Vent: Had a car fall off the ramps cause I was too lazy to check the straps

Last month I was hauling a '94 Miata from Portland down to Eugene and half way there I heard this awful scraping noise. Pulled over and the front strap had slipped off the tire because I didn't double check the tension after the first 20 miles. Now I always stop at the next exit after 30 minutes to re-tighten everything. Has anyone else made a dumb mistake like that and learned the hard way?

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2 Comments

ivan2301mo ago

Checking straps once before leaving is usually enough if you tie them right and use decent quality ratchets. Most failures I've seen come from cheap hardware or tying loose knots, not the initial tension. A quick tug test at the rest area beats pulling over on a dark highway any day.

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karen_martin1mo ago

That's a rough lesson. Maybe it's just me but I always recheck now after the first few miles.

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