Club 80-90 Forums

I've had the nearside rear trailing arm and suspension off for a few months whilst I welded the wheel arch and replaced the outer trailing arm mount. After refitting and driving <10 miles on it I noticed some loud clunking and realised the wheel was really lose. I've now removed the wheel which had a scary amount of play and had a look at the damage:

Very loose nuts, bits of metal everywhere and the seats and holes in the rim have taken a beating and are no longer round.

I'm guessing I'll need a new rim at least, but obviously I need to identify why it happened. All the nuts were torqued to spec so I think it's pretty unlikely I fitted the wheel wrong but not ruling it out, I probably should have driven up the road and tightened them again. Could it be an alignment issue with the new trailing arm mount? I'd be surprised if that would have an impact after such a short distance.

I wanted to get a set of steelies anyway so losing the rim isn't the end of the world, would I need to replace both sides at once or just the one? I've found it hard to find any info on the rims I currently have except they're 15" and have a spacer

Any advice would be appreciated! I'm due to head to Europe for a month on Saturday morning so keen to get this sorted as soon as possible!

Are you certain you were using the correct nuts for alloys?

You're right, also posted on a Facebook group and they aren't the right nuts! They've been on since the previous owner put the alloys on God knows how long ago, im surprised I didn't have any issues before.

If I source a pair or full set of steels tomorrow () will I be able to put them on the existing studs? The thread still seems fine

IMO. If the threads are undamaged then they will be ok to use.

I have a set of steel wheels you can have FOC. But they will need collecting from Cheshire.

The ovality of the holes doesn’t matter , can you tell if the holes have spherical or tapered seats , they look like non stock wheels

R0B wrote: ↑11 May 2022, 20:15 I have a set of steel wheels you can have FOC. But they will need collecting from Cheshire.

Thanks for the offer! But you're too far away. On my way to brickies now for a set of new steels for the rear, going to leave the front be for now

davidoft1 wrote: ↑11 May 2022, 21:55 The ovality of the holes doesn’t matter , can you tell if the holes have spherical or tapered seats , they look like non stock wheels

I think the spherical nuts have been forced into the wrong seat and deformed the alloy, kind of making their own seat? Took a nut if the other side and you can see that there's no contact a few mm around the stud

chalkywoods wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 08:39

davidoft1 wrote: ↑11 May 2022, 21:55 The ovality of the holes doesn’t matter , can you tell if the holes have spherical or tapered seats , they look like non stock wheels

I think the spherical nuts have been forced into the wrong seat and deformed the alloy, kind of making their own seat? Took a nut if the other side and you can see that there's no contact a few mm around the stud

I would need a closer look, could just be a different radius nut or seat , can you see what make wheels they are ?

New steels fitted on both rears with the correct nuts this time! Will change the fronts too when time and money allows. Cheers for all your help