On Tue, 16 Oct 2012 03:35:30 -0500, wrote:

How far can you drive your car with all the lug nuts removed?

This is a real challenge. Remove all the lug nuts from all the tires on
your car. Get in the car, and drive. How far can you drive without
having a wheel fall off? This takes real skill, and separates the boys
from the men.

Try it, and post your distance on this newsgroup. The person driving
the furthest before a wheel falls off is the winner of the *BEST DRIVER
AWARD*. "Watch your speedometer for the distance".

* DO NOT do this in traffic. Do it on a private road or a little used
back road, when there is no traffic.

Well, I drove with no lug nuts and no studs on one wheel and I did it
in the heart of Lower Manhattan, including going up Broadway the wrong
way on a one-way street.

Admittedly, it was a summer Sunday at 7PM and in *lower* Manhattan,
there were no cars coming, probably no moving cars except on Canal.

I had had surgery the previous Dec. 15th, and I left my car in Long
Island City (Queens) while I was in the hospital and recuperating.
It snowed the first day, and on one wheel I had nol put the hubcap.
They plowed the street, but that just pushed more snow up against my
tires.

In August I took my brother to the Newark airport, and when I got back
to the car, that tire was flat. The nuts were rusted on. I had to
literally stand on the lug wrench to free them, but 3 or 4 studs
broke and 1 or 2 (adjacent) studs didn't. I didn't want to have to
have the car towed to a gas station, then go back to Brooklyn and have
to come back the next day. I decided to drive home on surface
streets. It was the left rear tire. When I turned left or went
straight ahead it was fine. When I turned right, it went thump, thump
thlump. I guess Newark Airport is about 15 miles from the Holland
tunnel, and I went maybe 20 mph where it was straigjht, slower
elsewhere.

When I got to the Holland Tunnel I hesitated. There is a big fine for
breaking down in the Holland Tunnel, I guess it includes a big charge
for the tow truck, plus I didn't want to tie up traffic when I broke
down. (Sunday evenings traffic into the city is heavy with people who
went away for the weekend.) . But I'm an idiot so I continued. I
made itt through the tunnel, even with a 130^ right curve at the end
and went east on Beach St. to merge with Canal. Just as I approached
Broadway, my last stud broke and the car, a '67 Pontiac Catalina,
fell on the frame I guess since the brake drum never got hurt. I
thought I'd be in big trouble if it sat there for Monday morning rush
hour, but I found a parking lot a short block up Broadway. .

Not thinking it would work I jacked up the car and put the wheel on,
lowered the jack and made it less than an inch before it fell off. I
tried it again and made it 2 feet. I tried it a third time and I went
15 feet forward, turned left, went 100 feet north, turned left again
and went over the curb, across the side walk, right next to the
building on my left. Then I put the jack back in the trunk and took
the subway home to Brooklyn

That night I read the shop manual on replacing studs, said to use a
hydraulic press. The next morning I rode my bicycle to Atlantic Wheel
and Rim on Atlantic Ave. I like to talk (as you can see) and I told
the guy about my problem. He said no one uses a press to put in
studs. They put them through the hole, put the lug nut on and tighen
the nut and that pullls the stud in. I bought 5 of each for 10
dollars or less. Took the bike back, took the train to my car and in
30 or 45 minutes the car was fixed. The lot manager wanted to
charge me for 3 days parking, because I had spanned three spaces, but
I convinced him it was only 10 AM and he'd rent the spaces after I
left, and he settled for a day and half.

I still can't believe i drove 135 feet, and the whole cost to me was
$10 and 2 subway fares.

Be sure to have your lug nuts in
the car, along with a jack, and a lug wrench. Sooner or later at least
one wheel will fall off, and you'll have to raise the car and put the
wheel back on, with the lug nuts.

Yup. Maybe if you go straight ahead you can go pretty far?