You know you've done it WRONG when this happens.
Wait for it...
![](http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/dantaylorjr/DSC_0076.jpg)
![](http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/dantaylorjr/DSC_0075.jpg)
As you can see from the pic above, there are some bolts missing there on the front wheel. 20 of them, to be exact. The other 7 bolts are why I'm alive typing this right now, lol!
Apparently, one should use RED loctite during re-assembly of MR5 wheels, NOT the blue loctite, like yours truly used. I had driven roughly an hour and a half, pushing 85 mph, then felt some harsh road vibrations. So, I pulled off at the Burlington, NC exit and stopped at a Chevy dealership to check out what was going on with my car. What I found: quite horrific. Only 7 bolts remained holding my front-drivers-side rim together!
Man, I'm blessed that I stopped when I did!! If I had decided to go one more exit, it would have been very ugly for me (and others).
I thought I did my homework on this one. Re-tighten in a criss-cross pattern, 25 lbs. of torque, use loctite. I went with blue, thinking that red would have to be heated off later. Since I thought I might like to repaint them in future years, I decided to go with blue, as it was my understanding that red loctite'd bolts had to be removed with torching/heat. I am ashamed to say that I did not use a torque wrench either. I couldn't find anyone who had one, and didn't want to shell out the $75 up front to borrow one. However, I don't think that this was my problem. Perhaps I"m wrong though. I tightened the bolts in a criss-cross pattern to as much torque as each bolt would safely take (without stripping). I triple-checked each bolt for solid tension prior to putting them on.
Anyway, obviously the blue wasn't enough.
So, I never made it to the meet. However, I almost meet death, so I'd say the outcome was much better than it could have been.
The damage: Lost 20 Mugen bolts somewhere on I-85. big yeah on finding replacements!
I think 1 or 2 of the bolt holes have thread damage. The others appear OK. I'll probably have to have those holes re-tapped.
Through the course of the event, my valve stem was damaged and needs to replace. Tire won't hold air, leaking at valve stem.
Luckily I had a little-bity spare tire with me.
Also, greatly to my luck, Home Depot was within a short walking distance of the Chevy dealership that I pulled over at. They were VERY kind to me, and let me borrow all of the tools that I would need to get home safely (even an 8mm 12-point socket!)
I spent the next few hours disassembling the rims, putting red loctite on each bolt, and re-assembling them.
I then drove home with 3 Mugens and the itty-bitty spare at 50 mph. Took about 2.5 hours, and sucked!
So, am I assuming that what went wrong was the wrong choice in loctite? Did I over-torque the bolts? (some have said use only 10 lbs. of torque, but this seems way too small to me). I checked my bolts on the 3 mounted this morning, after their long trip home. None of them were loose, so perhaps the red is going to hold. Should I use a loctite stronger than red?
Anyway, glad to be alive. Better luck next meet!