Somebody help me on this one. I was washing the car right after i got back from a fairly long road trip, about 9 hours total on the interstate over two days. I found that one of the non-locking lug bolts on the front left wheel is gone. Not snapped off, and never noticed anything unusual on the trip. May even have gone away before the trip ( very scary thought ). I checked the other remaining bolts all the way around, the only ones I found even remotely loose were a couple of the locking lugs, and they only needed to be cinched up a smidge. Box stock 16" white painted wheels, run flat tires.

Ideas?

 

It obviously wasn't torqued/tightened to specs otherwise it wouldn't have come out. You probably should order another lug nut ASAP.

Actually, I take that back. It is possible for them to come loose over time. I believe it is recommended to check them after a couple of weeks of having them tightened to just to make sure they are still tight. So if you had your tires rotated, it is always a good idea to recheck the lug nuts 2-4 weeks just in case. If they are fine at that point, they should remain OK until the next time they are removed.

 

Lug Bolts don t come loose if they were torqued properly. Check all the others ASAP to make sure they were torqued properly. That one was probably left untightened or torqued improperly

To retorque your lug bolts on your Mini is very subjective. Once they are torqued they should not come loose. If you retorque them you must be very careful. I have seen people retorque their bolts and every time tighten them a little more and eventually strip the threads. I have done 4 wheel bearings because of this... Not a cheap fix for something that originally was not a problem
The only problem I have seen is with repainted wheels. When the paint the wheels they do not remove the paint on the seats when the lug bolt contacts. The paint flakes and the bolts can come loose. You must either clean ALL the paint off or retorque a couple times to make sure because it can come loose

 

Lug Bolts don t come loose if they were torqued properly. Check all the others ASAP to make sure they were torqued properly. That one was probably left untightened or torqued improperly.

To retorque your lug bolts on your Mini is very subjective. Once they are torqued they should not come loose. If you retorque them you must be very careful. I have seen people retorque their bolts and every time tighten them a little more and eventually strip the threads. I have done 4 wheel bearings because of this... Not a cheap fix for something that originally was not a problem.
The only problem I have seen is with repainted wheels. When the paint the wheels they do not remove the paint on the seats when the lug bolt contacts. The paint flakes and the bolts can come loose. You must either clean ALL the paint off or retorque a couple times to make sure because it can come loose

 

If you are not using a torque wrench you have no idea how tight or loose the lug bolts are. You can by a decent enough one for lug bolts at Harbor Freight for $10 or so. A properly torqued lug bolt will not come out on it's own.

 

OK, so with stock rims and tires, what is the proper torque? I've read a couple of different settings on the boards.

 

Oh, wait a minute, I think this covers it really well:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ut-torque.html

 

Maybe someone started to steal your tires and was interrupted and only got as far as removing one lug nut or suddenly realized you had locking lugs nuts...