{"id":666773,"date":"2026-05-13T13:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666773\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:49:14","slug":"get-your-wheels-retorqued-after-tire-change-police-caution-following-highway-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666773\/","title":{"rendered":"Get your wheels retorqued after tire change, police caution following highway incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At Speedy Auto in Ottawa’s east end, shop manager George Miscampbell and his team of mechanics have set up a drive-by lane where customers can bring their vehicles to retorque their wheels following a tire change.<\/p>\n

It’s a spring tradition to swap in summer tires, but retorquing, a critical safety measure that can prevent a wheel from becoming loose and falling off, can easily be overlooked.<\/p>\n

“After we put on tires, whether they’re steel rims or aluminum rims … they can certainly walk loose,” Miscampbell said.<\/p>\n

He explained that the temperature change and dirty rims following a tire swap can cause the wheel to loosen.<\/p>\n

“As a precaution, we get customers to come back [after driving] 100 kilometers [following the tire change],” Miscampbell said.<\/p>\n

Miscampbell says his mechanics will do that for free.<\/p>\n

“I can’t speak for everyone else, but for us, if we had a person that’s off the street that isn’t our customer yet, we do that for them just to keep them safe. Keeps everyone safe.”<\/p>\n

\"ManMiscampbell offers free retorquing services to his clients and will even extend it to non-customers. (Francis Ferland\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Drivers can also retorque the wheels themselves, but a torque wrench is required and the lug nuts need to be torqued in a star-shaped order. <\/p>\n

Miscampbell also recommends that drivers retorquing their own wheels clean any corrosion and debris from the rim before installing the lug nuts. Not doing this could create a gap between the rims and the lug nuts, which would increase the chances of the wheel becoming loose, he said. <\/p>\n

‘No reason why you shouldn’t’<\/p>\n

The consequences of failing to retorque a wheel, or doing so poorly, could be catastrophic, Miscampbell said.<\/p>\n

He pointed to an incident on Highway 417 on Friday when a wheel came loose from one vehicle and damaged the windshield of another. The driver of the damaged vehicle was taken to the hospital with injuries to his face and eyes caused by broken glass, according to the OPP. <\/p>\n

“A reminder to have your [wheels] double torqued,” the provincial police force wrote on X. <\/p>\n

Constable Michael Fathi, the media relations officer for the OPP in Ottawa, confirmed the vehicle in that collision that lost a wheel recently had its tires swapped.<\/p>\n

He says Friday’s incident is something police see “frequently.”<\/p>\n

“We have seen [wheels] come flying off of vehicles, striking other vehicles and causing significant injuries and sometimes even death,” Fathi said, referring to wheels that were either not torqued or not torqued properly during spring and fall tire changes.<\/p>\n

“A lot of times people are either too busy or forgetful or just don’t bother to go and retorque.”<\/p>\n

\"OPPOPP Constable Michael Fathi says drivers could be fined up to $5,000 for not properly securing their wheels to their vehicle. (Francis Ferland\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In addition to the safety risks, there are potential legal consequences.<\/p>\n

“At the very minimum, they could receive a court appearance date,” Fathi said.<\/p>\n

If convicted, a person could be fined between $2,000 to $5,000 for not properly securing their wheels to their vehicle.<\/p>\n

Fathi said the onus is on the driver to make sure that wheels are torqued, adding that many mechanics will offer the service free of charge.<\/p>\n

“There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be going back there and doing it,” he said.<\/p>\n

The police officer added that drivers will likely hear an audible sound and may have difficulty steering if their wheels are not tight enough. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-666773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}