Wow. Boinked twice.

http://www.autojunk.nl/clips/view/152095

all I can think when watching that is... WHY wheelbolts.. WHy do they do it... ugh..

I don't think wheel studs would have made a difference...the theives still took the rims and it still got towed. Imagine if they didn't use cinder blocks and then the towing company dragged it away! It would have been A LOT more damage.

P.S. Does anyone know why all German manufacturers use wheels bolts instead of studs? No one has ever been able to tell me why.

Primarily because germans are shiny happy people ;)

That sucks.

Lug studs suck ftmfl. Why oh why did Mercedes use these on the Dogde/Merc Sprinter van? We have one as a parts van at work and I got deemed the lucky job to do an oil change, tire balance, and rotation on one of these things and wanted to shoot myself. The oil filter only had like 8 o-rings you have to change and then 6 lug studs on the weird ass wheels. Made for an awesome afternoon!

wheel bolts have one thread interface (potential point of failure), whereas a stud plus a nut had two thread interfaces. It's pretty obvious from an engineering perspective why bolts are preferable, and given what we know of Zee Germans and their propensity to let the engineers run the show, I fail to see why this surprises anyone :).

Holy E36 M3. That is ridiculous.

I'm not aware of any screw-in wheel studs (edit: I'm talking about the kind that take a nut). That doesn't mean they aren't out there...but I'd say generally, they're pressed in from the back of the rotor (or drum, or axle...whatever).

Most of the failures I've seen in both (permenant studs and wheel bolts) are at stress risers where features change on the stud. Like where the threads end and the non threaded portion of the stud begins...

Just some thoughts.

THAT would put me in a tool throwing rage.

That might put me in a Dragging-a-tow-truck-operator-around-behind-his-own-truck-for-1000-miles kinda rage.... a 3rd degree manslaughter rage at least.

Was that a V8-era S4? Painful to watch.

What I found interesting was that a news crew was there to capture the towing, on a holiday to boot (I think I heard Thanksgiving Day). How was it known that the car would be towed at that time on that day?

I agree that the the tow truck driver handled it poorly but this lady had several days to get some type of wheels on the car or have it moved to a shop. If you have a $60k S4 you probably have the means to get it worked on in a timely manner. Once she got the ticket and notice it was to be towed she should have made her own arrangements.

Not excusing them dragging it off the blocks but I am surprised it took DC that long to have it impounded.

looked more like an A6 or A8 to me... also more likely to cost the 60 grand they mentioned as well

Agreed. Who leaves their car on cinder blocks on the street for over a week? I wouldn't do that with one of my beaters, and I'm poor! Surely the wench could afford temporary steelies. That was bloody awful to watch.

EDITED: Somehow ended up in the wrong thread... wierd

All the driver needed to do was put a set of dollies under the front and rear suspensions and it would have walked right up TRIPLING the tow bill.

Lesley wrote: Agreed. Who leaves their car on cinder blocks on the street for over a week? I wouldn't do that with one of my beaters, and I'm poor! Surely the wench could afford temporary steelies. That was bloody awful to watch.

If it was an S package car there are no steelies that fit. Looking at a few of the OE wheels there are not a lot that have 3-4 in stock anywhere.

ChesterRumble wrote: P.S. Does anyone know why all German manufacturers use wheels bolts instead of studs? No one has ever been able to tell me why.

this was my question.. I hate the things..

The explanation I got from porsche was more even torque and less warping of brakes.. I don't 100% believe it.

Much as I love DC, there is no way I would bother with having a car in that town. Then again I plan on getting a tatoo of the Metro Map, so, yeah...

http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/youre_being_towed._now_what/21123/ <---- speaking of towing...

Some Fiats also use bolts. When I raced X1/9's, the first thing I did was convert them to studs. Easy to do, and oh so much better for changing wheels.

Three words for that lady. Air Freight.

Lawyer.

If you can afford a 60+K car, you can afford air freight.

If a person did that to my car I would definitely see him in court. He made no attempt to not damage the car.

They were both in the wrong.

Lesley wrote: Agreed. Who leaves their car on cinder blocks on the street for over a week? I wouldn't do that with one of my beaters, and I'm poor! Surely the wench could afford temporary steelies. That was bloody awful to watch.

They said it was several days before they could get a police report written, and then there is the dealing with insurance part. Also, looking at the owner, I have to assume that she doesn't know that there is such a thing as an aftermarket. So she calls up the local dealer and says she needs wheels. Dealers don't stock wheels, because who the hell buys OE wheels?

If you were an automotive moron (and that explains a solid 75% of the population) then it's not at all surprising that she killed a week on that process.

well, I am sure if I called the dealer up and they did not have wheels in stock.. that they could have rounded up 4 from cars on the lot so that it could be towed to the dealer until new wheels and rims came in.

as for lug bolts.. I got used them.. ALL of my cars have them.

That video makes me ill

I like the excuse that the car was a danger. Uh-huh, quite the danger.