[DeTomaso] Pantera near disaster

[boyd casey]

I was unduly confident due to the alignment printouts I had in my hand when
I left the alignment shop (I don't know if you have seen the latest graphics
software that the new Hunter machines use but they print out a pretty
colorful graphic that shows a representation of a suspension with wheels and
coil overs) It has one sheet for the before and one for the after the
alignment. Since the numbers were so close to what I requested and what is
ideally called for I had a false sense of confidence. I was driving on 95
south ( the New England thruway) and I was in the right lane because I
wanted to take it easy . I had my new brakes and I had just finished
bedding  them and wanted to avoid any hard breaking . The right lane I was
in Had rumble strips and the road is under construction so every few hundred
yards there is some sort of anomaly in the road surface. In hind sight I
should have detected the problem sooner. I thought I was feeling a bad
rumble stripped road with a brand new super sensitive super tight
suspension. If I had been use to the way the car" feels " I would have
probably noticed the difference or warning signs sooner.  Driving with the
windows open ,with a very loud car and heavy commercial traffic ( every
other vehicle was a tractor trailer truck) so heat, noise, traffic, rumble
strips  road construction, I think I was suffering from sensory overload and
if I had been on a beautiful country road with out pot holes , rumble
strips, trucks etc I feel fairly confident I would have noticed the warning
signs sooner. Since the car is now at my home once I get it put back
together and  the wheel re- balanced (I will get a tire run out done this
time too) and then get the car re -aligned. I will be able to check
everything out very carefully and pick the most perfect road near my home to
road test the repaired left rear wheel.
Boyd

On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 8:45 PM, <MikeLDrew at aol.com> wrote:

>
> In a message dated 8/21/10 17 33 22, boyd411 at gmail.com writes:
>
>
> I am not an engineer but I don't think Mike  knows enough about this design
> to draw any factual conclusions about it being inferior or superior to the
> original design
>
> >>>Quite true.  I was going solely on gut instinct.  From your description
> you made it sound like the whole hub assembly fell apart, not just broken
> studs.  Yes, failing to tighten the lug nuts would easily result in broken
> studs, although (having been there done that myself, failing to tighten lug
> nuts on the front of my Mustang once), vibration would normally make itself
> known long before failure.
>
>
> > and there is no conclusive evidence that this incident was the result of
> a design flaw. I believe it is allot more likely that the failure was the
> result of some human error in the assembly ( like lug nuts not being
> tightened)
>
> >>>I assumed design flaw because you originally asserted that the lug nuts
> were tight.  Now that we know the full story, I fully agree with your
> assessment of the situation.  The fact that the wheels were switched
> side-to-side and you have witnesses to that effect gives you, I would think,
> a very strong legal case.  Before pursuing litigation, I think a strongly
> worded conversation with the owner of the shop that is responsible might
> prove fruitful.
>
>
> >When the replacement parts come I will reassemble the car and go over
> everything with a fine tooth comb.
>
> >>>Amen--and again, I'm really happy that this turned out as well as it did
> for you!
>
> Mike
>