z wrote:
> On May 12, 9:44�pm, Tegger <teg...@tegger.c0m> wrote:
>> "Pangloss" <optimist@pessimist> wrote innews:F7-dnSmHe8OwpLvVnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@comcast.com:
>>
>>> I pulled into a shopping center parking space right next to this real
>>> small Honda beater (I think a Civic that was so old it must have had a
>>> two digit serial number) and noticed that the RF wheel was missing one
>>> of its four lug nuts. The driver was in the car so I walked around his
>>> car to tell him about it, along the way noticing that the LF wheel was
>>> in the same shape. When I told the jerk in the driver's seat about the
>>> missing nuts, he told me-- in broken Spanglish-- to go F*** off.
>>> My question is how long will I have to wait until his wheel(s) fall of
>>> and he loses control of the car so I can see him upside down �in a
>>> roadside ditch?
>> Probably forever. Three lugs properly tightened are sufficient to hold the
>> wheel on the hub. But your Spanglish guy is still a dummy for driving
>> around this way.
>>
>> --
>> Tegger
>>
>> The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQwww.tegger.com/hondafaq/
>
> "spirited driving" with a four lug wheel with a missing nut can lead
> to the wheel folding over on the weak axis described by the line
> through the unsupported side of the two lug nuts and the hole in the
> middle, which is why american cars went to five lug wheels a zillion
> years back. that said, i've never heard even rumors of that happening
> in the current generation of four lug wheel cars.

that's much more of a necessity with detroit junk - they shear/fatigue
lug studs all the time.