Yes, 99.99% of the time they are, but I can see the one rare occasion some poor schmuck is changing a tire and it falls off-they usually don't go back on too easily either. The guy explained to me that the car manufacturers just don't want that kind of scenario with one of their products. Every domestic car I've owned used those flat speed nuts to hold them on, not actual bolts like VW did. Jeff

Jeff Stewart

----- "David Beierl" <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:

At 08:30 PM 1/21/2011, J Stewart wrote:
>It was explained to me by a tire shop manager that it is to keep the
>drum in place so the average Joe doesn't freak out when it falls off
>while he is changing a flat on the side of the road. That made sense
>to me. Jeff

I wouldn't freak out but my jaw would be dragging on the
ground...those things are tight to start with before they start rusting.

Yrs,
d