YACT: What in the hell happened to my hubcap?! **PIC**

[PatboyX]

so...
i was driving around this evening and while stopped at a stop light the man next to me kindly pointed out that my hubcap was about to fall off.
i pulled over to take a look and it promptly rolled off my wheel.

what could cause this?

it looks to me like it melted and then just sort of slowly fell away from the wheel.

 

[crab]

Nope.

 

[joinT]

Nope.

:\

 

[PatboyX]

nope wha?

 

[Crusty]

[Nelson] HA HA [/Nelson]

 

[Scouzer]

Woah...wtf...something is getting hot down there...thats insane

 

[iamwiz82]

Were you riding your brakes or did the brake caliper stick?

 

[crab]

Originally posted by: PatboyX
nope wha?

Initially, when I clicked on the link, all it displayed was "Nope.".

 

[andylawcc]

try touching the wheel where the hubcap fell off from, maybe something is wrong with the brake component which heated up the entire wheel.

 

[UnoSigmaPi]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Were you riding your brakes or did the brake caliper stick?

It had to be the brakes.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: UnoSigmaPi

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Were you riding your brakes or did the brake caliper stick?

It had to be the brakes.

Not necessarily. Someone could have been holding a blow torch near his car

 

[PatboyX]

Originally posted by: UnoSigmaPi

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Were you riding your brakes or did the brake caliper stick?

It had to be the brakes.

well, when i pulled it off, it wasnt hot at all.
ill check in on tuesday with my mechanic. guess i aint going nowhere tomorrow!

 

[Vette73]

I take it is a Ford?


Off the front or rear wheel and also year, make, and model?


Could be brakes binding, bearing going out, etc...

 

[OREOSpeedwagon]

Originally posted by: PatboyX

Originally posted by: UnoSigmaPi

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Were you riding your brakes or did the brake caliper stick?

It had to be the brakes.

well, when i pulled it off, it wasnt hot at all.
ill check in on tuesday with my mechanic. guess i aint going nowhere tomorrow!

you can't go anywhere tomorrow because you're missing a hubcap?

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: OREOSpeedwagon

you can't go anywhere tomorrow because you're missing a hubcap?

it can throw the wheel balance wayyyyyy offff, you know better

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: andylawcc

Originally posted by: OREOSpeedwagon

you can't go anywhere tomorrow because you're missing a hubcap?

it can throw the wheel balance wayyyyyy offff, you know better

It's almost as bad as the TypeR sticker falling off! :Q

 

[Atomicus]

Looks like gremlins were chewin at your caps :Q

 

[zCypher]

LMAO! Holy crap that's bad! I don't know htf that could happen... i've done plenty of retardedly maniacal driving and never had anything MELT! I guess anything can screw up and anything can happen.. but, wow!

And yes you can drive without your hubcap... but I'd still be worried about what caused it to happen

 

[HappyPuppy]

Check the wheel bearings. Grab the tire at the top and rock it back and forth. It should be tight.

 

[PatboyX]

Originally posted by: OREOSpeedwagon

Originally posted by: PatboyX

Originally posted by: UnoSigmaPi

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Were you riding your brakes or did the brake caliper stick?

It had to be the brakes.

well, when i pulled it off, it wasnt hot at all.
ill check in on tuesday with my mechanic. guess i aint going nowhere tomorrow!

you can't go anywhere tomorrow because you're missing a hubcap?

well, i dont know anything about cars. but people mentioned my brakes were the cause...as though my brakes might be in some bad shape. im a little nervous about driving around nj parkway with bad brakes.

 

[flot]

It's not that your brakes could be in bad shape, it's that your brakes could be STICKING which may be worse depending on how you look at it.

You shouldn't drive that car more than a couple miles before you have someone look at it. From the photo, it looks like that wheels is getting, or has gotten, very very hot... which could lead to all kinds of other problems.

Are you sure you didn't do something dumb like drive around with the parking brake on recently?

 

[PatboyX]

Originally posted by: flot
It's not that your brakes could be in bad shape, it's that your brakes could be STICKING which may be worse depending on how you look at it.

You shouldn't drive that car more than a couple miles before you have someone look at it. From the photo, it looks like that wheels is getting, or has gotten, very very hot... which could lead to all kinds of other problems.

Are you sure you didn't do something dumb like drive around with the parking brake on recently?

relativly certain.
in that, i am a very routine based person. its really hard for me to do things unless i go through a certain amount of ritual. i have an older ford taurus where the brake release is located "under" the steering column and is a rip-cord like pull tab. i pull it twice before leaving and then, once a few hundred feet from where i have left, pull it again.
HOWEVER! now that you mention it, my grandfather had trouble with another ford taurus of the same design where the brake would stay on despite having been "put off"...
so...
that is a good point in the right direction, i think.
i thank you.

 

[Eli]

Been doing any long braking down an incline or anything?

 

[ThisIsMatt]

It's a ford, you expect anything less? Had the head gaskets done on our windstar...no more than 18k miles more and they blew again. Ford: Quality Is Job #4832782

 

[Zenmervolt]

This is why I buy cars with alloy wheels.

ZV