[KenWittlief]

Sandrag,

I read the letter. Couple things.

If a wheel comes off your car usually the lug nuts come off one by one, and when there are only 1 or 2 left it makes a horrid knocking/banging sound as the wheel flops on the studs with each rotation. Unless you have your stereo at 120dB you could not possible miss it, and with any common sense you would slow down and stop immediately.

The pnuematic air tools they use in tire shops do have a torque setting - they are adjustable - so unless the main compressor was low on pressure there is nothing wrong with the proper use of an air wrench to put the wheels on.

You are assuming that Walmart left the lug nuts loose. That is a big assumption, esp after two or three days. Someone may have been in the process of stealing your wheel and was interrupted or scared off. A lot can happen in 3 days.

Bottom line though, finding a good mechanic you can trust 100% of the time is important. I would not put any department store on the list of places to look for a good mechanic.