Well List,
I think I was just nominated for the presidency of the AMA, and to think,
before today I didnt know it existed. Today was a beautiful driving day and
the driving was beautiful until my left front wheel fell off while crossing a
bridge and rounding a sweeping left hand turn. The results? Luckily, I am
uninjured, and remarkably, the car is in pretty decent shape. What saved me
was having slowed down for the turn and the fact that I ran into the concrete
side of the bridge at a slight angle. The little lip at the bottom of the
concrete saved the paint and body work along the right side of the car. The
car did ride up the side of the concrete, dragging the right front bumper,
pushing it in slightly. The most interesting point was watching the wheel
catapult over the guardrail and fly about 50 feet in the air before
disappearing. The damage? The bumper is bent slightly and the chrome worn off
along a three inch strip. The fender is pushed in slightly where the bumper
attaches. Believe it or not, that is the extent of the body damage. The car
came to rest and slid on three points. The first was the rotor. I had the
brake applied(and even the clutch in, didnt stall the car) so about a half inch
was ground off of the rotor. The bottom of the link assembly was ground down
past the nut. And the u-bolt on the sway bar was almost ground through. What
caused it. Well, I wondered after a lengthy rebuild of the front suspension if
I had done something terribly wrong. Guess in a way I did by putting
anti-seize compound on the wheel studs. Not sure yet, but the best guess is
that the lugnuts came loose until the wheel finally broke off at the hub,
taking the wire wheel adaptor with it. It was still attached to the wheel when
I found it a couple hundred feet from the road about 15 min. later. The front
wheel hub is fine except for the stud holes which are now eliptical,
effectively rendering the hub useless. One stud was even pulled completely
out. Needless to say, I feel rather stupid, but if my embarassment might help
others.... The car has been dropped off to my local british mechanic to get an
estimate for insurance. Guess my only questions are to confirm my mistake and
to ask if there is anything in particular I should make a point to check.
Obviously, I will be going over everything on the car but just wanted to know
if there was anything in particular to look for. On the bright side, maybe the
jolt will have fixed whatever is causing my short in the electrical system.
Aaron(happy to be healthy, sad for the car)
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