This post is my telling of the facts involved in this matter. I will cast no stones, I will simply state the facts and let the reader determine who is at fault.

Let the story (or is that tragedy?) begin ...

I visited Falkland Performance on the 16th of May, to have a set of black diamond cross drilled disc and EBC greenstuff pads fitted to the front of my MY99 Impreza Turbo.

At the same time, I had them swap my standard wheels & tyres for a brand new set of 17" speedlines and also had them carry out a wheel alignment.

I was very happy with the work that they did at the time, and Kevin seemed to be a very nice chap. I also could not fault the price, nor the fact that they were willing to swap the wheels over and fit the pads that I supplied rather than insisting on fitting pads supplied by them.

On Friday 15th June, I attended the SIDC track day at Croft.

Mark from Tyres Northampton was in the process of swapping off my new wheels for a used set of 16" track wheels, when he called my attention to the fact that two of the wheel nuts were cross threaded.

I asked him to have a go at getting them off, as otherwise I had wasted nearly 250 quid on track day fees, insurance and accomodation, as I was not going on the track with my brand new Toyos.

Mark had a hell of a time getting the nuts of, and ended up with one wheel stud snapped in half, and the other having the thread stripped off half its length.

I drove on the track with four wheel nuts on two of my wheels, and everything was OK.

With the car, that is, I was fuming

At lunch time I contacted Kevin at Falkland Performance.

Here is my best recolection of the conversation ...

Me : I've just had the wheels taken of and ended up with two broken wheel studs. Nobody else has touched the wheels in a month since you put them on, and I want to know what you are going to do about it.
Kevin: All of my guys 'work on race cars' and would never let a car leave the garage with cross threaded wheel nuts.
Me: So your guys are perfect and never make mistakes, so how could this have happened ?
Kevin: We have seen four cases of this happening very recently, including Colin Tintos Impreza. What happens is the alloy wheel studs react with the alloy wheel nuts under the heat generated by the brakes and the nuts weld themselves to the wheel studs.
Me: You have got to be kidding. So as far as you are concerned its not your fault and your not going to do anything about it.
Kevin: Yes.

Now I don't know who this Colin Tinto bloke is, but if anybody has had this happen to their wheel nuts then I would really like to hear from you.

I spoke to Mark, and he has never heard of this happening.

So, there you have it, I will leave it up to you to decide if you will ever have any work done at Falkland in the future, but I know I sure as hell will not ...

Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

Andrew.

 

As they say, act in haste, repent at leisure.

Please be careful about what is posted on this bbs. You can easily get yourself in trouble, and ScoobyNet, too.

Richard

 

BTTT, just in case anyone missed it over the weekend.

Sorry, won't do it again

Andrew.

 

Hi,

To give Kevin his due, he is telling the truth about my wheel nuts.

I'd been up to Crail, fitted slicks to have a play, then when I was done, I was about to put my road tyres back on.

This was when I discovered I couldn't get some of the wheel nuts off. I eventually got one off, using a long bar, but it stripped the threads. I eventually gave up, and had to drive home with slicks on the front. I know the nuts were on right, as I did it myself, so it's not a cross threading problem.

I took the car into Falkland, and they had a lot of trouble getting the other nuts off, and I had to get new wheel studs for both wheels.

Apparently some guys swap the wheel nuts for better quality ones. Sometimes bits of the wheel nuts come off and damage the wheel stud threads.

Colin

 

If this is indeed the case with the nuts 'reacting' with the studs, then why are these very important facts not being brought to customers attention when purchasing. I am sitting here wondering if Falkland Performance attempted to contact any customers that may have had these wheels fitted. A quick phone call to come in and check, or get different nuts.

I for one had these same wheels fitted by Tyres Northampton and myself and Mark know that the nuts were not crossed on mine. Time will tell if they 'react'.

Richie.

PS: TN even washed my car while I waited


[This message has been edited by RichieS (edited 18 June 2001).]

 

Right well I don't know the answer but I had something similar on a Citroen AX GT years ago, whilst in for new front tyres the one of the nuts was very stiff and the garage just kept at it with their airgun wheel thing. The nut eventually came out but it bent the hub that it was attached too.

After 30 minutes of arguing the tyre place in question took full responsibility and replaced the hub and nuts. I had argued that if there was a problem surely they should have told me before they broke the the nuts/hubs.

Anyway I know the situation is different, but I do feel that your post is balanced and somewhat justified. If there is a known problem with the wheels/studs then it is definately something you should be told of.

Jon

 

I know nothing about this, only that some wheel nuts can be difficult to remove, but as for reacting with the stud? sounds a bit bollocks to me.

Colin tinto is a very nice bloke who drives a 22B and lives up tere somewhere. Apparently I have met him, but couldnt tell you what he looks like or anything else about him. Only that friends f mine know him, partcularly Pete Croney.

I would ask Pete if he knows anything about this happening to wheels as he must have among teh most experience of removing impreza wheels.

(tyres northampton of course knowing their stuff too)