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Had a scary experience last week. Driving my 03 Z06 at 50 mph on a good 4 lane road, moderate side wind, switched lanes and felt rear of car wanting to snap around. Slowed down and worked the steering gently left and right. Yep, something was loose in the rear suspension. Got home, raised rear, grabbed wheels and pulled on them. The left wheel was easily moved! Removed wheel and there was the front upper control arm bolt half way out of its hole, no threads engaged!! Holy crap! How could this happen? I had the whole rear suspension off the car for frame damage repair, but I put it together and I know I torqued the bolts to 81 lbs and used blue lock tight. I checked the other 3 bolts, the left rear bolt was quite loose too, but still engaged. The other side had one tight the other slightly loose. I only put 300 miles on car since repair.
I don't know if this type of thing has happened to anyone else. But, I'm gun shy now. I'm wondering if there are aftermarket bolts, perhaps with longer threads that extend past the caged nut, so I could add a nylock nut for added insurance. I've had front suspension failure during road racing and although squirrelly, you could still control the car somewhat, but if the rear fails on an IRS car you're SOL!
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that doesn't seem like a typical issue to me, especially if you know you tightened everything correctly... I would remove all of the upper control arm bolts and inspect the threads as well as the threads on the body... are you confident that your torque wrench is accurate?
I've had mine off and on the car a number of times. Put a number of autocrosses and a lot of highway miles on it in between. Never had one come loose. Either your torque wrench is off, your bolts are so stretched you can tighten them, or you just forgot. If there's no loctite still on the bolt you probably forgot. If there is then you should replace them and check the torque wrench. I beat the living snot out of these stock bolts up to 30 events a year with no concerns. I'd buy another set of stock bolts if I had to replace them. They are plenty strong.
With the correct torque Blue Loctite and still having the failure, I would start with fresh bolts and nuts, it sounds like yours must have been stretched. Other than going with Red Loctite I would also check all the other rear suspension components for Torque and play/movement.
I would have used RED (HIGH STRENGTH) locktite in the first place. Its not like you frequently remove those fasteners and it is CRITICAL that they maintain tightness.
If it were me (IMHO) knowing that a nut that is SUPPOSE to maintain its applied torque came loose, its most likely compromised and needs to be replaced.
Please let us know what you do and how it works out.
Bill
Last edited by Bill Curlee; Feb 27, 2016 at 10:38 AM.
Had a scary experience last week. Driving my 03 Z06 at 50 mph on a good 4 lane road, moderate side wind, switched lanes and felt rear of car wanting to snap around. Slowed down and worked the steering gently left and right. Yep, something was loose in the rear suspension. Got home, raised rear, grabbed wheels and pulled on them. The left wheel was easily moved! Removed wheel and there was the front upper control arm bolt half way out of its hole, no threads engaged!! Holy crap! How could this happen? I had the whole rear suspension off the car for frame damage repair, but I put it together and I know I torqued the bolts to 81 lbs and used blue lock tight. I checked the other 3 bolts, the left rear bolt was quite loose too, but still engaged. The other side had one tight the other slightly loose. I only put 300 miles on car since repair.
I don't know if this type of thing has happened to anyone else. But, I'm gun shy now. I'm wondering if there are aftermarket bolts, perhaps with longer threads that extend past the caged nut, so I could add a nylock nut for added insurance. I've had front suspension failure during road racing and although squirrelly, you could still control the car somewhat, but if the rear fails on an IRS car you're SOL!
.
Went back to my log book, found a post it note to self to lower car to ground, loosen the 4 bolts to minimize bushing bind at ride height, then apply lock tight and torque them. The absence of lock tight residue on any of the bolts means that I just plain forgot to torque them beyond just a snug fit. There was no log entry stating that I used lock tight or torqued the bolts! What an idiot! I'm a very careful person, but I still screwed up this time. I think I'll sue myself!? Thanks for your responses.
Went back to my log book, found a post it note to self to lower car to ground, loosen the 4 bolts to minimize bushing bind at ride height, then apply lock tight and torque them. The absence of lock tight residue on any of the bolts means that I just plain forgot to torque them beyond just a snug fit. There was no log entry stating that I used lock tight or torqued the bolts! What an idiot! I'm a very careful person, but I still screwed up this time. I think I'll sue myself!? Thanks for your responses.
I know a few good lawyers in your area. Let me know if you need one. Hey,, the way the justice system is geared today,, you might make a fortune..
Atleast you were able to find a ROOT CAUSE! Good job!
I have been there too, hand tightened the bolts on my rear caliper. Luckily there was an audible "click" that got louder at stops. Caught it in time. Glad you're OK!
I, too, ALWAYS torque my fasteners. I've had the cradle off too many times to remember.
One time, it was really late at night thrashing to get it back together and apparently I forgot to tighten one of the bolts...
It came out...
Holy crap! Sorry about your car. From the photo, it looks like you were at the strip and lost the rear, then collided with the wall, or something else. Stuff happens really fast. Hope your body faired better than the Vette and you can race another day. Life's too short to drive boring cars.Take care.
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Rear upper control arm bolts coming loose
Good job!
