when more than 1 tech is working on the car.

 

I was at a track day last year when a kid (under 21) with an SVT Focus came into the pits and asked if I had any ideas what might be wrong with his car. With a raised eyebrow I asked what the problem was and he stated his car had a really bad shake that got worse on the straights. I looked at his wheels and noticed that the lug nuts were not sitting an even depth in the rims...hmmm. At least 3 lugs on all 4 wheels were freely spinning by hand...YIKES!! I asked where his factory wrench was at and he said it was at home, because he was trying to save weight...oh no. Luckily I had a torque wrench with me and got him squared away. Turned out he had a local tire shop install a new set of tires the day before. Luckily he didn't plow of the track into a tire barrier.