I rotated my wheels yesterday and had lots of trouble getting off one lug. The lugs were all over-torqued by the installer of the rims and difficult to loosen, but one would barely budge. Once I finally removed it, the threads from the very end of the bolt came off, attached to the threads inside the lugnut. I had to replace the nut and the bolt had enough thread to allow proper attachment and torque. I am just glad I did not have a flat on this tire while away from home. Has anyone ever seen this happen before?

 

Sure. If the person that puts your wheel on isn't careful they can cross-thread the lug. This is especially true if the person uses a pneumatic wrench. If you use a regular ratchet it is easy to tell the the nut isn't started on the lug threads correctly. If the lug has lost threads you may want to replace that lug. It isn't too hard to do.

 

you have to consider the heat the hubs build up, plus the cold from the environment. they can be pretty tough to break loose even if they were torqued properly. i overhaul aircraft components that reach temps to roughly 700 degrees and sometimes the hardware on there seizes up and bolts or screws will break or strip. it's sucks but it's physics. just put some anti-seize on the bolts when you get a chance and re-torque the lug nuts to help reduce the chances of that happening again.