I work at a boarding school and other faculty cars have been vandalized in the past - so I was walking around my truck today and saw a broken lug nut sitting next to the wheel. The stud was snapped in two. The car has been parked for a week.

What are the chances of this thing breaking and falling off on its own while the truck was parked? Or do you think someone was messin with the lug nuts?


anyways need to fix it - thats my conspiracy theory anyways.

 

Near zero and yes, most definately

 

oh and I did see this guy sneaking around my truck the other day...

 

really Jamie? no chance that it could have been broken while driving and just fallen off when I came to a stop, or after being parked for a while? I dont want to make a fuss over this unless I can be sure.

 

You are talking about a lug nut that suddenly popped off when you came to a stop?
Is is possible it was a freak accident...yes....is is likely....no.
....was the stud very rusty in the break where it snapped off?

I wouldn't pursue it more than that unless more evidence appeared that some did indeed vandalize the truck.
....even then, you are unlikely to catch any culprits.

 

there was rust inside the break - also, the weather has gone from cold to warm recently - prob a 20 degree differential or more.

and youre right without hard evidence, it is pretty worthless I think to pursue it.

 

Even if the rust did cause enough damage to the lug nut itself to break it still, in all likelihood, would have flown off while you were driving vs. waiting until at a stop before it randomly fell off.

If it were really temperature and rust, I'd imagine all your lugs would be in trouble.

 

Take a close look at the lug nut to see if there are any unusual impact marks. It would be really hard to break off a lug nut without hitting it with something hard. Check where the stud broke and see if there is any sign of rust. Is the break clean or jagged? These would be clues as to whether it was vandalism or just an unusual event.

 

If there was indeed a decent amount of rust, it could have been an freak accident.
In any case I wouldn't worry about it.....do check your other lugs though.