As I was driving home, I saw someone working on their left rear wheel, which had all the lug nuts off, and was canted at a very odd angle. Being that I had known this kid (when he was in Division AA, working out for state in the 100m dash, I had raced him...and beat him), so we had a bit of history. Anyway, I stopped.
There were several other people standing around, "helping", including the kid's dad, a brother, and some neighbors. Everyone was giving the poor kid directions. It turned out that the kid had decided to replace the silver hubcaps on his Nissan with black hubcaps. The silver hubcaps were held on by the lugnuts, but the black hubcaps were held on by fingers against the rim of the wheel. Not realizing this, the kid had removed the retaining spring from inside the fingers, flipped the spring over, and installed the spring outside the fingers, on each new hubcap. The "lug nuts" were molded into the new hubcaps.
So, the kid removed the lug nuts on the first wheel, removed the old hubcap, and installed the new hubcap, forcing the valve stem at an angle. He then moved on and repeated this with the second wheel, while his dad and brither removed the lug nuts from the other 2 wheels. They had started on the right side of the car, which had its wheels up on the curved edge of the curb. They moved to the left side of the car, and suddenly the car moved, and the tire set at a canted angle. I arrived just as they were about to go for a drive to "seat the wheels", as recommended by the dad, who is a few years younger than I am.
Before today, I thought everyone knew this, but lug nuts are important. Do not drive without having them secured.
I did take the time to show the kid how to correctly use the jack--including showing him the jack points on the frame (he was going to use the rocker panels), how to properly torque the lug nuts, how to properly install the new hubcaps, and to explain what went wrong, as well as what would have happened, had he driven the Nissan, as intended. Apparrntly, using the star pattern, tightening while on the jack, then torque after on the ground, and keeping the head of the lug wrench all the way on the lug nut and jack nut were all new things for him. I also explained that he should re-torque the lug nuts after driving for 50 or so miles. Not sure this was a positive, but we found that one of his tires had a big staple in it, so will need to be fixed.
For anyone who may not know, loose lug nuts allow the wherls to wobnle, making safe handling impossible, wallowing out the lug nut holes, and rubbing the threads off the lug bolts. Missing lug nuts just allow the wheels to fall off--likely at inopportune times. Other damage to the lug bolts and holes may occur, but will be less than the damage to the components that scrape the ground after loss of a wheel.
