max808

Does anyone know the lug nut torque for 99 GXE 15" stock steel rims. 80-85 lbs? Thanks.

_DRU_

to the best of my logic, i dont think it really matters as long as its tight enough. if you think about it, if you get a flat and need to put on a spare, you usually dont have a torque wrench to measure how many pounds to tighten. i think u just have to tighten as much as you can. someone correct me if im wrong.

Daniel B. Martin

The '99 Maxima factory service manual specifies 72-87 foot-pounds. I set mine to 80 foot-pounds. The important thing is to tighten all wheel nuts uniformly.

dch95

An unevenly torqued wheel will cause unequal stress at each lug nut which in turn could cause a perfectly straight/true rotor to become warped and the damage will be permanent.

Of course in times of emergency, unless you have one handy, try to make the lugs tight (not standing on the lug wrench tight!) and uniform in tightness.

BamaMax

What size are the lug nuts on the 4th gen, 22mm?

Daniel B. Martin

On my '99 GXE they are 22mm.

got rice?

iTrader: (2)

That is the #1 reason why people warp their rotors. #2 is over-torquing them.

B.C.

Can an impact wrench in a garage be safely set to cut off at a particular torque? I have frequently asked garages to hand torque my wheels on my other car and they look at me as if this is the strangest thing they have ever heard.

My Nissan mechanic uses a small impact wrench to snug up the bolts and then finishes them off with a torque wrench. I'd prefer hand tightening the entire way but I guess time is money.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

This can be the safer way to make sure they are not to tight. Not to get off the topic but when I got my new tires installed, the tech used the air wrench to tighten them. I get on the road and I am getting vibration. I take the car back to have the wheels rebalanced. I take the car on the road again. I still got the vibration. Now, I am thinking something else is wrong. I go to take the wheels off to check the problem and I couldn't get the left wheel off. I had to actually kick and bang away at the tire to get it off. The tech tightened the lugs with the wrong torque setting and didn't use the criss-crossing effect.

Daniel B. Martin

The best procedure is to use a torque wrench. Some shops do this routinely; I've seen them. The second best procedure is to use an impact wrench with a torque limiting device such as Ken-Tool TorqueMaster Torque Limiting Sockets. These tools are commonly called "Torque Sticks". See http://www.kentool.com/wheel_to.htm Do not trust the power control **** on an air-powered impact wrench. They are not calibrated.

B.C.

Daniel:

Other than Harbor Freight, which you have mentioned in the past, who else sells quality torque wrenches? I have not been particularly satisfied with Harbor Freight socket wrench sets I have purchased from them in the past. I have had to send several Taiwan built wrenches back to them for warranty replacement. I like Craftsman since I think they have reasonable quality to dollar ratio but I'm not sure how good their torque wrenches are these days. It seems many garages like Snap-On but one has to find a Snap-On dealer. I'd like to find a torque wrenche suitable for tighening our wheels that is available at local tool stores or over the internet.

Thanks

Daniel B. Martin

I consider my Harbor Freight $10 torque wrench to be a bargain, but not a quality tool. My experience has been similar to yours; HF merchandise quality is uneven. Their order fill rates and turnaround time leaves much to be desired.

IMHO Craftsman tools provide good value. Many of my own tools are Craftsman.

Snap-on tools have superb quality but high prices. You don't need to find their tool truck, it is now possible to buy Snap-on from their Web site. Go to http://www.snapon.com/

B.C.

Daniel:

You're an encyclopedia of website links.

I've just returned from the snapon site and they have some very nice torque wrenches. I was, however, disappointed to learn that, like Craftsman, they only warranty the wrenches for no more than one year (depending on the model). This forces me to now look at the Craftsman wrenches again since I know that they are much more affordable.

Thanks for the link